Georgios Vrakas, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCS

Since childhood, I aspired to be a surgeon like my father. I was fortunate enough to witness the hope and help he offered people that inspired my journey to accomplish the same as a transplant surgeon. As director of the UF Health Adult Kidney and Pancreas Program and an associate professor in the division of transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery, my goal is to perform quality transplants. For us, every transplant operation is a rewarding experience to ignite hope for our patients by improving their longevity and quality of life. I perform kidney and multiorgan transplants. Additionally, I am a member of the organ procurement team and perform multiple organ operations.

My training began at the University of Crete in Greece, where I attended medical school. I earned my Master of Science in hepatopancreatobiliary surgery at Democritus University in Alexandroupolis. Thereafter, I attended the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where I obtained my doctoral degree in intestinal preconditioning. I finished my training with four years of transplant fellowships at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College and Oxford University Hospitals in the UK. After completing my fellowships, I was appointed as a consultant transplant surgeon and clinical lead of the kidney transplant program at Oxford University Hospitals.

In 2014, I was nominated for the Medawar Medal by the British Transplantation Society for my involvement with abdominal wall transplants. Just one year later in 2015, I was honored by the University of Oxford Department of Surgery as the best instructor in the field of surgery. Additionally, I was awarded the Young Investigator Award in Hong Kong by The Transplantation Society for my research on the development of donor specific-antibodies (DSA) after a combined allograft and vascular skin graft (VSA) transplants. That same year, I received the honorary title of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of the UK. Most recently, I was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of Greece.

Aside from practicing, I am interested in raising funds for transplant charities. In 2017, I climbed Mount-Kilimanjaro and rode a tandem bike between Paris and London.