Dr. Giselle Guerra Honored as Outstanding Woman in Health and Human Services

Giselle Guerra, M.D., medical director of the kidney and kidney-pancreas program at the Miami Transplant Institute, was honored on International Women’s Day for her leadership in helping South Florida patients suffering from life-threatening kidney diseases.

Dr. Giselle Guerra and her husband Paul Gipps with their children, Marc, Chloe Marie and Geoffrey.

“My biggest reward is seeing the impact of our program on the lives of our patients and their families,” said Guerra, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who received the “Outstanding Woman in Health & Human Services” award at a March 8 ceremony at the Coral Gables Country Club.

Guerra was one of “13 Amazing Women” honored by Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces; the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade; and the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women, which hosted the 30th annual “In the Company of Women” awards that showcase and celebrate local women leaders.

A transplant nephrologist who joined the Miller School faculty 12 years ago, Guerra is also medical director of the Living Donor Kidney Program at Miami Transplant Institute (MTI), an affiliation between UHealth – the University of Miami Health System and Jackson Health System. “We perform about 350 kidney transplants a year, making us the second largest program in the country,” Guerra said. “We also have the best results among large volume centers.”

Carlos A. Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System, cited Guerra’s compassion for patients and her visionary leadership in nominating her for the award. “Dr. Giselle Guerra has dedicated her career to giving hope and the gift of life to patients, who are in desperate need of a life-saving transplant,” Migoya said. “She grew and created two successful transplant programs, in which patients receive a kidney from a living donor. These programs have provided amazing benefits to patients, including shorter waiting time for an organ, and better outcomes and survival rates.”

When Guerra joined MTI in 2008, the kidney transplant program was performing few transplants from living donors. Recognizing that these transplants are the best option for many patients, she began educating the community and growing the program.

UM winners Dr. Giselle Guerra and Dr. Joanna Lombard, who was honored in the education and research category.

In 2012, Guerra created the Hispanic Kidney Transplant Clinic for pre-kidney transplant patients of Hispanic background. Designed to address cultural fears about living donations, the staff’s Spanish-speaking physicians and nurses educate families on the benefits of living donation. “Many people from all backgrounds are concerned about what it means to be a living donor,” Guerra said. “You can donate one of your two kidneys and still work, exercise, have children and enjoy a normal, healthy life.”

While growing the Living Donor Kidney Program, Guerra felt that there was more to be done to help MTI patients. In 2014, she created the Paired Exchange Program, which allows recipients to receive a better-matched kidney, and speeds up the transplant process. On July 9, 2014, MTI successfully performed Florida’s first three-way paired kidney exchange transplant, involving three donors and three recipients. The next year the MTI team performed Florida’s first four-way paired kidney exchange.

Drawing on her experience, Guerra has assisted transplant centers across the United States, as well as in Argentina and Mexico, in developing living donor and paired exchange programs that can help the 96,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor.

Through research studies, Guerra has focused on improving the outcomes of transplant patients. Recently, she was appointed principal investigator of a national study that focuses on the mutation of the apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1) in African Americans and people of African descent, and how this variant leads to chronic kidney disease.   The study, set to start in 2018, will also look at the outcomes of patients who receive a kidney from a person carrying this mutated gene. The results of this new study will help make improvements in the allocations of kidneys. The study will involve a consortium of organ procurement organizations in Florida and Puerto Rico, as well as 13 other transplant centers in the country.

“As a woman leader in an industry that has been historically led by men, Dr. Guerra has mentored many women,” Migoya said. “Several of her mentees, including a few women, have become medical directors of transplant programs at other hospitals, or have become associate professors of clinical medicine at the University of Miami Health System.”

Tags: Giselle Guerra, In the Company of Women, International Women's Day, miami transplant institute