Dr. Vijay Gorantla is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and Administrative Medical Director of the Pittsburgh Reconstructive Transplant Program at UPMC.
Dr. Gorantla received his medical degree from the University of Health Sciences in India and pursued clinical training at King George Hospital and in Manchester, United Kingdom. He then completed a microsurgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery research fellowship at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. He also earned an MS and a PhD from the University of Louisville with a dissertation focused on the transplantation immunology of composite tissue allografts. He was post-doctoral fellow at the Christine M. Kleinert Institute for Hand Surgery and played a key role in the hand transplant program at the University of Louisville before coming to the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Gorantla's academic and research interests include clinical hand transplantation and novel immunomodulatory protocols directed at reducing long term risk due to immunosuppressive drugs and induction of tolerance after composite tissue allotransplantion.
Dr. Gorantla is Principal and Co-Principal Investigator on two DOD funded grants awarded to the University of Pittsburgh supporting translational and clinical trials in composite tissue and hand transplantation. He currently also holds an appointment as Director of CTA in the Surgical Service Line at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh. Dr. Gorantla has worked to obtain VA IRB approval for performing hand transplantation at VA Pittsburgh and his ongoing efforts are directed at establishing a hand transplant program at the VA.
Dr. Gorantla is also actively involved in experimental research at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. His research addresses the role of local immunotherapy in targeting and minimization of skin immunogenicity after composite tissue allotransplantation.
Dr. Gorantla is founding member of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation. He is a member of the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, the American Society of Surgery of the Hand, the American Society of Transplantation, the Transplantation Society, the Plastic Surgery Research Council, and the Kleinert Society.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Vijay S. Gorantla, MD PhD
Phone: 412-624-5291
Email: gorantlavs@upmc.edu