MBBS(AIIMS), MS (AIIMS), FRCS (Edin), FRCS (Glas), FRCS (Transplant Surgery)-Cambridge, UK

Chief Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgeon
Chairman, Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine
Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon (Delhi-NCR),India



Dr A S Soin is recognized all over the world over for his pioneering work in establishing liver transplantation in India. From 2001 to mid-2010, he established a big liver transplant centre at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. However, in June 2010, he moved with his entire team to Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon (Delhi-NCR). Medanta at the current bed strength of 925 (and soon to be 1500) is one of the largest and the most modern tertiary care hospitals in the country, where Dr. Soin has established a 150-bedded (including 36 Liver ICU beds) dedicated Liver Treatment facility, carrying out 250 liver transplants and hundreds of complex liver and biliary tract surgeries every year.

Medanta Liver Institute is a first of its kind dedicated Institute in Asia and one of the few in the world, which combines state-of the art facilities for Living donor, Cadaveric donor, pediatric and adult liver transplantation along with a large research programme for stem cell and liver cell transplantation. These are cutting edge technologies that can potentially treat liver failure without transplant.

Dr Soin has performed more than 1200 living donor liver transplants in India, which is the highest in the country, and the second highest in the world. He and his team currently perform 22-25 live donor liver transplants every month with 95% success - results which are at par with the world's best centres. Apart from referrals from all over the country, he handles cases from the rest of South Asia, The Middle East and Africa.

Besides running their own highly successful programme, he and his team are also responsible for training most of the remaining liver transplant teams in India and neighbouring countries that have recently started performing this procedure. In disseminating expertise countrywide and beyond, building confidence in the procedure among patients and their referring physicians, and in moving it from experimental status to a highly successful life-saving procedure, he has in the true sense, pioneered the development of this speciality in India and the subcontinent in the last 15 years.

In his extensive experience of 21 years as a Liver Transplant Surgeon and Hepatobiliary surgeon, he has performed more than 1500 liver transplants and more than 12000 other complex liver, gall bladder and bile duct surgeries.

Dr Soin serves on the committees of all the important National and International Societies, as well as the National Advisory Board in Liver Transplantation. He is a regular Faculty member and speaker (often the only one from India) at most world fora in Liver Transplantation such as ILTS, AASLD, APDW, IHPBA, IASGO, APASL, Asian Living Donor Liver Transplant Group, Asia Pacific Organ Transplant Forum etc.

Summary of Academic Career of Dr. A. S. Soin
Doctor Soin's initial surgical training was at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He spent 11 years there gaining his MBBS and MS degrees followed by specialist experience in Liver and Gastrointestinal Surgery, during which he published a research thesis on Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy.

He then obtained FRCS degrees from both Glasgow and Edinburgh in the UK, following which he trained and worked at two of the world’s most renowned centers (University of Cambridge 5 years, University of Birmingham 1 year) for Liver and Biliary Surgery, and Liver, Kidney, Small Bowel and Pancreas transplantation for 6 years. He was one of the first few surgeons in the UK to qualify for and obtain an Intercollegiate FRCS in Transplant Surgery.

In addition to performing hundreds of transplants, he was Surgical Tutor for the University of Cambridge, and Faculty for 2 of the Royal Colleges in Surgery. At Cambridge, he also conducted pioneering research in transplantation. More than 110 of his original research papers and book contributions have been published / in international / national journals and books.

He was a Visiting Fellow at the Kyoto University Hospital in 1997 and Asan Medical Centre, Seoul, in 2000. He was Visiting Faculty at the Ege University, Izmir, Turkey in 2004, and Istanbul in 2006 and 2007. These centres are among the world’s most renowned for living donor liver transplantation.

In the beginning of 1998, he gave up the opportunity of a Faculty post at University of Cambridge and chose to return to India to establish a centre of excellence in liver transplantation in his own coutry.

Research Papers and Invited Lectures
He has published more than 110 research papers and book chapters, and delivered more than 750 invited lectures and papers all over the world in his field.

He is also the Editor of India's first comprehensive book in the field called "Liver Transplantation" which has been published by Elsevier, and has already sold 15,000 copies.

Awards And Achievements
National Awards
1. Dr A S Soin awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 for pioneering the development of Liver Transplantation in India.
2. Received the RD Birla Award for the Best Clinician of the Year -2010
3. Zee TV – Swasth Bharat Samman Award for excellence in Medicine – 2010
4. Medical Statesman of the Year 2010 – e-MEDINEWS AWARDS, 2010

Other Awards
1. Annual research awards of the British Transplantation Society - 1994
2. Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Research Award - 1996
3. Annual research awards of the British Transplantation Society - 1997
4. Delhi Medical Association Distinguished Services Awards – 2005 and 2010 for pioneering contributions in the field of Transplantation in India
5. Medindia Oration Award for 2008 for pioneering contributions to Liver Transplantation in India

Orations: Delivered 4 prestigious orations
1. Naseem Ansari Oration at King George Medical College, Lucknow, 2007
2. Medindia Oration at Chennai, 2008
3. K.E.M. Mumbai, Oration, 2009
4. Dr Phani Dhar Memorial Oration, Mumbai, March 2011

Honorary Fellowship
Bestowed Honorary Fellowship of the King George Medical College, Lucknow at the Annual Convocation in 2007.

Visiting Professorship
Appointed Visiting Professor in Liver Surgery at K.E.M. College and Hospital, Mumbai - 2009

Milestones Achieved in India by Dr. Soin as Chief Surgeon & Head of the Team
First successful cadaveric liver transplant in India - 1998
First successful left lobe transplant in India - 1999
First successful right lobe transplant in India - 2000
First successful long distance cadaveric Liver Transplant in which the liver was flown in from Chennai and transplanted in Delhi - 1999.
First successful transplant at SGRH - 2001
First and the only successful combined liver and kidney transplant in India - 1999
First successful reduced cadaveric liver transplant in a child - 2003
First successful transplant in India on a Pakistani patient - 2004
First bloodless liver transplant in India - 2005
First successful emergency liver transplant on a patient transported to Delhi by air ambulance in deep coma - 2005
He transplanted the youngest ever child to receive a successful liver transplant in India – 2006.
He transplanted India's oldest recipient (70 years) of a successful liver transplant in 2006; and then again in 2010 (78 years)
In November 2006, his team became the first in South Asia to complete 100 liver transplants
May 2007: World's first combined liver and kidney transplant from two live donors saves 15 year old with Hyperoxaluria
July 2007: South Asia's first double liver transplant in the same patient.
September 2007: India's first combined liver and kidney transplant in an adult (with both liver and kidney failure) using organs from two separate living donors.
India's first successful dual lobe liver transplant (two liver transplants in one man – 2007)
India's first combined liver and kidney transplant in an adult (with both liver and kidney failure) using organs from two separate living donors – 2007
India's first successful re-liver transplant (in a patient who received a liver transplant 1.5 years earlier) – 2008
India's first and world’s youngest successful domino liver transplant in 2009
India's first (and the World’s first reported) swap liver transplant (exchange of liver donors between two families) 2009
India's smallest liver transplant recipient (5kg) – 2010
India's first team to complete 50 liver transplants in children – 2010
India's first to complete 1200 liver transplants
India's first and the world’s youngest transplant for Factor VII A deficiency – 2010
First to perform 3 life-saving liver transplants simultaneously, on the same day 2011
First to perform upside down (two left lobes from two donors) liver transplant 2011
First to perform laparoscopic donor hepatectomy and first to perform Robotic donor hepatectomy 2011
First to perform successful ABO-incompatible liver transplant in India 2012
First to cure Factor VIII deficiency (hemophilia) with liver transplant 2012