Seeing patients adopt a new lease on life sparks joy in Dr. Meera Gupta

This week on Making the Rounds, we are joined by Dr. Meera Gupta, a transplant surgeon at the UK Transplant Center. Her areas of expertise include adult and pediatric transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery, peritoneal dialysis access, and living donation. After joining UK HealthCare in 2017, Gupta now serves as the surgical director of the Living Donor Kidney Program and transplant educational mentor for residents and medical students. Read our interview to see how she got here.

When did you become interested in medicine?

I've always been interested in medicine and science. It wasn't until I started medical school where I really got to explore areas in medicine that I really ended up loving. Surgery, nephrology, hepatology and immunology I found very fascinating, so transplant ended up being the perfect combination of all of those things.

End-stage organ disease is pretty terrible, and when I discovered transplant and an opportunity to really help people by transplantation, it just seemed so profound and so new.

Describe your patient care philosophy.

When I see a patient, I really like to understand where they're coming from and what they think about their disease process. When I first meet them, I really want to form a relationship with them and a partnership for their ultimate care and long-term following with me.

What do you love most about your job?

The coolest part of my job is taking care of patients both pre- and post-transplant. You really get to know them. You get to see how they transform with transplantation and how they go from end-stage organ disease and significant debility to a second lease on life. You're with them before, help manage them, take care of them, see them through transplant and then take care of them for their entire life afterwards.

Watch our full interview with Dr. Meera Gupta to learn more about what it takes to be a transplant surgeon.