Surgical Director, Living Donor & Pediatric Abdominal Transplant Program

I am a kidney transplant surgeon at Memorial Transplant Institute, Surgical Director of Living Donor Kidney Transplant at Memorial Healthcare System and Surgical Director of the Pediatric Abdominal Transplant Program at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

For nearly two decades I have cared for transplant patients, 16 of those years in South Florida, performing more than 500 laparoscopic living donor surgeries and about 2,000 transplant surgeries.

I have a special interest in children with congenital and inherited diseases which cause kidney failure, and transplant children with end-stage kidney disease who are dependent on dialysis. I also transplant adults with chronic kidney failure and those who are on dialysis. I have expertise in performing both deceased donor and living donor kidney transplants. Living donors are procured safely through minimally invasive laparoscopic techniques, which enable short hospital stays, minimal pain and fast recovery.

I am continuously energized by the magic of a successful organ transplant – when I get to sew in a new organ and see it come to life with immediate function. I am especially passionate about living donor transplants. I am always impressed by donors who give one of their kidneys to a co-worker, friend, family member or even a stranger out of benevolence. Living donation is becoming increasingly necessary to meet the demand for organs in the community and provides superior long-term outcomes for transplant recipients.

I understand the unique challenges chronic kidney disease and diabetes can cause for patients and their families. When working with families, I acknowledge and address their concerns and questions, educate them about the pre-transplant process and wait times, the surgical procedures and options and the long-term post-transplant care.

Memorial has one of the fastest growing transplant programs in the nation and an impressive dedication to providing the best quality of care for its patients. We work as a close-knit, integrated multidisciplinary transplant team of nephrologists, social workers, nurse coordinators, nutritionists and pharmacists to support our patients and their families. This collaborative effort enables us to achieve excellent, long-term outcomes. We are also very successful at fast-tracking a patient from the waitlist to transplant.

In addition to caring for patients, I’m involved in transplant research, policy development, education and mentorship. I speak around the country and world about many facets of kidney and pancreas transplantation and train and mentor residents and students.

It is an honor to continue to make an impact in the community as a transplant surgeon, providing patients with a new lease on life through donation and transplantation.

Hospital Affiliations

• Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital
• Memorial Regional Hospital

Gender

• Female

Education

University Of Wisconsin Medical School, 1995

Residency

Univ. of California at San Francisco - East Bay, 2002, Surgery

Fellowships

Stanford University, 2004, Transplant Surgery
Stanford University, 2000

Certifications

American Board of Surgery-Surgery

Publications

Please view Dr. Linda Chen’s publications on PubMed.

Research

Dr. Chen has successfully performed funded research in three separate trials as investigator and co-investigator. These include the Pediatric Kidney portion of the CTOC-06 Trial, a multi-national, multi-center, non-randomized observational trial in pediatric transplant candidates and recipients.

To promote and improve quality in transplant, Dr. Chen has also participated on the safety monitoring board for liver-GI surgery Phase I Clinical Trial and a safety monitoring board for Kidney-Pancreas transplant. More recently, she was instrumental in the management of kidney transplant patients on top of the UNOS wait list and identified processes to improve and subsequently change the process by which transplant patients are more efficiently managed and made ready for organ offers.

Professional Organizations

• American College of Surgeons
• American College of Surgeons, South Florida Chapter
• American Society of Transplant Surgery
• The Transplantation Society
• The Transplantation Society’s Women Leaders in Transplantation, Founding Member
• European Society of Transplantation
• American Medical Association
• Society of Laparo-endoscopic Surgeons
• Association of Women Surgeons
• Claude H. Organ Jr. Surgical Society, Founding Member
• AWS Grants and Fellowship Committee
• Association of Women surgeons Member Services Committee
• Women in Surgery, Faculty Mentor for Medical Students
• University of Miami Minority Association of Pre-Health Students Clinical Mentor
• Association of Women Surgeons’ Clinical Practice Committee

Presentations

• Miami Transplant Institute Symposium: Optimizing Outcomes in Obese Kidney Transplant recipients. Miami Beach, FL. 2015.
• Transplant Surgery Divisional Educational Lecture. Miami Transplant Institute. “The Organs We Transplant” series. Kidney Transplant. February 2020.
• University of Miami 16th Annual Lab Symposium. Transplanting the Sensitized Patient. Miami, FL. April 2008.
• Jackson Memorial Hospital, Educational Series. Operative Management of the Kidney Transplant Patient. Miami, FL. November 2015.

Awards

• Silver Award for the Kidney Transplant Program for outstanding service. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 2012.
• Silver Award for the Pancreas Transplant Program for outstanding service. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 2012.
• Silver Award for the Kidney Transplant Program for outstanding service. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 2010.
• Silver Award for the Pancreas Transplant Program for outstanding service. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 2010.
• 2009 Transplant Program Supporter of the Year. Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency’s 7th Annual Luminaire Award. University of Miami. 2009.
• 11th Annual Surgical Resident Research Award. UC-Davis & UC-Davis. East Bay Surgical Residency programs. Best Paper Presented. 2000.
• Outstanding Resident Teacher of the Year. UCSF-East Bay Surgical Residency Program. 1998.