Meet the Pediatric Liver Transplant Physicians

Sarah Bellemare, MD, FRCS, is an attending physician in surgery and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Montefiore-Einstein. She leads the pancreas cancer tumor board at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care and is the UNOS Surgical Director of both the Live Donor Liver Transplant and Pediatric Liver Transplant Programs at Montefiore-Einstein. A recognized master surgeon, Dr. Bellemare’s clinical focus is on complex hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer vascular reconstruction. She is also skilled in minimally invasive cancer surgery and is a core member of the multidisciplinary liver and pancreas cancer teams.

After earning her Doctor of Medicine  in 1996 at Laval University, Quebec, Dr. Bellemare started her postdoctoral training with a general surgery residency at University of Montreal, completing it in 2001. From 2002 to 2004, she pursued a fellowship at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Columbia University, developing her skills in liver transplantation, living donor liver transplantation, pediatric liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery. To further develop her minimally invasive surgery skills, she completed a course on the use of the Da Vinci Robot in 2003 and a minimally invasive hepatobiliary surgery course in 2006.

Dr. Bellemare’s research interests build on her clinical focus. She has contributed to several studies published  in peer-reviewed journals, and has also shared her research through abstracts and invited lectures.

In recognition of her outstanding patient care and humanism, Dr. Bellemare was the first and only surgeon to receive Montefiore Medical Center’s prestigious Physician of the Year award in 2019. She is a member of several professional organizations including the International Hepato-pancreato-biliary association, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and the Quebec Transplant Society.