Throughout his seven years working there, Dr. Rainer Gruessner was a key influential member of the University Of Arizona School Of Medicine from 2007 to 2014. He was an educator, an administrator and a visionary leader. But most of all, he was a surgeon; and an incredible one at that. He performed Arizona’s first living and deceased intestinal transplants, first multivisceral transplant, first pediatric living donor liver transplant and first robot-assisted total pancreatectomy with simultaneous autologous islet transplant.

His track record of rapidly growing clinical and scientific programs and his ability to galvanize basic and clinical scientists as well as health care professionals and administrators led to a pathogenesis- and translationally-focused, innovative technology-embracing department.

As an educator and due to Dr. Gruessner’s leadership,the General Surgery Residency program went from “on probation” to full accreditation shortly after his arrival. He then expanded the General Surgery Residency program from 6 to 8 categorical residents per year and transformed it to one of only 12% of programs in the nation with ≥ 8 categorical residents. He established 3 new residency programs: Cardiothoracic Surgery, ENT and Vascular Surgery. And he got approval, from the University of Arizona Senate, for a new Graduate School program, the MS/PhD program in surgery (since 2009, 6 categorical surgery residents have been awarded such degrees). Moreover, he oversaw a significant increase in the number of resident-generated publications in the General Surgery Residency program: from < 5 in 2006 to > 60 publications in 2013.

Dr. Rainer Gruessner enhanced the commitment to diversity in the General Surgery Residency program: 42% of the residents are female, > 30% are of Hispanic ethnicity. And 8 American Indians (the highest number in the nation) successfully graduatedfrom the General Surgery Residency program from the General Surgery Residency program.

As a research administrator, Dr. Gruessnerquadrupled the Department of Surgery’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support. He also moved the International Pancreas Transplant Registry (IPTR)to the University of Arizona, one of only 2 independent international solid-organ transplant registries in the world.

In his capacity as Chairman, Dr. Gruessnercompletely rebuilt the Department of Surgery through the recruitment of 70 new faculty members and the establishment of 3 new divisions and various new clinical programs. He oversaw a significant increase in operating room case volumes and a 4-foldincrease in surgery case volume for pancreatic, liver, and bile duct cancers, attracting patients from neighboring metropolitan areas to the Department of Surgery’s HepatoPancreaticoBiliary program. Moreover, he developed one of the largest islet transplant programs in the nation, focusing on the treatment of chronic pancreatitis and performance of the world’s first robot-assisted total pancreatectomy and islet autotransplant in 2012. Dr. Gruessneralso oversaw successful certification by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of a new liver transplant program within months after his arrival and Level I certification of the University of Arizona’s trauma center.

As an administrator, Dr. Gruessner significantly increased the Department of Surgery’s ranking, in revenue, to #1 of all University of Arizona College of Medicine departments. Dr. Gruessner also oversawall patient care issues from the tragic shootings in Tucson (on January 8, 2011) that killed 6 people and wounded 13 others, including U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

In turn, the University of Arizona awarded Dr. Gruessner with its Innovation Award in 2009.
Dr. Rainer Gruessner’s work at the University of Arizona has left a lasting impact on their faculty, staff and students that will surely resonate throughout the medical field for many years to come.