José Oberholzer is the Director of the Charles O. Strickler Transplant Center at the University of Virginia. He is also the Founder and President of CellTrans, a faculty start-up company launched out of Dr. José’s scientific research group at the University of Illinois.
José has led the Islet Transplant Program at the University of Illinois since August of 2003 and his team has completed over 600 islet isolations as well as successful Phase I, II, and III clinical trials for islet transplantation. CellTrans aims to bring cell-based therapies including isolated islets, encapsulated islets, and human derived stem-cells to clinical application to combat the global epidemic of diabetes and other endocrine disorders.
José has performed over 1,000 transplant-related surgeries and is an expert in liver, kidney, pancreas and small bowel transplants, as well as organ transplants in patients with diabetes. In addition to his clinical practice, José specializes in islet transplantation and parathyroid transplantation, as well as vascular access for hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis catheter placements. Additionally, he practices minimal invasive, robotic assisted surgery, including robotic kidney and pancreas transplantation, living donor nephrectomy, adrenalectomy, liver and pancreas surgery and hernia surgery
Jose holds a Masters in Science degree in Health Care Management from Harvard University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Zurich Medical School.
