Meet Mark Sturdevant, MD

Dr. Sturdevant is a transplant surgeon with the USC Transplant Institute, part of Keck Medicine of USC.

He specializes in adult and pediatric liver transplantation as well as complex hepatobiliary procedures. He treats patients at Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital. Here’s what you won’t find on his resume.

His interest in biological sciences started at an early age.

“When I was younger, I was fascinated by the biological sciences and imagined becoming an evolutionary biologist. Then, when I started college, I wanted to pursue a degree in physical therapy. As I learned about anatomy and physiology, however, my interest began to switch to medicine. Perhaps it was meant to be: my mom was a nurse, and medicine was always a part of my life.”

He’s traveled the world, exploring and working.

“I traveled a lot to pursue specialized training and concentrated experience. I spent four years in Saudi Arabia doing high-volume pediatric and live-donor transplants. Some of my favorite places in the Middle East are Oman and Beirut. Both are beautiful, and the people there are so nice and hardworking.

About a decade ago, I took a sabbatical and spent months traveling through Paris, Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong. Eventually, I settled in for a three-month stay in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where a German surgeon had established a large program for live-donor transplants as well as one of the largest pediatric transplant centers in the world.

Japan is still one of my favorite places to visit, as well as Turkey and Istanbul. I feel fortunate to have been able to spend time in these different countries experiencing a bit of their day-to-day life.”

His family brings him balance and joy.

“Getting married for the first time at age 50 and becoming the father of a seven-year-old has been a big and wonderful life change. Before, my life revolved purely around work. Now, I have a family and am getting to learn about all the things a seven-year-old likes to do. It’s brought an important balance to my life. I believe getting the opportunity to play like a kid again is good for all of us as adults. My wife, Mahan, and I are expecting a baby boy in May. It’s about to get crazy, I guess.”

Making a life-changing difference in patients’ lives is the most rewarding part of his job.

“I feel very lucky to be able to work in the transplant field. Sometimes when people first come here, you can tell they feel completely lost. They’re not sure what is happening with their liver disease or kidney disease, and the disease has caused them to lose a lot of control of their life. I’m able to meet them and tell them, ‘I’m going to be your surgeon. Here’s your problem, here’s how we’re going to solve it — and I’m going to be with you the whole time.’ It’s pretty amazing to see people start to relax once they hear that. Knowing they’re with somebody who is going to take them all the way to the finish line and beyond gives them back the confidence that life is not over. That’s by far the best aspect of my job.”

The transplant breakthrough he’d most like to see in his lifetime isn’t necessarily a fancy drug, technology or procedure.

“The breakthrough I’d like to see is more equitable access to top-tier medical care for all patients in need of a transplant. An organ transplant should be as accessible to someone making $25,000 a year as it is to a multimillionaire.

The other thing I would really like to see is more accessibility of organs. Fortunately, advances in technologies like machine perfusion are expanding the number of organs we can now use, allowing us to do a lot more transplants. It will also be interesting to see what develops in the next 15 years with xenotransplantation. Are we one day going to reach a point where we’re able to make organs in a lab for people as they need them? I think all transplant physicians would love to see this because it would markedly increase our ability to help patients survive organ failure.”

One of his favorite books explores how people overcome challenges.

“One book I really like is called ‘The Obstacle Is the Way’ by Ryan Holiday. It explores a branch of ancient philosophy called Stoicism. The idea behind stoicism is that while problems do happen, what matters more is how you react to a problem. The author shares historic examples of people who faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles which they tackled through their own resolve, leading to many major breakthroughs in all fields of life. I draw on this philosophy whenever I’m faced with an obstacle. You don’t sit around complaining about an obstacle or trying to deny it; you work on figuring out ways around it, or how to do things better, to ultimately come out on the other side.”

The advice he’d give to medical students interested in transplant surgery:

“Transplant surgery is a great field for someone who enjoys using both their brain and their hands to solve problems. It not only requires technical expertise in surgery; it’s also a very cerebral field because we remain involved with a patient’s case from beginning to end.

Unlike some specialties where surgeons might not be very involved with managing a patient’s disease prior to their operation, in transplant surgery we’re constantly working to figure out how to manage a patient’s disease process both before and after their operation. Even after a patient’s transplant takes place, we are still managing the patient from an immunologic standpoint, manipulating the immune system and trying to make sure the body doesn’t reject the transplanted organ.

Medical students should expect to be constantly engaged in their patients’ cases postoperatively. We care so much about patients doing well after their surgeries. There’s a saying in our field that once a transplant patient becomes your patient, they’re pretty much your patient for life. For medical students who want to develop deep, long-lasting relationships with their patients, it’s a great field to be in.”

Topics