Ahmed Osama Gaber, M.D., FACS, FAST

A. Osama Gaber, M.D., is presently the Chair of the Department of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, the J.C. Walter Jr. Presidential Distinguished Endowed Chair, and Director of the Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center.  Dr. Gaber is also Professor of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, Program Director, Abdominal Multi-Organ Transplantation Fellowship and Senior Member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute. 

After he earned his medical degree from the Ainshams University School of Medicine in Cairo, Egypt, he completed a residency in general and pediatric surgery.  He, subsequently, completed surgical training in general surgery at the Boston University Medical Center and a research clinical transplant fellowship at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Gaber has devoted much of his career to pancreas, liver, and kidney transplantation and the surgical care of organ failure patients.  He has been funded by the NIH, JDRF, Assisi Foundation, Vivian Smith Foundation, and many other national and local foundations.  He is the author of more than 270 papers, as well as more than 340 abstracts and numerous book chapters. Dr. Gaber founded Nora’s Life Gift Foundation to build Nora’s Home, a hospitality house, located in the Houston, Texas Medical Center for transplant patients and their families.  Nora’s Home offers transplant patients and their families an affordable place to stay where they can find support and share experiences with others, in the comfort of a home-like environment. 

Dr. Gaber has been active in transplant business and regulatory issues since his early days as Chair of the SEOPF Kidney-Pancreas Committee.  He has also served as Region 11 representative and member of the MPSC and the UNOS Board and also serves on the Network 14 Quality Committee. He is a current member of the Texas Transplantation Society and was a founding member and President of the Tennessee Transplant Society. Today, Dr. Gaber is an active member of several major transplant organizations and is currently the President-Elect for the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) and the President-Elect of the Texas Transplantation Society.   He has also served as a committee member for both the ASTS and the AST and a councilor-at-large for the ASTS.  Dr. Gaber chaired the Governor’s Task Force on Chronic Kidney Disease, and the Kidney Alliance (KAT) of Texas, a statewide partnership representing leading professional kidney organizations, clinicians, public health professionals, medical schools, caregivers and patients.  He remains committed to this effort and is, at present, a governor appointed member of the recently formed new Governor’s Task Force under Texas Governor, Greg Abbott.

Under his leadership, the Houston Methodist Transplant Center has quickly risen to be the largest in the State of Texas and one of the top 10 largest in the country. Dr. Gaber has also been instrumental in building the research infrastructure at the Transplant Center and in the recruitment of several of the top academic transplant physicians and surgeons.