SF doctor makes history creating first liver transplant system in her home country, Ethiopia

SAN FRANCISCO - A transplant hepatologist in San Francisco is making international history by starting the first liver transplant program in her native country, Ethiopia. 

Dr. Kidist Yimam led a team from Sutter Health CPMC that traveled to Ethiopia for a medical mission trip in January.

In Ethiopia, a person dies every 35 minutes from liver disease. 75% of those deaths are tied to Hepatitis B and C.

Yimam is the medical director for the Autoimmune Liver Disease Program at Sutter Health CPMC. She said she is one of four us-trained Ethiopian-born transplant hepatologists, and she’s lost family of her own to liver disease.

"Witnessing how people are suffering and dying from a liver disease that could be prevented, or managed better, it really touched me significantly to go back and help," said Yimam.

In a trip that has been years in the making, with help from a team built by Transplant Surgeon Assad Hassoun, they went to St. Paul’s Hospital Millenium and Medical Center in Addis Ababa, the largest hospital in the heart of the nation.

The medical team included Hassoun, along with lead liver transplant physician assistant Annie Southall, and lead transplant operation nurse Shannon Yrigoyen.

"I’m very grateful for my colleagues to make this trip real," said Yimam.

They trained Ethiopian surgeons and nurses and performed complicated surgeries and procedures. The team also donated $70,000 worth of medical supplies and equipment.

"They have a very good staff and they have a strong desire to build this program," said Hassoun. "It’s an adventure. I’m from Iraq originally and I find that [the people] are not much different in terms of how warm they are to each other."

Dr. Hassoun has brought the same lifesaving medicine to Iraq, his home country, through medical mission trips.

"They actually were able to create and help build a very successful transplant program in Iraq, so they have that international experience, so I knew where to go," Yimam said.

"I hope that I can bring value to them by bringing knowledge, but I always learn, by getting to the bare bones of medicine and humanity" said Southall, who has also been on other trips led by Dr. Hassoun to Iraq.

Chronic Hepatitis B and C killed more than 1 million people globally. In Ethiopia, an estimated 7.8 million people are infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and another 686,000 are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). 

Yimam remembers volunteering at St. Paul’s after completing her medical training, and seeing the droves of people suffering. She said there is an 18% 30-day mortality rate; and mortality was lowest in those with set-ups who can offer a Liver Transplantation.

"Liver transplant is lifesaving. Imagine how many people are dying of liver disease without having access to complicated liver surgeries," she said.

This summer, the group plans to welcome staff from St. Paul’s here in San Francisco to exchange expertise.

The transplant team from Sutter Health CPMC intends to send a larger group of specialists to Ethiopia early next year, with the plan of establishing a fully formed liver transplant program by the end of 2025. 

"I know we have a lot to do but this was a great start," Yimam said.

She offers this message to young women and immigrant physicians: "I want this story to be motivation for others that we can make a difference."