Mark Sturdevant, MD, Named to Lead Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation

Scripps Health has named acclaimed transplant surgeon Mark Sturdevant, MD, as the new program director and division head of the Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation.

Dr. Sturdevant's interests lie in liver transplantation, with a particular focus on living donor and split liver transplantation, an advanced surgical technique that involves dividing a single donor liver to treat two separate recipients at the same time. His expertise also includes resection of abdominal tumors involving the hepatic hilum (a region of the liver) and liver resections requiring vascular reconstructions. He also performs kidney and pancreas transplants.

"The addition of Dr. Sturdevant will strengthen what is already an exceptional organ transplant program," said Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA, corporate executive senior vice president and chief medical and operations officer of acute care with Scripps Health. "He brings immense surgical expertise that will benefit our patients and program in the years ahead."

Dr. Sturdevant will lead the multidisciplinary activities of Scripps' organ transplant program, including living and deceased kidney, liver and pancreas transplantation. His myriad responsibilities will include overseeing Scripps' quality assessment and performance improvement programs; maintaining compliance with transplantation regulatory bodies; ensuring appropriate department staffing and training; and driving improved access to transplantation.

"Scripps has developed truly outstanding clinical and research programs for solid organ transplantation and it is a privilege to build on that foundation," Dr. Sturdevant said. "I look forward to working together with this exceptional group to take the program to new heights."

Previously, Dr. Sturdevant served as a transplant surgeon and held academic faculty positions at two of the world's preeminent living donor liver transplant (LDLT) institutions: the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. and the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With this international experience, he co-chaired the surgical workgroup at the 2021 American Transplantation Society LDLT Consensus Conference to develop guidelines advancing innovation and surgical training in LDLT.

He also served as a transplant surgeon at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Wash. There, he collaborated with heart transplant colleagues to perform the world's first series of dual liver-heart transplantations involving "domino liver transplantation," a procedure where a patient receives a new liver and then donates their own removed liver to another recipient as a usable graft.

Dr. Sturdevant's research has been widely disseminated through peer-reviewed medical journals, book chapters and conference presentations. At the 2025 annual meeting of the American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, he provided insights into how to establish and develop an LDLT and split liver program.

Born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, Dr. Sturdevant earned his medical degree at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and completed his residency in general surgery at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. He received fellowship training in transplant surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons

In his new role, Dr. Sturdevant succeeds Christopher Marsh, MD, who is retiring from clinical duties after 24 years as chief of transplant surgery and surgical program director of the Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation. Dr. Marsh held several other clinical, academic and research leadership roles, including chair of the department of surgery at Scripps Clinic and chief of staff at Scripps Green Hospital.

During his tenure at Scripps, Dr. Marsh oversaw the launch of San Diego's first centralized organ recovery center, established its organ transplant biorepository and participated in research that led to the development of medical tests that enhance monitoring and management of transplant patients. Dr. Marsh remains active as chair of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons Foundation Board of Directors.

The Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation has deep roots in San Diego. It established San Diego's first liver transplant program in 1990 and has since expanded to include kidney and pancreas transplantation. Scripps' blood and marrow transplant program was the first in San Diego and among the first in the nation to administer life-saving stem cell transplantation when it was founded in 1980. It has since expanded to offer a newer type of immunotherapy, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation also offers fellowship training programs and its physicians are active in clinical research.