Nico Goldaracena

Dr. Nicolas Goldaracena completed his general surgery residency at the Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following an HPB and Transplant Surgery fellowship at the Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, he joined in 2013 the Hepatic Reperfusion Injury and Organ Preservation Laboratory in Toronto, Canada where he completed a 2-year research fellowship. Dr. Goldaracena then completed in 2017 an additional 2-year clinical fellowship in Abdominal Organ Transplantation and HPB Surgery at the University of Toronto where he received special training in living donor liver transplantation, paediatric liver transplantation and complex hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery. In 2019 he joined the University of Virginia, USA as the surgical director of the living donor liver transplant program and the paediatric liver transplant program, positions that he held until being recruited back to Toronto.

Dr Goldaracena is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and has dual appointments at the Hospital for Sick Children, and at UHN, Division of General Surgery.

His clinical focus is devoted to living donor liver transplantation, paediatric liver transplant and complex HPB surgery in paediatric patients suffering from benign and malignant conditions of the liver, pancreas and biliary tree.

Research

Dr. Goldaracena's research is focused on clinical outcomes involving adult and paediatric liver transplantation and has a special interest in living donor safety and increasing the organ donor pool and reducing wait list mortality by means of living donor liver transplantation. He also has an interest on surgical outcome in patients suffering from primary or metastatic liver tumors.

Education and experience

• 2015–2107: Clinical Fellow, Abdominal Organ Transplantation and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
• 2013–2015: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Multiorgan Transplant Program, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
• 2011–2013: Clinical Fellow, HPB and Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 2010–2011: Chief Resident, Department of Surgery, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 2006–2010: Resident, Department of Surgery, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Achievements

• 2024: Nomination and finalist for GME Master Educator Award, UVA Health, University of Virginia
• 2022: Recipient of UVA General Surgery Departmental Research Funding
• 2020: Americal Society of Transplant Surgeons Top Poster Distinction Award, ASTS Winter Symposium, Miami Florida
• 2018: Vanguard Award for the Best Basic Science Paper Published in 2017, ILTS Annual Congress, Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2018: International Liver Transplant Society Travel Award, 2018 ILTS International Congress, Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2016: American Society of Transplantation Poster of Distinction Award, 2016 American Transplant Congress, Boston, Massachusetts.
• 2016: University of Toronto GI Research Award. Best oral presentation, University of Toronto GI Research Day, Toronto, Ontario
• 2016: Sheila Sherlock Best Research Study Project Award
• 2015: Recipient of the 2015 ASTS – Astellas Fellowship in Transplantation Grant.
• 2015: American Society of Transplantation Poster of Distinction Award, Americal Transplant Congress, Philadelphia, PA
• 2015: American Society of Transplant Surgeons Top Poster Distinction Award, ASTS 15th Winter Symposium, Miami, FL
• 2015: American Society of Transplant Surgeons Top Junior Investigator Award (Vanguard Committee), ASTS 15th Winter Symposium, Miami, FL

1. Jones O, Li Z, Magyar CTJ, Goldaracena N, Sayed BA, Ghanekar A, Cattral M, Selzner N, Sapisochin G. A scoping review of non-medical barriers to living-donor liver transplant. Liver Transpl. 2025 Mar 1;31(3):287-297.
2. Goldaracena N, Zhu A, Vargas PA, Karanicolas P, Henry Z, Sazed BA, Cattral M, Rajedran L, Ghanekar A, Sapisochin G. Hepatic Artery Infusion Pump for Unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastases Before Living Donor Liver Transplant: Oncological Friend or Technical Foe? Liver Transpl. 2024 Nov 1;30(11):1203-1207.
3. Vargas PA, Goldaracena N. Alternatives to Left Lateral Segment for Pediatric Liver Transplantation, or Required Surgeon Toolkit? Hepatobiliary Surg Nutr. 2024 April 3;13(2):376-378.
4. Dalzell C, Vargas PA, Soltys K, Di Paola F, Mazariegos G, Goldaracena N. Technical Aspects and Considerations of Meso-Rex Bypass Following Liver Transplantation with Left Lateral Segment Grafts: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Front Pediatr. 2022 Apr 25:10:868582.
5. Dalzell C, Vargas PA, Soltys K, Dipaola F, Mazariegos G, Oberholzer J, Goldaracena N. Living Donor Liver Transplantation vs. Split Liver Transplantation Using Left Lateral Segment Grafts in Pediatric Recipients: An Analysis of the UNOS Database. Transpl Int. 2022 Mar 22;36:10437.