Dr. Aydin Tarik Kizilisik, MD

A. Tarik Kizilisik, MD, FACS, joined Lutheran Medical Group in January 2011 when his former group, Indiana Ohio Heart, joined LMG.

Dr. Kizilisik graduated from the University of Ankara, School of Medicine in 1984 and completed a general surgery residency at Gulhane Military Medical Academy in Ankara, Turkey, in 1991. He completed a master's in experimental organ transplantation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, in 1994 while a transplant surgery fellow at the University of Alberta Medical School and Hospital.

In January 1994, he accepted a consultant hepatobiliary and transplant surgery position at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While there, he helped implement the first liver transplant program in the region, which eventually became the most successful program in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, with patients experiencing an 87 percent one-year survival rate.

In 1999, Dr. Kizilisik moved to Memphis, Tenn., for a second …fellowship in kidney and pancreas transplantation at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, which he completed in June 2001. He worked as a transplant surgeon there until February 2002, during which time he helped develop the islet cell transplant program.

Dr. Kizilisik became a full-time transplant surgeon and faculty member at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Division of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation in March 2002. During his tenure there Dr. Kizilisik, in addition to teaching, played a critical role in the redevelopment of the kidney and pancreas transplant programs.

Dr. Kizilisik is experienced in all aspects of kidney, pancreas and liver pretransplant evaluation, operative surgery and post-operative care. He is also experienced in donor selection, organ procurement and retrieval, as well immunosuppressive therapy.

Dr. Kizilisik has been published extensively and has presented at numerous national and international transplant meetings. He is a member of 11 international and three national academic societies and is listed in "Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare," "Who's Who in America" and the "International Biographical Center 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century."