About Us

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

After 25 years the Newcastle Transplant Unit has become a leading renal transplant unit in Australia, a reputation gained from its service quality, innovation, research and development. It also has an emerging international standing and is one of the excellent health service units in Hunter New England Local Health Network

Our Story

Transplantation is one of the major medical triumphs of the last 60 years. It not only saves lives; it restores life allowing people with organ failure to go forward and lead fulfilling lives after transplantation.

Over this time improved outcomes for patients have been achieved because research findings have been carefully applied to recipients and live donors. However, major problems in transplantation remain unsolved e.g. chronic rejection, tolerance and transplant- related cancer. The good news is they can be solved by scientific research combined with collaboration between transplant scientists and clinicians. Now new opportunities to solve these problems have come about because the human gene structure has been defined. Therefore todays research becomes tomorrows transplant practice.

We are establishing a world class facility at the John Hunter Hospital campus. We will appoint a Professor of Transplant Immunology with international standing to lead the centre.

Meet the Team

We have a great team of scientists and clinicians who are leaders in their field. They are driven by passion for transplantation and delivering better outcomes for Transplant recipients

Transplant Nephrologist and former Director

Dr Paul Trevillian

He is the former Director of Newcastle Transplant Unit and one of the two founding fathers of HTRF. He pioneered the process of desensitisation of recipients and started ABO incompatible renal transplantation in Newcastle.

Transplant Surgeon and Founding Director

Dr Adrian Hibberd

Dr Adrian Hibberd is a transplant/ vascular surgeon and transplant immunologist. He is a Conjoint Professor of Surgery at the University of Newcastle. He is the founding Director of the Newcastle Transplant Unit where he established clinical transplantation as a multidisciplinary specialty across surgery

and medicine. This model system has impacted other transplant units in Australia. He played a leading role in the reform of organ and tissue donation in Newcastle, NSW and Australia culminating in the establishment of the National Organ and Tissue Donation Authority. He is the sole inventor of a new class of

immunosuppressive agents in clinical transplantation. He is cofounder of the

Hunter Transplant Research Foundation. He was awarded the Order of Australia

(AM) for significant service to transplantation and medical research in 2019.

Transplant Surgeon and Director

Dr Munish Heer

He is the current Director of Newcastle Transplant unit. He is heavily involved in developments of business intelligence solutions for transplant research and audits. His research areas are transplant renal artery stenosis, organ allocation and renal allograft compression. He has devised novel ways to reduce delayed graft function. He pioneered a program to transplant obese recipients without the need for bariatric surgery.

Research Scientist

A/Prof Katie Baines

A/Prof Katie Baines is a Research Fellow in Transplant Immunology with HTRF and The University of Newcastle. She is a Deputy Director of the HMRI’s Immune Health Research Program. She is a biomedical scientist with expertise in molecular biology and immunology. Her research focuses on using gene expression signatures as diagnostic tools to help tailor immunosuppressive treatments to individual transplant recipients to reduce unwanted side effects, particularly infections.

Transplant Nephrologist

Dr Eswari Vilayur

Dr Vilayur is a Senior Staff Specialist and Transplant Physician at John Hunter Hospital. She also is a conjoint Lecturer at the School of Medicine & Public Health at the University of Newcastle.

Transplant Surgeon

Dr Nikhil Mahajan

Dr Mahajan is a young and upcoming Transplant Surgeon. He is always striving for novel methods of delivering clinical care. His research areas are finding the most appropriate vascular access for dialysis patients and reducing delayed graft function after kidney transplant.

Transplant Nephrologist

Dr Matthew Rowlandson

Dr Rowlandson is a Transplant Nephrologist. He has keen interest in findings immune phenotypes of transplant recipients to fine tune their immunosuppression to avoid complications from overdosing.