Aaron Abarbanell M.D.

Aaron Abarbanell graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Romance Studies. He served as a US Navy Surface Warfare Officer for 6 years traveling by destroyer, carrier and aircraft to exotic locations such as the South Pole, Australia, Macau, Singapore and the Persian Gulf. He subsequently worked in the surgical device industry for Ethicon EndoSurgery, a Johnson and Johnson company, where he found his true passion-surgery. He attended the University of Michigan for medical school and upon graduation began his general surgery training at Indiana University. In June 2010, he will have completed a two-year research fellowship in Dr. Daniel Meldrum’s myocardial ischemia and shock immunology lab. Under Dr. Meldrum’s superb mentorship, Dr Abarbanell focused on mesenchymal stem cell Toll-like receptors and their role in treating myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. He will have also completed a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research at the Regenstrief Institute. Dr Abarbanell has traveled to Honduras and Africa as part of surgical mission teams and as a medical student organized and lead the first and second annual head and neck surgery teams from the University of Michigan to Honduras. His medical trips to Africa have included both Kenya and Togo. Upon the completion of his surgical training, he hopes to one day open a pediatric heart surgery hospital in sub-Saharan Africa.