Sanjay Kulkarni

Dr. Kulkarni is a multi-organ transplant surgeon and the Director of the Kidney Transplant Program at Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital. The clinical program has been one of the largest programs in New England since 2008, in terms of new patients listed, the number of living donor transplants, and the total number of kidney transplants performed. Clinical highlights of the program include an accelerated work-up and listing process (AJKD 2012;60(2):288, Healthgrades Award for overall program performance 2010, and implementation of a total laparoscopic kidney donation procedure. Watch a video with Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni >>

Dr. Kulkarni is medical director of the newly established, Center for Living Organ Donors, which is founded on the free life-long welfare and clinical monitoring of living donors that have donated at Yale. This unique program provides donor-centered outreach throughout CT and engages donors long-term to assure health. It also serves as a platform to donor community development and long-term engagement with our donors to foster the sharing of health through living donation.

Dr. Kulkarni is the principal investigator on numerous clinical research trials and projects. His research has focused on the use of anti-complement therapies to improve kidney graft survival and novel approaches to improving living donor outcomes through surgical innovations, including low-pressure laparoscopy. Ongoing research initiatives include the ethics and implementation of patient-centered care in the care of living donors through shared-decision making, identifying reasons why individuals opt-out of donation, and fostering the development of local donor communities using a social capital framework.

Appointed to the role of Physician Executive Director, Clinical Continuity & Integration for Yale-New Haven Hospital, Dr. Kulkarni aims to improve the patient experience by identifying areas of fractured care within the health system and implement novel interventions to improve care coordination within the domain networks.