Curt Cetrulo, MD, FACS, FAAP, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Curt Cetrulo serves as Vice Chair (Research) of the Department of Surgery, Director of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and a Principal Investigator of the Board of Governors' Regenerative Medicine Institute and the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. 

Prior to joining Cedars, Dr. Cetrulo was an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and served in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Division of Plastic Surgery and the MGH Hand Surgery Service for 14 years where he established the first Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Team. In 2012, he led the team in performing MGH’s first hand transplant and in 2016, he led the team in performing the first successful penis transplantation in the U.S. and the second successful case in the world for which he received the Massachusetts Medical Society Men’s Health Award of 2018. In 2016, he obtained IRB approval for a “first-in-human” tolerance induction protocol for hand transplantation using co-transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells, first-of-its-kind genitourinary VCA, as well as for a novel protocol for facial allotransplantation.

Dr. Cetrulo’s laboratory research effort has centered on the development of immunologic tolerance induction strategies for vascularized composite tissue allografts. He has mentored 32 fellows and sponsored 7 PhD theses. He has published over 146 articles in peer-reviewed publications making important contributions to the field in the development of immunologic tolerance protocols in large animal preclinical models.

Dr. Cetrulo has also made significant contributions to xenotransplantation research, utilizing genetically modified swine skin as acute coverage for burn injuries, a technology that was recently recognized by an award from the American Burn Association. He holds numerous patents and has received a Partners Healthcare Innovator award annually since 2018.

Dr. Cetrulo holds local, national, and international leadership roles as the Scientific Program Committee Co-Chairman of the American Society of Reconstructive Transplantation and serves as the current President of the International Society of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation.