Robert M. Esterl, Jr., M.D.

Robert M. Esterl, Jr., M.D. graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology in May 1982. He was a cum laude graduate from St. Louis University School of Medicine in May 1986. He pursued an internship and residency in General Surgery at the St. Louis University Hospitals from July 1986-June 1991, followed by fellowship in Abdominal Transplant Surgery at the St. Louis University Hospitals from July 1991-March 1994 (with fellowship in Pancreas Transplant Surgery at the University of Nebraska Hospitals from July 1993-September 1993). He joined the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) in March 1994. He is currently a Professor of Surgery in the UTHSCSA Transplant Center, specializing in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation. In September 2011, he was named the Surgical Director of the Christus Transplant Institute at Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.  

Dr. Esterl has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, most of which are for educational efforts, including Excellence in Teaching Surgical Medical Students Award (seven times), Excellence in Teaching Surgical Residents Award (two times), Teaching Excellence Award from the Graduating Senior Medical School Class (eight times), Assistant Marshal at Medical School Commencement Exercises (four times), and Grand Marshal at Medical School Commencement (two times). He received the GHHS Leonard Tow in Humanism Faculty Award, and addressed the newly matriculating students and their family members at the 2013 White Coat Ceremony. He was one of the 12 inaugural members of the University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine, M.D., Academy of Health Science Education where he served as Secretary-Treasurer for 10 years. For years, he served as the Chair and then the Co-Chair for the Academy’s Innovation Awards and Small Grants Committee. In 2004, he was the recipient of the UTHSCSA’s Presidential Teaching Excellence Award., and in 2007, he was recognized by the University of Texas System as a Distinguished Teaching Professor.