Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital Expands Liver & Kidney Transplant Programs, adds Specialists Hannah Kerr, MD, and David Reich, MD

Cleveland Clinic’s Weston Hospital continues to expand its solid organ transplant program and recently appointed Hannah Kerr, MD, as Surgical Director of the Kidney Transplant Program and David J. Reich, MD, FACS, as Surgical Director of the Liver Transplant Program and Chief of the Innovative Technology and Therapeutics Program.

In addition to leading the surgical team, Dr. Kerr will increase Cleveland Clinic’s presence in the community through partnerships with dialysis centers in order to share information and strengthen relationships with patients.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital, Dr. Kerr held several leadership positions with Cleveland Clinic in Ohio as the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute Experience Officer; Transplant Institute Quality Officer; and Associate Program Director, American Society of Transplant Surgeons Kidney Transplant Fellowship.

Upon earning her medical degree at Northeast Ohio Medical University, Dr. Kerr completed a urology residency at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She went on to complete a kidney and pancreas transplant fellowship at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, after which she returned to New Mexico to develop and lead a new pancreas transplant program. While there, she made medical history by performing New Mexico’s first-ever kidney/pancreas transplant at Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Kerr is board certified by the American Board of Urology and holds professional memberships in the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Urologic Society for Transplantation and Renal Surgery, and American Urological Association.

Dr. Reich brings to Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital expertise in increasing donor organ availability for transplantation. A pioneer of donation after circulatory death (DCD), he published one of the first successful series on DCD liver transplants in 2000 and over the past two decades has shepherded widespread, international adoption of DCD. His bibliography includes more than 75 peer-reviewed papers and abstracts, he has been a member of several editorial boards.

Dr. Reich has led a wide breadth of multicenter device and drug trials. His current innovative work with dynamic organ preservation and reconditioning, using machines to pump hypothermic (cold) or normothermic (warm), oxygenated perfusion fluid with nutrients through donor organs to improve them before transplant, will profoundly increase the number of transplants performed by the hospital.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital, Dr. Reich headed Multi-organ Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, and was Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Dr. Reich earned his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, and completed a general surgery residency at Beth Israel Medical Center. He went on to complete a multi-organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery.

“Dr. Kerr and Dr. Reich bring highly specialized expertise to our Transplant Center,” said Rodolfo J. Blandon, MD, MBA, President of Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital. “They join a dedicated team who offer the most advanced organ procurement techniques and medical and surgical treatments for our kidney and liver transplant patients.”

One million organ transplants have been performed in the United States. The transplant program at Cleveland Clinic is proud to be a small part of this achievement, providing hundreds of life-saving surgeries each year. Clinic’s Weston Hospital continues to be Broward County’s largest provider of solid organ transplantation. Learn more about organ transplantation: https://cle.clinic/3TNYPUi