Section Chief
Professor of Surgery (Transplant); Division Chair, Transplantation Surgery and Immunology, Surgery
David C. Mulligan, MD, is an abdominal organ transplant surgeon performing both living and deceased donor liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants.
He currently serves as Professor and Chair of Transplantation and Immunology in the Department of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine/Yale New Haven Health System.His clinical and academic focus surrounds living donor liver transplantation, expanding donation, and working on ways to utilize ex-vivo organ perfusion systems to increase transplantation in the United States.Dr. Mulligan and his team are testing novel strategies in immunosuppression; improved biomechanical organ preservation methods to reduce ischemia/reperfusion injury and promote regeneration; and working in the field of 3D bioprinting to collaborate in finding ways to grow new organs from stem cell precursors.He has performed more than 250 living donor transplants and has authored more that 180 publications. He also has served on numerous editorial review boards and presented across the U.S. and internationally.Dr. Mulligan’s leadership in solid organ transplantation across national and international platforms has grown considerably and he now serves as Immediate Past President of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS)/Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN), Member at-large on the Governing Board of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Past Chair of the Advisory Council on Transplantation (ACOT) to the Secretary of HHS, special government employee for FDA Medical Device Advisory Committee and chair of the Business Practice Committee of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. He also contributes to the oversight and recommendations regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on solid organ transplantation in the U.S. for both the AASLD and the ASTS.In these visionary roles, he has led major changes in organ allocation and distribution and will hopefully culminate in substantial increases in organ transplants. Passionate about patient-centered care and building more resilient teams, he makes time to share his enjoyment of spending time in nature, especially near the ocean, with his wife and three children.