Douglas Farmer
MD, FACS, CTS
Professor of Surgery, University of California, Los Angeles.
Division Chief, Liver and Pancreas Transplantation,
Director, Pfleger Liver Institute,
Surgical Director, Adult Liver Transplant Program,
Surgical Director, Pediatric Liver Transplant Program,
Surgical Director, Intestinal Transplant Program.
1st Ronald W. Busuttil, MD, PhD and Sidney Kimmel Endowed Chair in Transplant Surgery, University of California Los Angeles.
Dr. Farmer completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at Duke University. From there, he matriculated to UCLA from 1989-1996 for his General Surgery Residency training which he actively holds certification by the American Board of Surgery. This was followed by fellowship training in multiorgan transplantation under the mentorship of Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil at UCLA from 1996-1998. He is also actively certified as a transplant surgeon by the American Society of Transplant Surgery (ASTS). He joined the faculty at UCLA in 1998 and has remained there since. He has advanced through the professorial ranks over the past 27 years and currently a Tenured Full Professor in the Department of Surgery. He was appointed as the first Ronald W. Busuttil, MD, PhD and Sidney Kimmel Endowed Chair in Transplant Surgery retroactive to October 202
His clinical expertise has been in adult and pediatric liver transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery, intestinal transplantation, and complex gastrointestinal surgery. He has served as the Director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at UCLA since 2006 and has been the first Director of the Intestinal Transplant Program since 1999. He is currently the Director of the Adult Liver Transplant Program. He served as the interim Chief of the Division starting in 2020 and, after a competitive international search, was appointed Chief of the Division in October 2024. Dr. Farmer has served two terms as a Councilor Intestinal Transplant Association and served as President of the Intestinal Transplantation Association from 2013-2015.
He has also held leadership positions in the ASTS as Committee Chair, Councilor, and Chair of the Transplantation Accreditation and Certification Council. He is currently an Associate Editor for the textbook, Liver Transplantation and was appointed as Editor in Chief of the journal, Intestinal Failure in 2023. He has published over 200 peer reviewed manuscripts as well as over 40 book chapters. He has trained 65 transplant surgery fellows and multiple research residents and students.
Dr. Farmer actively participates in both translational clinical research as well as basic science research. He is actively working on the mechanisms of ischemia and reperfusion injury in both the liver and intestine. He has held 25 research grants from both public and private sources.