Matthew Cooper, MD

• Surgical Director, National Kidney Registry
• Chief, Division of Transplant Surgery, Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital
• Professor of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin

Dr. Matthew Cooper is the NKR Surgical Director and Chair of the Surgical Committee. He is also the Chief, Division of Transplant Surgery at the Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital and a Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Cooper is board certified in general surgery and accredited by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

After receiving his medical degree from the Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1994, Dr. Cooper completed his general surgery training at the Medical College of Wisconsin followed by a fellowship in multi-organ abdominal transplantation in 2002 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. He joined the transplant faculty at the Johns Hopkins Hospital upon completion of his training and was appointed Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation and Clinical Research in 2003. Dr. Cooper joined the University of Maryland in 2005 directing the kidney transplant and clinical research program until 2012 following which he assumed his role at the Medstar Georgetown Transplant Institute. He was named Chief of Solid Organ Transplant and Director of the Joint Solid Organ Transplantation Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2023.

Dr. Cooper chose the specialty of transplant surgery because it is tremendously rewarding and life-changing for his patients. In fact, he says that he has the “best job in the world.” His goal is to meet the needs of patients at all stages of transplantation, including post-surgical care. He aims to provide a positive and welcoming overall experience and excellent long-term outcomes.

Dr. Cooper believes that transplantation allows him to not only make a real connection in his patients’ and their family’s lives, but also to make a significant improvement in his patients’ length and quality of life.

Dr. Cooper’s research interests focus on interventions to reduce the injury associated with ischemia-reperfusion leading to delayed graft function in kidney transplant recipients and reducing deceased donor organ discards; he is currently involved with multiple ongoing clinical trials in this area. Washington Post Magazine has named Dr. Cooper a “Super Doctor” in 2011 through 2018.