Dr. Curtis L. Cetrulo, Jr. graduated from Stanford University in 1992 and Tufts University School of Medicine in 1999. Following plastic surgery residency training and hand/microsurgery fellowship training at the famous microsurgery center, the Buncke Clinic, he practiced reconstructive microsurgery and hand surgery at the University of Southern California Medical Center (USC) and performed pediatric reconstructive microsurgery, burn reconstruction, cleft lip/palate surgery, and pediatric hand surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children-Los Angeles from 2007-2009. In addition, he established and directed a translational research laboratory dedicated to composite tissue allograft research and directed numerous resident education initiatives and participated in many medical missions while at USC. In 2009, Dr. Cetrulo joined the Division of Plastic Surgery of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, as well as the staff of Shriners Hospital for Children-Boston. He practices cutting–edge complex adult and pediatric reconstructive microsurgery, as well as hand surgery, breast and burn reconstruction, and reconstruction of extremities and traumatic facial injuries. His clinical excellence was recently honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society Men’s Health Award of 2018.
He established the first Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Team at MGH. In 2012, he led this team in performing MGH’s first hand transplant- a case distinguished by the patient’s excellent functional and immunological outcome compared to other hand transplant recipients throughout the world, as well as for widening the applicability of this procedure to burned amputees. In 2016, he led the team in performing the first successful penis transplantation in the U.S. and the second successful case in the world. He has delivered numerous invited lectures internationally and nationally on both clinical and basic research topics. He also holds international and national leadership roles in this field, and was recently elected President of the International Society of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation and Scientific Program Committee Co-Chairman of the American Society of Reconstructive Transplantation.
He serves as the Senior Investigator and Director of the Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Laboratory at the Center for Transplantation Sciences at MGH. His lab has obtained over $8 million in new federal and foundation funding since arriving at MGH, including $2.1 million in 2019. The Cetrulo laboratory investigates tolerance induction strategies for vascularized composite tissue allografts (VCA) in the immunogenetically-defined MGH miniature swine model as well as in non-human primate models. Current research efforts are directed toward use of mixed hematopoietic chimerism and CAR T cell therapies to induce transplantation tolerance to VCA. He has published important contributions to the field in the development of immunologic tolerance models in a large animal, preclinical model. In addition to immunologic tolerance research, he has made significant contributions to xenotransplantation research, utilizing genetically-modified swine skin as an alternative for burn injuries, technology that was recently recognized by an award from the American Burn Association and recently applied in a first-in-human xenotransplantation clinical trial at MGH. Based on this innovation, he co-founded a non-profit biotechnology company, Xenotherapeutics, recently recognized by the New England Business Association Innovation Award. He continues to translate his research ideas towards commercialization, holding 3 patents and receiving a Partners Healthcare Innovator award for both 2018 and 2019.
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