Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute to establish liver center, begin groundwork for solid organ transplant program

Renowned hepatologist, Dr. Arvind Murali, joins the team to lead the effort.

ORLANDO, Fla., April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Arvind Murali, MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) has joined the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute, the highly specialized gastrointestinal diagnostic and treatment center designed and developed to serve patients from across the southeastern United States. Dr. Murali, who is board certified in gastroenterology and hepatology will establish the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute Liver Center — a liver care specialty area and begin the groundwork for establishing an abdominal solid organ transplant program for the health system.

Dr. Murali specializes in the treatment of diseases of the liver and managing patients before and after liver transplants. He focuses on alcohol associated liver disease, fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis and its complications, liver cancer, and genetic diseases of the liver, and other conditions.  

"The development of a liver center is a significant milestone in the Digestive Health Institute's goal towards establishing a transplant program," said Shyam S. Varadarajulu, MD, president, Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute. "We are thrilled to have Dr. Arvind Murali lead this exciting venture." 

Dr. Murali, earned a medical degree from Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute in Bangalore, India. His training includes a residency in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital's John Stroger, Jr. Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and a fellowship in gastroenterology, hepatology, and transplant hepatology at University of Iowa hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa.

His research interests include non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and liver cancer; outcomes after liver transplantation; genetic and metabolic disease of the liver; and colon cancer screening and surveillance.

Dr. Murali has been published in several medical journals including Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Liver Disease, Hepatology, Liver Transplantation, Endoscopy, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 

He is a member of the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

About Orlando Health 

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $7.6 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for its pediatric and adult Level One Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in the St. Petersburg region. It is the home of the nation's largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows. The 3,200-bed system includes 16 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with FastMed Urgent Care. Nearly 4,500 physicians, representing more than 90 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 23,000 team members. In FY21, Orlando Health served nearly 160,000 inpatients and nearly 3.6 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided approximately $648 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.

Media Contact:
Sabrina Childress 
Media Relations & Public Affairs Manager  
Orlando Health 
321.841.8748 
[email protected]

SOURCE Orlando Health, Inc.