Julia Klein and Dr. Andrew Klein to Be Honored at This Year’s 2019 Patron Gala

The Friends of Robinson Gardens is very proud to be honoring Julia Klein and Dr. Andrew Klein with the Spirit of Beverly Hills Award at this year’s Casablanca-themed Rick’s Café Américain Patron Gala on September 14, 2019. Julia is a past Vice President and President of the Friends of Robinson Gardens. Dr. Klein is the Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Together they are a dynamic, dedicated, and exceptional team who has given much time and generous support not only to the Friends, but also to the community.

Andrew Klein, M.D., M.B.A. F.A.C.S

Dr. Andrew Klein is the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplant Medicine, Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Director of Comprehensive Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.  In this capacity, he provides oversight and programmatic direction for the institution’s liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, and lung transplant programs.

Dr. Klein received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Johns Hopkins University. He completed residency training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, was a Harvard research fellow in transplantation immunology at The Massachusetts General Hospital, served as a Surgical Registrar at The John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University and was a liver transplant fellow at UCLA.  Dr. Klein was appointed tenured Professor of Surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2000, Professor of Surgery at UCLA in 2005 and Professor of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai in 2008.  His accomplishments in the fields of both medicine and business were recognized by Johns Hopkins, who bestowed upon him the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Dr. Klein was the founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center and served in that capacity from 1996 – 2003. While at Johns Hopkins, he was Director of Liver Transplantation and Chief of the Division of Transplantation. His basic scientific research interests have been supported by institutional, intramural (NIH), and industry funding.  In 1991, he received the Johns Hopkins Clinician Scientist Award.  Dr. Klein has authored or co-authored more than 150 original manuscripts and 29 chapters and has lectured extensively in North America, Asia, and Europe.  He is a skilled technical surgeon with expertise in liver and bile duct surgery and liver transplantation.

For nearly three decades, Dr. Klein has played a leadership role in local and national policy making, focused on organ donation, allocation, and transplantation.  He has chaired the Living Donor Transplantation Committee and the Liver Transplantation Committee for The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).  Under his leadership, the UNOS Living Donor Transplant Registry was established and guidelines for defining required programmatic expertise and resources for live donor kidney and liver transplantation were adopted.  Dr. Klein has been selected to serve in leadership positions within the International College of Surgeons (ICS), and this year, he was elected President of the U.S. section of the ICS.

In addition to being regarded as an expert in the fields of liver failure, liver cancer, and organ transplantation, Dr. Klein has pursued his interests in the business of medicine.  In 2002, Dr. Klein received his M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and in recognition of his outstanding performance, he was honored with the Student of the Year Award. He has a keen interest in the relationship between civility and tangible benefits in healthcare.  He has championed the value of service excellence and civil culture in the workplace, the selection and training of employees, and the consequences of uncivil behavior on coworkers and patients.

Dr. Klein and his wife Julia are avid SCUBA divers which allows Dr. Klein to pursue his passion for underwater photography.  When work permits, they are likely to be found hanging out with their cows, sheep and chickens on their farm in Pennsylvania.

Julia Klein

Julia grew up in Southern Pennsylvania, and she received her nursing degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She worked in a variety of inpatient and acute care settings including the intensive care, dialysis and operative recovery units at institutions such as Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, and University of North Carolina.

Julia loved raising her three sons, Jeff, David, and Alex. Upon moving to California for the second time in 2004, she devoted considerable time as a volunteer at the Cedars- Sinai Medical Center where she served on the Board of the Helping Hand.

In 2008, Julia was introduced to the Virginia Robinson Gardens. It was there that she discovered Botanical Watercolor. This was the perfect venue for her to pair her love of gardening and botany with painting, which has become a true passion.

Julia served as Vice President and then President (2012-2016) of the Virginia Robinson Gardens. She has also served as the President of the Beverly Hills Garden Club. As the owner of a working farm in her hometown of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, Julia spends a great deal of time traveling between coasts. Always a “hands-on gal,” she now is overseeing the progress of a house which is being constructed on the property.

Julia is an avid swimmer and is always on the lookout for deep water aerobics classes to join. She and her husband Andy enjoy travel, hiking, cooking, and wine, all of which they enjoy sharing with friends.