Tomoaki Kato, MD

Liver & Abdominal Transplant Surgery
General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Transplant Surgery
More specialties
Accepting New Patients
Treats Children
Virtual Visits/Telehealth
Profile Headshot

Overview

tomoaki_kato_md

If you need assistance in Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), please call 646-317-6325.
Visit Columbia Liver Asian Outreach Office (English | Mandarin)

Tomoaki Kato, M.D., is a noted pioneer in multiple-organ transplantation, pediatric and adult liver transplantation. Dr. Kato is Surgical Director of Adult and Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is a professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Kato is known for unique and innovative surgeries for adults and children, including a six-organ transplant; a procedure called APOLT (auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation) that resuscitates a failing liver by attaching a partial donor liver, making immunosuppressant drugs unnecessary and the first successful human partial bladder transplantation involving the transplant of two kidneys together with ureters connected to a patch of the donor bladder. In a highly publicized case, he led the first reported removal and re-implantation, or auto-transplantation, of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor.

Previously the director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplant and professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Kato received his medical degree from the Osaka University Medical School in Japan and received his residency training in surgery at Osaka University Hospital and Itami City Hospital in Hyogo, Japan. He completed a clinical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami, Florida, where he was subsequently appointed to the surgical faculty in 1997, and promoted to full professor in 2007. He served as a surgeon and senior leader of the liver and transplantation center at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, beginning in 1997, and at University of Miami Hospital (previously Cedars Medical Center), beginning in 2004. Dr. Kato is a member of numerous professional and honorary organizations, and the author or co-author of more than 180 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Visit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver

Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated

  • Abdominal Organ Transplantation
  • Abdominal Wall Transplantation
  • Auto Transplantation
  • Auxiliary Transplant
  • Cholangiocarcinoma
  • Ex-Vivo Resection
  • Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (Fibrolamellar HCC)
  • Hepatobiliary Surgery
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
  • Intestinal Transplant
  • Liver Transplant
  • Liver Transplant, Pediatric
  • Liver Transplantation
  • Multivisceral Transplantation
  • Organ Transplant, Pediatric
  • Pediatric Liver Cancer
  • Sarcoma
  • Small Bowel Resection
  • Small Bowel Transplant, Pediatric
  • Small Bowel Transplantation
  • Surgical Oncology

Academic Appointments

  • Edwin C. and Anne K. Weiskopf Professor of Surgical Oncology

Administrative Titles

  • Chief, Division of Abdominal Organ Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery
  • Surgical Director, Liver and Gastrointestinal Transplantation
  • Executive Director of the Columbia Transplant Initiative
  • Clinical Director of Transplant Services at NYP/CUIMC

Hospital Affiliations

  • NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital
  • NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
  • NewYork-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center

Languages

  • Japanese

Gender

  • Male

Schedule an Appointment

Virtual Visits/Telehealth

Virtual Visits allow you to connect with your provider from the comfort, convenience, and safety of your own home.

Schedule Virtual Visit

Phone Appointments

New and Existing Patients:

Connect Patient Portal

For existing patients, login to make an appointment, view documentation or contact your care provider.

Connect Sign In

Location(s)

51 West 51st Street
Suite 380
New York, NY 10019
Primary
622 West 168th Street
PH, Floor 14
New York, NY 10032
Primary
136-20 38th Avenue Office
Suite 8E
Flushing, NY 11354

Insurance Accepted

Aetna

  • Aetna Signature Administrators
  • EPO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • NYP Employee Plan
  • NY Signature
  • Student Health

Affinity Health Plan

  • Medicaid Managed Care

Amerigroup of New Jersey

  • New Jersey Services (Medicaid Managed Care)

Cigna

  • EPO
  • Great West (National)
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO

Emblem/GHI

  • Medicare Managed Care
  • PPO

Emblem/HIP

  • ConnectiCare
  • EPO
  • Essential Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO
  • Select Care (Exchange)
  • Vytra

Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield

  • PPO

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthPlus

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Essential Plan

Fidelis Care

  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care

Healthfirst

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Leaf (Exchange)
  • Medicare Managed Care

Local 1199

  • Local 1199

MagnaCare (National)

  • MagnaCare

Medicare

  • Railroad
  • Traditional Medicare

Multiplan

  • Multiplan

MVP Health Care

  • Child/Family Health Plus
  • Essential Plan
  • Medicaid Managed Care

Quality Health Management

  • Quality Health Management

RiverSpring

  • Special Needs

UnitedHealthcare

  • Columbia University Employee Plan
  • Compass (Exchange)
  • Empire Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicaid (Community Plan)
  • Oxford Freedom
  • Oxford HMO
  • Oxford Liberty
  • POS
  • PPO

VNSNY CHOICE

  • SelectHealth
  • Special Needs

WellCare

  • Medicaid Managed Care
  • Medicare Managed Care

World Trade Center Health Plan

  • World Trade Center Health Plan

*Please contact the provider’s office directly to verify that your particular insurance is accepted.

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • Osaka University, Japan
  • Residency: 1995 Itami City Hospital, Hyogo, Japan
  • Fellowship: University of Miami Hospital

Committees, Societies, Councils

  • American Society for Transplant Surgeons
  • American Gastroenterological Association
  • American Association of Study for Liver Disease
  • American College of Surgeon
  • American Surgical Association
  • The Transplant Society
  • The Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association
  • The International Pediatric Transplant Association
  • The Society of University Surgeons
  • ASTS business committee
  • Japan Surgical Society
  • Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery
  • Japan Society of Cancer Chemotherapy

Honors & Awards

  • 2009-2020 New York Magazine's Best Doctors
  • 2015 Global Alumni Fellow, Osaka University
  • 2014 Nobility in Science Award, Sarcoma Foundation of Americas
  • 2007 Humanitarian of the Year, Consulate General of Israel in Miami

America's Top Doctor
NY Top Doctor

Research

Research Interests

  • Immune tolerance
  • Monitoring of intestinal rejection
  • Outcomes research for intestinal transplant, Hepatitis C, Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Transplant immunology

Selected Publications

  1. Young?Dong Yu, Regina Hwang, Karim J. Halazun, Adam Griesemer, Tomoaki Kato, Jean Emond, Benjamin Samstein.Whose Liver Is It Anyway? Two Centers Participating in One Living Donor Transplantation 2019;25:1710-1713
  2. Shilpa Ravella, Peter Liou, Monica Velasco, Alycea Harrison, Tomoaki Kato, Mercedes Martinez. Nutritional Challenges in Patients After Intestinal Autotransplantation and Ex Vivo Surgery. Volume43, Issue2 February 2011 Pages 245-251
  3. Human Intestinal Allografts Contain Functional Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells that Are Maintained by a Circulating Pool. JianingFu, JulienZuber, MercedesMartinez, BrittanyShonts, AleksandarObradovic, HuiWang1Sai-pingLau, AmyXia, Elizabeth E.Waffarn, KristjanaFrangaj, Thomas M.Savage, Michael T.Simpson, SuxiaoYang, Xinzheng V.Guo,MichelleMiron, TakashiSenda, KortneyRogers, AdeebRahman, MeganSykes. Cell Stem Cell 2019; 24:197-198
  4. Samstein B, Griesemer A, Halazun K, Kato T, Guarrera JV, Cherqui D, Emond JC. Pure Laparoscopic Donor Hepatectomies: Ready for Widespread Adoption? Ann Surg 2018;268:602-609
  5. Przybyszewski EM, Verna EC, Lobritto SJ, Martinez M, Vittorio JM, Fox AN, Samstein B, Kato T, Griesemer AD, Emond JC. Durable Clinical and Immunologic Advantage of Living Donor Liver Transplantation in Children. Transplantation 2018;102:953-960
  6. Chaudhry SG, Bentley?Hibbert S, Stern J, Lobritto S, Martinez M, Vittorio J, Halazun KJ, Lee HT, Emond J, Kato T, Samstein B, Griesemer A. Growth of liver allografts over time in pediatric transplant recipients. Pediatr Transplant 2018;22:e13104
  7. Halazun KJ, Rana AA, Fortune B, Quillin III RC, Verna EC, Samstein B, Guarrera JV, Kato T, Griesemer AD, Fox A, Brown Jr RS, Emond JC. No country for old livers? Examining and optimizing the utilization of elderly liver grafts. Am J Transplant 2018;18:669-678
  8. Elnaggar AS, Griesemer AD, Bentley?Hibbert S, Brown Jr RS, Martinez M, Lobritto SJ, Kato T, Emond JC. Liver atrophy and regeneration in noncirrhotic portal vein thrombosis: Effect of surgical shunts. Liver Transpl 2018;24:881-887
  9. Carpenter DJ, Granot T, Matsuoka N, Senda T, Kumar BV, Thome JJC, Gordon CL, Miron M, Weiner J, Connors T, Lerner H, Friedman A, Kato T, Griesemer AD, Farber DL. Human immunology studies using organ donors: Impact of clinical variations on immune parameters in tissues and circulation. Am J Transplant 2018;18:74-88
  10. Kato Y, Greisemer AD, Wu A, Sondemeijer H, Weiner JI, Duran-Struuck R, Martinez M, Slate AR, Romanov A, Lefkowitch JH, Sukes M, Kato T*. Novel H-shunt venovenous bypass for liver transplantation in cynomolgus macaques. Comparative Medicine 2017;67:436-441
  11. Weiner J, Zuber J, Shonts B, Yang S, Fu J, Martinez M, Farber D, Kato T, Sykes M. Long-Term Persistence of Innate Lymphoid Cells in the Gut After Intestinal Transplantation. Transplantation 2017; 101: 2449-2454
  12. Halazun KJ, Quillin RC, Rosenblatt R, Bongu A, Griesemer AS, Kato T, Smith C, Michelassi F, Guarrera JV, Samstein B, Brown RS, Emond JC. Ann Surg 2017;266:441-449