Prof. Mohamed Rela

MS, FRCS, DSc

Chairman & Director, Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre

Abdominal Trauma, HPB Surgery and Liver Transplantation

Chennai

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Brief Profile

Prof. Mohamed Rela is a pioneer in liver transplantation with over 28 years of experience. He started the Institute of Liver Disease and Transplantation at Global Gleneagles Health City in 2009. It has quickly become the largest liver transplant program in India. Since its inception, over 1500 liver transplantation surgeries have been performed under this programme. He is also a professor of Liver Transplant Surgery at Kings College Hospital, London.
Prof. Mohamed Rela, moved from Global Gleneagles group of hospitals to start ‘Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre’. His vision is to address the health care concerns of the local population with international standards. He also aims to provide cost-effective high-end treatments like multi-organ transplantation.

Educational Qualifications

M.B.B.S - 1982, University of Madras, India
M.S - 1987, University of Madras, India
FRCS - 1988, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
DSc (Honoris causa) - 2013, The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, India

Present Position

Chairman & Managing Director, Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre, Chennai
Professor of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Institute of Liver Disease, King’s College Hospital, NHS Trust, London
Course Director, Post MCh Fellowship in Liver Transplantation, Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu
President-Elect 2021 for the International Liver Transplant Society
Executive Council Member, Living Donor Liver Transplantation – Study Group

Accomplishments

Prof. Mohamed Rela is one of the most accomplished surgeons in the world. He has published over 400 scientific articles and papers on liver transplantation, complex hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery and more.
He has performed over 4000 liver transplant surgeries.
In December 1997, a team led by him performed successful liver transplantation on a five-day-old girl, which gave him an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000. She is now a 20-year-old law student.
He has pioneered the technique of split liver transplantation where one cadaver liver is split into two and transplanted into two individuals.
As per an article published by ‘Top Masters in Healthcare Administration’, he is also one of the most Innovative Paediatric Surgeons alive.

Honors & Awards

Panchanna Chaterjee Oration and Gold Medal: Association of Surgeons of India. December, 1996
Senior Lecturer: King’s College, University of London, 2001
Recognised Teacher status and PhD Supervisor: University of London, 2001
Professor of Liver Surgery and Transplantation: King’s College, University of London, 2005
Scroll of Honour and Medal: Jawaharlal Institute of Post graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, 2009
Dr Madhanagopal Oration and Medal: Madras Medical College, 2010
Scroll of Honour: The Tamilnadu Dr. MGR Medical University, 2012

Affiliations And Memberships

BMA: British Medical Association
RSM: Royal Society of Medicine
BTS: British Transplantation Society
ILTS: International liver transplant society
AUGIS: Association of Upper GI surgeons of Great Britain
ESOT: European Society of Organ Transplantation
BASL: British Association of Study of the Liver
IHPBA: International Hepato-Pancreato Biliary Association
APASL: The Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver
AST: American Society of Transplantation

Editorial Work And Reviewer

Editorial Board:

Associate Editor – “Transplantation” – Official Journal of The Transplantation Society
Editor – Liver Transplant Forum – Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology – Official journal of the Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) 2010-2015

Reviewer:

“Liver transplantation” official journal of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
“British Journal of Surgery” Europe’s premier surgical journal
“Transplant International” official journal of European Society for Organ Transplantation
“Paediatric Transplantation” official journal of The International Paediatric Transplant Association
“HPB International” official journal of International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
“Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology” official journal of Indian Association for Study of the Liver
Hepatology International – Official journal of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL)
“Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery”
Annals of Surgery
World Journal of Surgery
“Case Reports in Pathology”
“International Journal of Nephrology”

Innovation

Surgical Innovations

I have published extensively in the area of clinical liver transplantation (over 160 peer reviewed articles). Throughout my period as a consultant surgeon I have concentrated on developing and practicing new surgical techniques in liver transplantation. The major drive for this has been shortage of donor organs particularly for small children. I have led the country in techniques such as Split liver transplantation, and led the world in performing Auxiliary liver transplantation and Mono-segment liver transplantation for transplantation in neonates.

Associated Publications

M Rela, ND Heaton, P Muiesan, KC Tan. A technique for hepatic artery anastomosis during orthotopic liver transplantation. Transplant Int. 1995; 8:244-24521.
M Rela, P Muiesan, P Andreani, P Gibbs, G Mieli-Vergani, AP Mowat and ND Heaton. Auxiliary liver transplantation for metabolic diseases. Transpl Proc. 1997; 29: 444-445
M Rela, H Bonatti, P Muiesan, ND Heaton. Nonanatomical Reduction of Liver Allografts: A Promising Option for Neonates with Fulminant Hepatic Failure. Transpl Proc. 1997; 29: 446
M Rela, V Vougas, P Muiesan, H Vilca Melendez, V Smyrniotis, J Karani, Roger Williams, N Heaton. Split liver transplantation: King’s College Hospital experience. Ann Surg 1998; 227:282-8
M Rela, ND Heaton. Split liver transplantation. Leading Article. British Journal of Surgery 1998; 85: 881-883
M Rela, P Muiesan, H Vilca-Melendez A Dhawan, A Baker, G Mieli-Vergani, ND Heaton. Auxiliary orthotopic liver transplantation for Crigler Najjar Syndrome Type 1. Ann Surg 1999; 229:565-569
P Srinivasan, P Muiesan, H Vilca Melendez, ND Heaton, M Rela. Monosegmental Liver Transplantation. Surgery 1999;126:10-12
Deshpande RR, Bowles M, Vilca Melendez H, Srinivasan P, Girlanda R, Dhawan A, MieliVergani G, Muiesan P, Heaton N, Rela M. Results of split liver transplantation in children. Ann Surg. 2002; 236:248-53.
Deshpande RR, Heaton ND, Rela M. Surgical anatomy of segmental liver transplantation. Br J Surg. 2002 Sep;89(9):1078-88.
Review. Maguire D, Vilca-Melendez H, Heaton ND, Rela M. Is cholangiography required for ex situ splitting of cadaveric livers? Transpl Int. 2004 Jan;17(1):46-8.
Fusai G, Steinberg R, Prachalias A, Heaton ND, Spitz L, Rela M. Ex vivo liver surgery for extraadrenal pheochromocytoma. Pediatr Surg Int. 2006 Mar;22(3):282-5.
Tucker O, Prachalias A, Kane P, Rela M. Graft positioning at liver transplantation in situs inversus. Liver Transpl. 2006 Nov;12(11):1720-2.
Rela M, Battula N, Madanur M, Mieli-Vergani G, Dhawan A, Champion M, Raiman J, Heaton N. Auxiliary liver transplantation for propionic acidemia: a 10-year follow-up. Am J Transplant. 2007 Sep;7(9):2200-3.
Heaton N, Faraj W, Vilca Melendez H, Jassem W, Muiesan P, Mieli-Vergani G, Dhawan A, Rela M. Living related liver transplantation in children: A single centre experience. Accepted August 2007- BJS
Faraj W, Dar F, Bartlett A, Melendez HV, Marangoni G, Mukherji D, Vergani GM, Dhawan A, Heaton N, Rela M. Auxiliary liver transplantation for acute liver failure in children. Ann Surg. 2010 Feb;251(2):351-6
Rela M, Bharathan A, Palaniappan K, Cherian PT, Reddy MS. Portal flow modulation in auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation. Pediatr Transplant. 2015 May;19(3):255-60.
Govil S, Shanmugam NP, Reddy MS, Narasimhan G, Rela M. A metabolic chimera: Two defective genotypes make a normal phenotype. Liver Transpl. 2015 Nov;21(11):1453-4.