LOS ANGELES (Sept. 15, 2023) — Cedars-Sinai has selected Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr., MD, as the new vice chair of Research in the Department of Surgery, director of the Division of Plastic Surgery and director of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Program Development.
Known for his innovative clinical care and research, Cetrulo is an international expert in complex adult and pediatric reconstructive microsurgery, hand surgery, breast reconstruction and burn reconstruction. He has pioneered procedures and treatments in the field of composite tissue transplants between individuals with different genotypes.
Cetrulo joins Cedars-Sinai from Massachusetts General Hospital, where, as associate professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, he served as director of the Reconstructive Transplantation Service and director of the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Laboratory at the Center for Transplantation Sciences.
As the leader of Massachusetts General’s hand transplantation effort, Cetrulo directed the surgical team that performed the institution’s first hand transplant in 2012. In 2016, he performed the first successful penis transplant in the U.S.
“Dr. Cetrulo brings great knowledge, experience and skill to his new leadership positions, and his arrival will strengthen our already formidable surgical teams,” said Cristina Ferrone, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery. “I wish him much success in advancing our renowned care for patients.”
Cetrulo has published research findings in more than 150 peer-reviewed journals, holds multiple patents in transplantation technology, and is co-founder of a nonprofit biotechnology company and founder of a cell therapy company.
He is a national leader with significant research contributions in xenotransplantation, the process of transplanting tissues or organs between different species. This pioneering technology, for which Cetrulo received an award from the American Burn Association, was applied in a first-in-human clinical trial at Massachusetts General, during which genetically modified laboratory pig skin was used to heal burn patients’ wounds.
A graduate of Stanford University, Cetrulo earned his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He completed his residency at Lahey Clinic Medical Center and his plastic surgery residency at Long Island Plastic Surgical Group/Nassau County Medical Center. Additionally, he completed fellowships at New York University’s Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, Craniofacial and Microsurgical Tissue Engineering Research and at The Buncke Clinic in San Francisco in hand and microsurgery.
“I am honored and thrilled to undertake these new leadership positions in the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai,” Cetrulo said. “Together, we will bring highly specialized, world-class care to our patients.”
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