Vijay Saradhi Gorantla, MD, PhD
Professor of Surgery and Director of the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Program at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
Dr. Gorantla is a clinician-scientist whose work intersects disciplines as varied as surgery and nanotechnology, imaging and neuroscience, or bioengineering and chemistry. As a tenured Professor of Surgery and Director of the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Program at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, his vision is to seek profoundly impactful solutions to address the critical needs of service men and women with traumatic injuries.
His academic interests relate to basic and clinical research in restorative surgery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Prior to coming to Wake Forest in 2017, he was Principal and Co-Principal Investigator on several military funded grants totaling over 14 million dollars awarded to UPMC supporting translational and clinical trials in hand transplantation and whole eyeball transplantation.
At the University of Louisville, Vijay was a key member on the team led by Dr. Warren Breidenbach, who in January 1999, performed the Nation’s first hand transplant which holds the record for the world’s longest surviving graft at 20 years. During his 11 years as Director of the VCA Program at UPMC and Director of the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Hand Transplant Program, Vijay co-directed the Nation’s first clinical trial for hand transplantation sponsored by the Department of Defense with the completion of 8 transplants in 5 patients including the Nation’s first bilateral and full forearm transplants. In 2008, Vijay co-founded the first national society for VCA, the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation (ASRT).
He has authored over 100 scientific papers and 15 book chapters in the field of VCA and is currently co-editing a comprehensive book on the subject of Regenerative Surgery.