Dr. Shaf Keshavjee completed his medical training at the University of Toronto in 1985, and subsequently trained in General Surgery, Cardiac Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Toronto followed by fellowship training at Harvard University and the University of London for airway surgery and heart-lung transplantation, respectively. He currently leads a team whose studies in transplantation will have a significant impact on treatment outcomes for patients with lung disease at UHN and around the world. Dr. Keshavjee was appointed UHN’s Surgeon-in-Chief in 2010.
An integral part of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at UHN, Dr. Keshavjee has taken on leadership roles in all facets of this specialized area of care: as a skilled surgeon and Director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program; and as a researcher and Director of the Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories. To improve lung function after transplantation, Dr. Keshavjee has developed a lung preservation solution to preserve donor lungs en route to transplant. This solution has become the standard technique used by transplantation programs around the world. Dr. Keshavjee has further attracted worldwide attention for his pioneering research to recondition and repair injured human donor lungs using a combination the Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System, making them suitable for transplantation into patients and enhancing the number of donor lungs that are available.
Dr Keshavjee has served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, The Canadian Society of Transplantation and on the Governing Council of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. He has received numerous awards for his continuing contributions to his field, including the George Armstrong Peters Young Investigator Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, the Colin Woolf Award for Excellence in Continuing Medical Education and the highest award for research achievement in the Department of Surgery: the Lister Prize in Surgery.
Dr. Shaf Keshavjee MD MSc FRCSC FACS
Surgeon-in-Chief, UHN
James Wallace McCutcheon Chair in Surgery
Director, Toronto Lung Transplant Program
Program Medical Director, Surgical Services and Critical Care
Director, Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories
Scientist, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine
University Health Network
Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery
Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Toronto