Babak Movahedi, MD, PhD

- Assistant Professor of Surgery, UMass Chan Medical School

- Chief, Division of Organ Transplantation, UMass Memorial Medical Center  

Dr. Movahedi is a transplant surgeon and scientist whose academic interests include transplant immunology, pancreatic islet and cellular transplantation for diabetes, organ preservation and improving access to safe and effective transplant care. He graduated summa cum laude as class valedictorian from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. During his surgical training, he earned a PhD in Medical Sciences focused on pancreatic islet transplantation as a treatment for type 1 diabetes.

He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in transplant immunology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, followed by a Transplant Surgery Fellowship at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts. He joined UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center in 2012 and was appointed Chief of the Division of Organ Transplantation in 2021.

Pancreatic Islet Transplantation

Dr. Movahedi’s research has focused on strategies to improve the engraftment and function of transplanted pancreatic islets. He has investigated the mechanisms responsible for early islet loss and explored ways to prevent damage to the transplanted cells that is not caused by immune rejection. He has also performed islet transplantation procedures.

His work combines laboratory research, transplant immunology and clinical expertise to advance pancreatic islet and cellular transplantation as potential treatments for diabetes.

Stem Cell-Derived Islet Transplantation

UMass Memorial Medical Center was selected as a clinical trial site for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ stem cell-derived islet therapy program. Dr. Movahedi will lead the transplantation effort at UMass Memorial.

The clinical study is evaluating stem cell-derived islets in people with type 1 diabetes who experience severe episodes of low blood sugar and have difficulty recognizing when their blood sugar is dangerously low.

This research is closely related to collaborative work at the UMass Chan Diabetes Center of Excellence and the Breakthrough T1D Barbara Dewey Cammett Center of Excellence in New England, where researchers are investigating ways to genetically modify and transplant insulin-producing beta cells, with the long-term goal of restoring insulin production without the need for immune-suppressing medications.

Selected Publications