Faculty Profile
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Linda C. Cendales, MD
– Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Division of Transplantation (dual appointment), Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
– Director, Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation and Microsurgery Laboratory, Emory Transplant Center
Telephone: 404.727.0701
E-mail: lcendal@emory.edu
Year Joined Emory as a Faculty Member: 2007
Dr. Cendales, the only person in the United States with formal training in both hand and transplant surgery, is the director of the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation and Microsurgery Laboratory of the Emory Transplant Center. Composite allotransplantation is the re-transplantation of multiple tissues such as skin, muscle, bone, nerves, and tendons as a functional unit. She assisted in the organization of the first hand transplant team in the U.S. in Louisville, KY, which performed the first hand transplant in 1999. After initiating the first clinical trial of VCA in hand transplantation in 2009, Dr. Cendales led the multi-disciplinary team that performed Emory's first hand transplant in March 2011. The procedure was also the first in the Southeast and only the 14th such transplant in the country. In 2012, Dr. Cendales was named PI of a trial that received four-year funding from the Department of Defense Medical Research and Development Program. The trial will evaluate the use of belatacept as an immunosuppressant in hand transplant patients, and will complement ongoing trials of belatacept for kidney transplant, liver transplant, and pancreatic islet transplant. Dr. Cendales also directs a microsurgical techniques and skills training course that is available to Emory and non-Emory University physicians, fellows, residents, technicians, and students.
Affiliations
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Emory University Hospital
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Grady Memorial Hospital
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Atlanta VA Medical Center
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Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston
Education
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MD, class of 1992, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana at Xochimilco Center, Mexico
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Residency in General Surgery, Hospital General "Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez," Mexico City, Mexico, 1993-1996
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Fellowship in Hand and Microsurgery, National Institute for Orthopaedics, Mexico City, Mexico, 1996
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Research and Clinical Fellowships in Hand and Microsurgery, Christine M. Kleinert Institute, Louisville, KY, 1997-2001
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Fellowship in Transplantation Surgery, Transplantation and Autoimmunity Branch; National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 2001-2004
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Senior Clinical Fellowship, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 2004-2006
Honors and Awards
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Women of Influence Honoree, Women's Economic Development Agency, 2012
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Atlanta's Top Doctors, Atlanta Magazine, 2011, 2012
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"Personaje Destacado del Ano" (Outstanding Individual of the Year), "Work" category, Mundo Hispanico, Georgia's largest Hispanic newspaper (affiliated with the AJC), 2011
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Rising Star Award, International Confederation for Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, 2011
- Finalist, Health-Care Hero Award, Innovation Category, Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2011
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Inaugural "Women First" Honoree, Emory University School of Medicine, 2011
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NIH-KL2 Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Scholar, 2009-2011
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Astellas Faculty Development Award, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, 2008
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Clinical Research Center Bench to Bedside Award, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 2004
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Poster of Distinction, American Transplant Congress, Boston, MA, 2004
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Young Investigator Award, American Transplant Congress, Washington, DC, 2002 and 2003
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Fujisawa Young Investigator Award, 2002
Current Organizational Memberships
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The Transplantation Society
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International Advisory Committee, 2014 World Transplant Congress
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American Society of Transplantation: Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Committee
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American Society of Transplant Surgeons: Inaugural Chair, Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Committee
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American Association for Hand Surgery: Inaugural Chair, Hand Transplantation Task Force
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American Society for Surgery of the Hand
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International Society of Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation: Founding Member, Secretary
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Association of Veteran Affairs Surgeons
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Georgia Society for Surgery of the Hand
- Georgia Society of Plastic Surgeons
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Georgia Surgical Society
Editorships and Editorial Boards
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Editorial Board, Transplantation
- Editorial Board, Annals of Plastic Surgery
Clinical and Research Interests
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Hand and microsurgery
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Transplant surgery
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Vascularized composite allotransplantation and related topics: application of novel immunosuppressive medications and management, translational research, immune monitoring, rejection, clinical applications, and outcomes
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Outcomes in reconstructive surgery
