In addition to medical and surgical care, the professional staff of the Texas Liver Center includes:
- Physician assistants who provide continuity between outpatient and inpatient services for hepatology and transplant patients.
- Registered nurses who manage each phase of evaluation and treatment, and coordinate patient care by maintaining communication with patients and providing education.
- Registered dietitians who coordinate the design of individualized nutrition management plans to optimize patient health while being treated for liver disease.
- Clinical social workers and child life specialists who assist in identifying and addressing the emotional, psychological and social implications for liver disease patients, living-related donors and their family members.
- Financial counselors who help patients evaluate their health insurance coverage and limitations, advocate for patients with health insurance providers and connect patients with additional financial and housing resources.
Transplant Coordinators
 Rafael C. Botero, M.D.
Medical Director & Transplant Hepatologist
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
Professor of Internal Medicine
UT Medical School
Dr. Rafael Botero joined Memorial Hermann’s Texas Liver Center as medical director in early 2003. Previously, he worked at the University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, where he became the medical director and chief of internal medicine of Fundacion Cardio-Infantile. He organized and developed the first hepatology section at that institution.
Prior to joining the faculty at UT Medical School, he was clinical professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Liver Transplant Program at the Department of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Wisconsin Medical School-Madison.
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 Luis Mieles, M.D.
Medical Director, Liver Transplantation & Hepatobilliary Surgery
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
A native of Colombia, Dr. Mieles completed his medical studies at the National University of Colombia in 1974. He performed his residency in general surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey. In 1986, he joined the transplantation division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as a fellow, and after completing his fellowship, continued as an assistant professor of surgery in transplantation.
In 1989, he was appointed assistant director at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh. In 1992, he was appointed director of liver transplantation at the Oklahoma Transplantation Institute, where he founded the liver transplantation program.
In 1997, he became director of pediatric liver transplantation in Rochester and served as administrative director of the Solid Organ Transplant Program from 1999-2000. Dr. Mieles served as chief of the Liver Transplantation Program at UT Medical School from 2003-2006.
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 Hadar Merhav, M.D.
Assistant Medical Director, Liver Transplantation
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
Dr. Merhav joined the center in 2003. A native of Israel, he graduated from Hadassah Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, and completed his residency in general surgery at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel. In 1989 he joined the transplantation division at the University of Pittsburgh and performed a three-year multi-transplant surgery fellowship. In 1992, he joined Dr. Mieles in Oklahoma City, where they initiated a liver transplantation program.
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 Bob Saggi, M.D.
Liver Transplant Surgeon
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
Dr. Saggi joined the center in July 2004 after serving as a clinical fellow in the liver and pancreas transplantation division of the University of California-Los Angeles. Born in India, he graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1994 and served his general surgery residency at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where he also completed a fellowship in transplantation and served as a clinical instructor in trauma surgery.
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 Gene LeSage, M.D.
Transplant Hepatologist
Texas Liver Center
Professor of Internal Medicine
UT Medical School
Dr. LeSage joined UT Medical School in 2002 as the director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. He completed a residency at the Mayo Clinic and a fellowship at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. LeSage completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, where he received the prestigious American Liver Foundation scholarship grant.
Prior to joining the Texas Liver Center, he was director of Hepatology at the Scott White Clinic at Texas A&M University College of Medicine in Temple, Texas, where he built both clinical and research programs for hepatology.
His professional interests include research in bile duct cell biology and community support for patients with liver disease. He is director of the Liver Inflammation Focus Group of the Texas Gulf Coast Digestive Diseases Center.
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 Stephen Chris Pappas, M.D., J.D.
Transplant Hepatologist
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
Professor of Medicine and Clinical Research Regulatory Compliance Officer
UT Medical School
Dr. Pappas completed internship and residency training at the Toronto General Hospital, Queen’s University and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. He then joined the faculty of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Toronto where he served as a hepatologist and member of the liver transplantation program.
Dr. Pappas left Toronto to become the medical director of the Liver Transplant Program at Methodist Hospital of Indiana. He later served as international medical director for viral hepatitis for Hoffman-La Roche.
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 Ruben Quiros, M.D.
Medical Director, Pediatric Liver & Intestinal Transplantation
Texas Liver Center & Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
UT Medical School
Dr. Ruben Quiros joined the Texas Liver Center in November 2004. He was previously medical director of the liver transplant program at Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Quiros was born in Panama and graduated from the University of Panama Medical School.
After completing his pediatric residency at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, he worked in the departments of pediatric gastroenterology and liver transplants at UCLA. Before moving to Houston, Quiros was medical director of liver transplants at the University of Rochester’s Children’s Hospital at Strong.
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Transplant Coordinators
 Carolyn Daigneau, NP, BSN
Carolyn Daigneau is credentialed as a pediatric nurse practitioner and pediatric clinical nurse specialist by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Daigneau received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Northern Colorado and her master’s degree from the University of Rochester.
She is a guest instructor for the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program at UT Medical School lecturing on the management of pediatric gastroenterology, nutrition and hepatology conditions. Daigneau has participated in many clinical studies in the field of gastroenterology and has authored chapters in Essentials of Pediatric Nursing and Nursing Care of Infants and Children.
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 Nse Ekpo, RN, BSN
Nse Ekpo has worked with the Texas Liver Center since 2004. Prior to joining Memorial Hermann, Ekpo obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from UTMB in Galveston. She has worked as a nurse for more than 10 years.
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 Susan Feliciano, RN
Susan Feliciano has been a member of the Texas Liver Center team for over one year. She graduated from Copley Memorial Hospital, a diploma nursing school, and then obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Purdue University. She has been a registered nurse for over 20 years.
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 Makita Franklin, RN
Makita Franklin joined the Texas Liver Center team in August of 2005. Prior to joining Memorial Hermann, she practiced as a cardiovascular registered nurse trained to care for heart and lung transplant recipients. Franklin has also worked with an organ procurement organization as a procurement coordinator.
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 Michael Lavan, RN
Michael Lavan joined the Texas Liver Center team in 2003. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1985 with an Associate degree in nursing, and UTMB-Galveston with a Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1995. Lavan has been a registered nurse for approximately 22 years.
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Affiliated and/or medical staff physicians are independent practitioners and are not employees or agents of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
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The medical staff of the Texas Liver Center includes hepatologists, who specialize in diagnosing and treating all types of liver and intestinal disease, and transplant surgeons, who manage patient care throughout the transplant process – before, during and after surgery.
