Alvaro Rojas-Peña, MD
Assistant Research Scientist of Surgery, Section of Transplantation
(734) 615-5357
Dr. Alvaro Rojas-Pena is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Section of Transplantation Surgery at the University of Michigan. He is currently the co-director of the Extracorporeal Life Support Laboratory at the U-M. He received his MD degree from La Escuela Colombiana de Medicina - in Bogotá, Colombia (2002). After his graduation, he joined U-M as a Research Fellow at the Extracorporeal Life Support laboratory. In 2010, he joined the faculty of the Section of Transplantation Surgery. Dr. Rojas-Pena has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including research fellowships from the American Society of Artificial Organs, The Transplantation Society, the American Heart Association, and the recipient of multiple top Abstract presentations in national andinternational meetings. In 2009, he was honored by the Republic of Colombia Chamber of Representatives with the "Order of The Democracy - Simon Bolivar - rank of Cross of Great Chavalier" due to his role in thedevelopment of ECMO programs in Colombia. Dr. Rojas-Pena's research interests include cardiopulmonary pathophysiology, cardiopulmonary mechanical support systems, and extracorporeal support systems applied toend-stage organ diseases.
His main research interest is the use of extracorporeal systems to resuscitate organ donors, the preservation of organs, and the development of artificial organs (lungs, kidneys, and placenta). He is the Principal Investigator of an R01-NIH grant that aims to mitigate the complications associated with the use of the heart-lung machine during surgery. In addition, he is a co-investigator in multiple NIH grants. He has been assisting in the transfer and use of large animal research models to numerous laboratories, U-M principal investigators, and medical industry to develop and test devices prior to FDA approval and clinical translation.
Dr. Rojas-Pena is an ad-hoc Scientific Reviewer for the NIH and a member of the U-M Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee. Dr. Rojas-Pena has been a mentor to many undergraduate and medical students, surgical residents, and Ph.D. candidates for over 15yrs. Finally, Dr. Rojas-Pena is also an advocate of the principles of JDEI (justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion) and is currently an advisory board member and faculty of the New Leadership Academy a partnership between the University of Utah and the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE).