By Josh Shepherd
Roberto Gedaly, MD, professor and division chief of abdominal transplantation, was named the inaugural recipient of the Michael and Katherine Ball Endowed Professor of Transplant. William B. Inabnet III, MD, Johnston-Wright Endowed Professor and Chair of Surgery, made the official presentation during General Surgery grand rounds.
The Ball Family have long been generous supporters of the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare. In 2021, a member of their family received a successful liver transplant through the services of the UK HealthCare Transplant Center. Based on their positive experience, the family graciously agreed to endow a professorship with a $1 million gift to the Transplant Center.
In appreciation for this gift, the Office of the Vice President of Research submitted the donation for 2:1 matching funds from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF). Receiving RCTF approval, the $1.5 million endowment will support the professor, by extension, the Transplant Center's educational mission, basic science research, and also contribute to the development of a living donor liver transplant program.
Dr. Gedaly, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, has devoted the majority of his medical career serving UK HealthCare patients and the department of surgery. He was recruited to UK in 2006 as an assistant professor and specialist in abdominal transplantation. He became a full professor in 2017. Along with his service as a division chief, Dr. Gedaly has served as UK Transplant Center Director since 2011.
In addition to his exceptional patient care, Dr. Gedaly is well-known for his extensive work in transplant research. As a principal investigator and in collaboration with Francesc Marti, PhD, he has conducted focused studies into the function and use of regulatory T-cells, which has received funding from the National Institutes of Health as well as several industry grants.
Dr. Gedaly completed general surgery residency at Hospital Universitario de Caracas in 1995. Coming to the United States, he proceeded to complete three transplant surgery fellowships: Hepatobiliary and Transplantation Service at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Liver and Gastrointestinal Transplantation at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital, and the Transplantation Fellowship at Methodist University Hospital and the University of Tennessee School of Medicine.