Obi Okoye

University of Illinois Chicago, NHS Blood and Transplant

Papers

Total Citations

178

H-Index

About

Dr. Obi Okoye is a pioneering transplant surgeon whose research focuses on expanding access to kidney and pancreas transplantation for obese patients through robotic surgery. His landmark 10-year study on robotic kidney transplantation in obese patients (97 citations) demonstrated that minimally invasive techniques can safely overcome traditional weight-based barriers to transplant. Dr. Okoye also led the largest reported series on robotic-assisted living donor nephrectomies (34 citations), showing that robotic approaches can increase live kidney donation while improving donor outcomes. His work on robotic-assisted pancreas transplants (24 citations) addresses the unique challenges faced by obese diabetic patients, who are often denied access to this life-saving procedure. In his comprehensive review on obesity in kidney transplantation (23 citations), Dr. Okoye analyzed factors affecting transplant access for this growing population. Through his single-center experience and systematic analyses, he has established that robotic surgical techniques can safely extend transplant eligibility to obese patients, challenging long-standing clinical practices. His contributions are reshaping transplant candidacy criteria and expanding surgical options for some of the most vulnerable patients with end-stage organ disease.