Joseph F. Buell, MD

Joseph F. Buell, MD is Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery. Dr. Buell specializes in liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation as well as hepatobiliary and minimally invasive (laparoscopic) surgery. He serves as Director of the Transplant Surgery Fellowship and the Israel Penn International Transplant Tumor Registry at the University of Cincinnati, a role in which he advises and consults with hundreds of physicians on a national and international level.

Dr. Buell received his medical degree from the University of Rochester in New York. He completed his surgery residency training at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Buell also completed a surgical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and a fellowship in hepatobiliary, multi-organ transplantation at the University of Chicago.

As part of the Multidisciplinary Liver Treatment Center at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Buell brings unique insight into the management of benign and malignant tumors of the liver as well as other disorders of the liver and biliary tree. These include primary and metastatic liver tumors (benign or malignant) obstruction of the bile ducts, portal hypertensions and he evaluates and treats patients from as far as Texas to New York City. State-of-the-art surgical techniques available through this program include ex vivo (out of body) and laparoscopic liver resection, and management of unusual tumors including hilar cholangio carcinomas (bile duct cancers in the middle of the liver) and vena cava tumors (tumors of the major blood vessel.) Dr. Buell developed the laparoscopic liver program at the University of Cincinnati and was one of the first surgeons in the nation to perform major hepatic resections laparoscopically as well as laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (burning of unresectable cancers) in patients with end-stage liver disease. He also implemented the very successful isolated hepatic perfusion program in combination with the Division of Surgical Oncology program. This surgical procedure allows treatment of unresectable primary or metastatic liver cancer with hyperthermic (heated) chemotherapy at superhuman doses. This group was the first to treat patients in the United States outside of the National Institutes of Health. In addition, Dr. Buell standardized the laparoscopic prostatectomy procedure and has defined a model for utilizing expanded criteria for liver transplantation. Dr. Buell is principal investigator or co-investigator on more than a dozen ongoing clinical trials through the University of Cincinnati and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Buell received the 2001 NATCO Scientific Recognition for Efforts in Organ Donation, the Young Investigator Award from the International Liver Transplantation Society and the Transplant Young Investigator Award. He is an editor for Liver Transplantation and has authored multiple book chapters and papers in oncology laparoscopy and transplant. He has served as a reviewer and moderator for the American Transplant Congress and International Transplant Society. He is also a reviewer for the American Journal of Kidney Disease, American Journal of Transplantation and The Lancet. Dr. Buell is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Society of Transplantation, Transplantation Society, International Liver Transplant Society and the Society of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Buell is certified by the American Board of Surgery. He sees patients at The University Hospital, The Christ Hospital, The Jewish Hospital, Good Samaritan, Bethesda North and Deaconess Hospital.

Steven M. Rudich, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery and Director of Liver Transplant Services at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Rudich specializes in hepatobiliary surgery and in particular, liver transplantation. His research interests include the pathophysiology of brain death in large animal models, hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury, and the use of extracorporeal technologies to improve donor organs. He currently serves as Assistant Medical Director of LifeCenter Organ Donor Network, the principal organ and tissue donation organization in the region.

As part of the Multidisciplinary Liver Treatment Center at The University of Cincinnati, Dr. Rudich has been largely responsible for revitalizing the University of Cincinnati Liver Transplant Program, with more adult liver transplants performed in Cincinnati over the past year than any other transplant program in Ohio since liver transplants were first performed in the state. Dr. Rudich is one of several pioneers in the use of extended criteria liver allografts in liver transplantation, which enables patients on the waiting list to receive a transplant much sooner. In addition, more widespread use of donation after cardiac death (DCD) organ donors has been realized through the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technique that allows reoxygenation and revitalization of organs after death. Dr. Rudich leads one of only two groups in the world to use ECMO technology to prepare livers from DCD organ donors for transplantation.

In addition to his work in liver transplantation, Dr. Rudich has an active practice in hepatobiliary surgery, including both benign and malignant liver diseases. Utilizing his experience from liver transplantation, Dr. Rudich plays a major role in the Multidisciplinary Liver Treatment Center at the University of Cincinnati by performing both laparoscopic and conventional open techniques for all aspects of liver disease in normal and cirrhotic livers.

Dr. Rudich graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers College and obtained both his MD and PhD degrees from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, receiving numerous awards for his graduate work in molecular immunology. He completed his general surgery training at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and received his transplant training at UCLA under Dr. Ronald Busuttil, who has trained many leaders in the field. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Rudich helped to establish the Liver Transplant Program at the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Rudich is an active member of many transplant societies and participates in several American Society of Transplant Surgery committees as well as serving on the Organ Availability Committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). His honors include the 2002 Young Investigator Award from the American Transplant Congress. He serves on numerous committees of transplantation societies and as a reviewer for several medical journals. Dr. Rudich has published over 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers in addition to 100 poster and abstract presentations and several book chapters.

Dr. Rudich is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He sees patients at the UC Medical Arts Building.