LIISE KAYLER, MD |  Program Director, Regional Transplantation and Kidney Care Center of Excellence

Dr. Liise Kayler is the program director of the Regional Transplantation and Kidney Care Center of Excellence at ECMC, offering overall leadership for our transplant program.

Most recently, she was director of the kidney and pancreas transplant program at Montefiore Medical Center. Certified by the American Board of Surgery, Dr. Liise Kayler also practiced at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute in Pittsburgh as a clinical faculty member and later at Shands Hospital University of Florida as the director of the Living Kidney Transplant Program.

In addition, her clinical expertise in laparoscopic donor nephrectomy has impacted the lives of many donors by providing faster recovery times after surgery. Over the course of her career, she has collaborated with institutions across the U.S. to improve transplant care, mentor the next generation of transplant surgeons, and increase access to transplantation for those suffering with end-stage organ disease.

Dr. Liise Kayler earned her Medical Degree at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada and completed multi-organ transplant fellowship training at the University of Michigan. While there, she acquired a master’s in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis, with research focused on increasing opportunities for transplantation by improving utilization of deceased-donor kidneys, educational interventions to promote living kidney donor management and through kidney paired exchange.

In addition to active service within the transplant community at the local and national levels for over 13 years, Dr. Liise Kayler also serves on the UNOS Histocompatibility Committee and is co-chair of the ASTS Bylaws Committee. She is also a co-investigator on an NIH-funded multicenter study to evaluate living kidney donor quality of life.