Khalid Khwaja

The Khalid Khwaja, MD Faculty Award will be given to a junior clinical faculty member (Instructor or Assistant Professor) who best fosters a culture of collaboration, respectfulness, compassion, and shared sense of purpose in their interactions with medical students, residents, clinical fellows, and faculty colleagues, nurses, and other hospital employees, as well patients, both within and outside their division, as an educator and clinician. The faculty and trainees within each division will nominate a faculty member, and an awards committee will select the recipient who best meets these criteria.

This award celebrates the life of Dr. Khalid Khwaja (1968-2020), a gifted transplant surgeon, innovative investigator, and inspiring educator.

Dr. Khwaja served in numerous leadership roles at BIDMC, including as Acting Chief and Senior Clinical Director of the BIDMC Transplant Institute and Surgical Director of Solid Organ Transplantation. He received his MD from the Aga Khan University Medical College in Pakistan and completed a residency in general surgery and a research fellowship at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Khwaja subsequently pursued a fellowship in transplantation at the University of Minnesota.

After joining BIDMC in 2003, Dr. Khwaja re-established the Pancreatic Transplantation Program, growing it to become the largest in New England. In 2008, Dr. Khwaja joined Lahey Clinic to lead its kidney transplantation program; in 2012 he rejoined the BIDMC Department of Surgery as Surgical Director of Solid Organ Transplantation.

Dr. Khwaja mentored scores of trainees, performed the majority of complex liver surgery at BIDMC, and was critical to the successful re-initiation of the Living Related Liver Transplant Program. He developed teaching modules for the surgical aspects of pancreas transplantation for the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, used by trainees worldwide.

The passing of Dr. Khwaja was a profound loss for the Department of Surgery, the medical community at large, his many grateful patients, and, of course, his family and loved ones.

The skill, dedication, and empathy he brought to every patient interaction inspired hope and instilled confidence in his care. As an educator, his deep investment in the success of the students, residents, and fellows that he taught and mentored provided them with a foundation for lifelong success, both professionally and personally. As a colleague and a friend, he was the person you wanted by your side when faced with a challenging case. As a healer, he always advocated the best for his patients. His clarity of judgment, skill as a surgeon, deep sense of compassion, and unwavering calm made everyone around him better.

Dr. Khwaja exemplified the very best of who we are and the values we embrace as compassionate and committed surgeons, dedicated educators, and inquisitive investigators. The Department of Surgery is dedicated to ensuring that the same spirit of collaboration, compassion, humility, and professionalism that he brought to his work will live on through the Khalid Khwaja, MD Faculty Award.

One characteristic that Dr. Khwaja embodied is clinical collaboration with and compassion toward others, both within and outside the Department of Surgery. In multidisciplinary programs, such as transplantation, collaboration and teamwork are critical to success. Effective collaboration requires and encourages respect for and trust in one's colleagues, calm deliberation, innovative problem solving, and, critically, humility and compassion – all qualities that Dr. Khwaja shared with us each day. With grace, humility, and mutual respect and trust, he built a culture of collaboration and compassion that brought out the best in those around him, ensuring the greatest possible outcome for his patients.

We hope this award will continue his legacy of bringing out the best in us, encourage others to emulate him, and in doing so, truly honor the memories of our beloved colleague and friend, Dr. Khalid Khwaja.