Rate My Professor Marc Melcher

Dr. Melcher's research applies artificial intelligence and algorithms to complex decisions in organ transplantation, aiming to expand access to liver and kidney transplants by improving donor organ assessment, predicting outcomes, and optimizing paired exchange. He leads the Melcher Lab in Stanford's Department of Surgery, focusing on AI for steatosis quantification and machine perfusion. Select publications include "Machine Learning Predictions for Assessing Hard-to-Place Deceased Donor Kidneys" (Kidney Medicine, 2026), "Development and validation of a machine-learning model to reduce futile procurements in donations after circulatory death in liver transplantation in the USA" (The Lancet Digital Health, 2025), "Donor-Recipient Age Mismatch and Long-Term Graft Outcomes After Adolescent Liver Transplant" (JAMA Network Open, 2026), and "Evaluating the impact of donor obesity on liver transplantation outcomes: the role of donor gender and age" (HPB, 2026). He holds United States Patent 17075535 for quantification of liver steatosis using a computer imaging platform. Honors include the John Austin Collins Award for academic mentorship and resident training (Stanford Surgery, 2019), Stanford Medicine Program Director GME Award (2019), Surgery Chiefs Award for leadership (2013), and presidency of the San Francisco Surgical Society (2019-2020). He serves on the UNOS Kidney/Pancreas Committee, Transplant Advisory Committee of the American Board of Surgery, and American Society of Transplant Surgeons Business Practice Committee (Co-Chair, 2022-2025).