Martha Pavlakis, MD
Program Director, Solid Organ Transplantation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
Dr. Pavlakis received her M.D. degree from SUNY at Buffalo and her residency at Tufts New England Medical Center. She completed a fellowship in nephrology at Beth Israel Hospital and the Clinical Investigator Training Harvard-MIT Program before she joined the faculty at Stanford. In 1999, she was recruited back to the Harvard Medical School to serve as Medical Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a leadership position she continues to hold today along with being the Program director for solid organ transplant and a Harvard Medical School Associate Professor. Dr. Pavlakis has served on numerous committees and led national initiatives to improve transplantation access and outcomes including notable contributions to the American Society of Transplantation and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
Dr. Pavlakis advocacy for equity within transplantation has been laser-focused on the eradication of historical and structural racism in policy and clinical practice that has adversely impacted black people with chronic kidney disease in need of transplantation. Dr. Pavlakis’ leadership has led to a seismic change in policy and practice. She spearheaded and personally led every aspect of the effort to create a restorative justice pathway for black patients on the kidney transplant list whose priority on the list may have been impacted by the prior use of race-based eGFR calculations.
Dr. Pavlakis' advocacy for equity within transplantation has been laser-focused on the eradication of historical and structural racism in policy and clinical practice that has adversely impacted black people with chronic kidney disease in need of transplantation.