Dr. Gaetano Ciancio Receives Outstanding Teaching Award

The Miller School of Medicine’s Gaetano Ciancio, M.D., MBA, a renowned transplant surgeon, received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Miami Faculty Senate on April 3.

Ciancio, who is the Brandon and Kyle Simonsen Professor of Surgery and Urology, chief medical and academic officer of the Miami Transplant Institute, and director of kidney and kidney-pancreas transplantation, has received multiple teaching awards in both urology and transplantation. A two-time recipient of the Attending of the Year Award of Excellence for his leadership in the Department of Urology, he received the Urology Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and the Charles Lynn Urology Teacher Award in 2015, and he was the first recipient of the University of Miami Medical Group Faculty Heroes Recognition Award.

“You are a brilliant surgeon who has dedicated yourself tirelessly to the University of Miami, your patients, and the young physicians who will follow in your footsteps,” University of Miami President Julio Frenk told Ciancio. “Thank you for providing the leadership and guidance that is helping to transform today’s medical students and residents into the leading clinicians and educators of tomorrow.”

Ciancio has performed transplants and urologic surgery around the world and helped establish transplant programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, including in Haiti, where he performed that nation’s first kidney transplant.

“I share this award with all the professors at the University of Miami for making a difference in the lives of students,” he said at the ceremony.

Giselle Guerra, M.D., the medical director of transplant services who nominated Ciancio for the teaching award, said his passion for his work is “intoxicating” as is how he goes about fulfilling his major life goal: “to give life so they in turn live life.”

“As the only transplant doctor dual certified here at the University, he pushed to expand the growth and opportunities for fellows across all specialties,” Guerra said. “However, his dedication in teaching doesn’t stop there. There is never a single month where you don’t find one or several observers coming from other countries … to learn from his medical, surgical, and … his fine culinary skills.”

Beyond his clinical efforts, Ciancio is the author and co-author of two books, 26 book chapters, and more than 340 articles published in medical journals for topics involving the field of solid organ transplantation and urology.

Faculty Senate Chair Tomas Salerno, M.D., left, presents the Outstanding Teaching Award to Gaetano Ciancio, M.D., MBA, as Giselle Guerra, M.D., looks on.

Tags: Gaetano Ciancio, miami transplant institute, outstanding teaching award, UM Faculty Senate