Prabhakar Kalyanpur Baliga, MD

Prabhakar Baliga, M.D. FACS is a transplant surgeon and chair of the MUSC Department of Surgery, where he leads a diverse range of programs and services spanning nine clinical divisions, in addition to the Department's research and education divisions. Dr. Baliga's philosophy is to treat his patients with a primary focus on excellence and compassionate care. His clinical focus is in abdominal organ transplant with a special interest in kidney, liver and pancreas transplantation. He treats patients who are experiencing kidney failure, particularly with polycystic kidney disease; liver failure, liver cancer and patients who have issues with their bile duct, a series of thin tubes that go from the liver to the small intestine. ,He has served many leadership positions that have positively impacted the growth and expertise of the MUSC Health transplant program, the only solid organ transplant center in South Carolina. Prior to assuming the role of Department Chair, Dr. Baliga was named MUSC's ICCE Leader for Transplant, Nephrology & Hepatology and served on the Board of Life Point, an organ procurement agency. He has also served on the board for the United Network for Organ Sharing and the board of directors for the South Carolina chapter of the National Kidney Foundation. He is on the leadership of the state-wide SC surgical quality collaborative that is focused on improving care of surgical patients across SC. He currently serves on the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors as the Surgical Specialty Society Governor from the Southern Surgical Association.Dr. Baliga was awarded his medical degree by Madras Medical College in India. He completed his surgical residency at Tulane University and his transplant fellowship at the University of Michigan.