Research Summary

Dr. Jasleen Kukreja is a cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the Lung Transplant Program at UCSF Medical Center. She is also director of the adult respiratory mechanical circulatory support program. She performs lung transplant surgery and lung volume reduction surgery for emphysema, and treats patients with tumors of the chest, including lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mediastinal tumors and mesothelioma.

Kukreja is the associate director of UCSF's lung transplant research division of cardiothoracic surgery.

Kukreja earned a medical degree at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She completed residencies in general surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and in cardiothoracic surgery at UCSF. She completed fellowships in general surgery and thoracic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and also completed extensive training in designing clinical trials, studies that evaluate potential treatments' safety and efficacy. She has a master's degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Kukreja has received many professional honors, including the Pharmacia/Upjohn Trauma Research Competition Award, John A. Mannick Research Award and an excellence in teaching award from Harvard Medical School.

Education

2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
M.D., 1994 - School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles
Postdoctoral Studies, - Graduate Division, University of California, San Francisco

Selected Publications

  1. Bromberger BJ, Gesthalter YB, Estrada AV, Kolaitis NA, Shah RJ, Singer JP, Leard LE, Seijo L, Maheshwari JA, Kleinhenz ME, Perez A, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Trinh BN. Robotic-assisted lung decortication in the management of pleural space complications after lung transplant. JHLT Open. 2026 Aug; 13:100604. View on PubMed
  2. Naikawadi RP, Bazarov A, Wax Ii M, Boostanpour K, Kukreja J, Traglia M, Agrawal A, Thomas R, Bhattacharya M, Wolters PJ. Cellular profiling identifies an early profibrotic alveolar type 2 cell signature in lung fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 06 01; 212(6):1276-1289. View on PubMed
  3. Trindade AJ, Shaver CM, Demarest CT, Erasmus D, Keller BC, Langer NB, Kukreja J, Hays S, Schaheen L, Campo-Canaveral de la Cruz JL, Alonso-Moralejo R, Crowley Carrasco S, Laporta Hernandez R, Akbarshahi H, Lindstedt S, Chang SH, Angel LF, Benazzo A, Jaksch P, Sidhu A, Cypel M, Bacchetta M, Hoetzenecker K. The need for clarity among the shadows: It is time to further refine the definition of primary graft dysfunction in lung transplant recipients. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026 May 16. View on PubMed
  4. Martin AK, Mercier O, Bottiger B, Cypel M, Fessler J, Gomez-De-Antonio D, Levvey B, Lyster H, Nasir B, Sanchez M, Wille K, Fritz AV, Gelzinis T, Hoetzenecker K, Dave K, Lindstedt S, Marczin N, Wilkey B, Schecter M, Walsh J, Morrissey O, Landry C, Saatee S, Kotecha S, Behr J, Kukreja J, Dellgren G, Reed AK. Author Insights on the ISHLT Perioperative Utilization of ECLS In Lung Transplantation Consensus. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026 01; 45(1):1-4. View on PubMed
  5. Prabhakar A, De Bie EM, DesJardin JT, Ghatpande P, Gräf S, Howard LS, Wort SJ, Church C, Kiely DG, UK Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Cohort Study Consortium, Sumpena E, Aung T, Carter S, Kukreja J, Hays S, Greenland JR, Singer JP, Wax M, Wolters PJ, Simon MA, Toshner M, Lagna G, Hata A. GDF15 is a putative biomarker for distinguishing pulmonary veno-occlusive disease and pulmonary arterial hypertension. J Clin Invest. 2026 Jan 16; 136(2). View on PubMed
  6. Reed AK, Mercier O, Behr J, Dave K, Dellgren G, Kotecha S, Kukreja J, Landry C, Levvey B, Lyster H, Morrissey O, Saatee S, Sanchez M, Schecter M, Walsh J, Fritz AV, Gelzinis TA, Hoetzenecker K, Lindstedt S, Marczin N, Wilkey BJ, Fessler J, Bottiger B, Wille K, Nasir BS, Gomez-De-Antonio D, Cypel M, Martin AK. ISHLT Consensus Statement on the Perioperative use of ECLS in Lung Transplantation: Part I: Preoperative Considerations. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026 Jan; 45(1):e1-e34. View on PubMed
  7. Loor G, Warnecke G, Villavicencio MA, Smith MA, Zhou X, Kukreja J, Ardehali A, Hartwig MG, Daneshmand MA, Hertz MI, Huddleston SJ, Haverich A, Madsen JC, Neyrinck A, Van Raemdonck D. Long-term outcomes of the international EXPAND trial of Organ Care System (OCS) Lung preservation for lung transplantation. EClinicalMedicine. 2025 Jul; 85:103334. View on PubMed
  8. Kim EJ, Douglas D, Owolabi T, Lee C, Symes E, Husain A, Strek ME, Elicker BM, Kukreja J, Wolters PJ, Jones KD, Adegunsoye A. Surgical lung biopsy analyses differ by race and ethnicity in interstitial lung disease. ERJ Open Res. 2025 Jul; 11(4). View on PubMed
  9. Martin AK, Mercier O, Bottiger B, Cypel M, Fessler J, Gomez-De-Antonio D, Levvey B, Lyster H, Nasir B, Sanchez M, Wille K, Fritz AV, Gelzinis T, Hoetzenecker K, Dave K, Lindstedt S, Marczin N, Wilkey B, Schecter M, Walsh J, Morrissey O, Landry C, Saatee S, Kotecha S, Behr J, Kukreja J, Dellgren G, Reed AK. ISHLT Consensus Statement on the Perioperative use of ECLS in Lung Transplantation: Part III: Postoperative Considerations. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026 Jan; 45(1):e63-e81. View on PubMed
  10. Seijo LL, Gao Y, Huang CY, Betancourt L, Venado A, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Calabrese DR, Greenland JR, Singer JP. Improvements in Patient-reported Functioning After Lung Transplant Is Associated With Improved Quality of Life and Survival. Transplant Direct. 2025 Jun; 11(6):e1811. View on PubMed
  11. Ware LB, Koyama T, Shaver CM, Swain S, Nguyen J, Salehi A, Dhillon G, Wickersham N, Maheshwari J, Singer JP, Weigt SS, Kukreja J, Matthay MA. A randomized trial of open lung protective ventilation compared to conventional mechanical ventilation in deceased organ donors. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2025 Aug; 44(8):1251-1259. View on PubMed
  12. Mladinov D, Isaza E, Gosling AF, Clark AL, Kukreja J, Brzezinski M. Perioperative Fluid Management. Clin Geriatr Med. 2025 02; 41(1):83-99. View on PubMed
  13. Kukreja J, Campo-Canaveral de la Cruz JL, Van Raemdonck D, Cantu E, Date H, D'Ovidio F, Hartwig M, Klapper JA, Kelly RF, Lindstedt S, Rosso L, Schaheen L, Smith M, Whitson B, Saddoughi SA, Cypel M. The 2024 American Association for Thoracic Surgery expert consensus document: Current standards in donor lung procurement and preservation. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 02; 169(2):484-504. View on PubMed
  14. Nguyen A, Bouajram R, Brzezinski M, Hassanipour S, Gordon D, Trinh B, Deuse T, Venado A, Hays S, Singer J, Kukreja J. Hydroxocobalamin for the treatment of vasoplegia after lung transplantation: A case series. JHLT Open. 2025 Feb; 7:100189. View on PubMed
  15. Krumm IR, Malcolm K, Vella M, Oates A, Hays S, Kukreja J, Gesthalter YB. Characterizing Risk Factors Associated With Recurrent Pleural Effusions in the Lung Transplant Recipients. J Bronchology Interv Pulmonol. 2025 Jan 01; 32(1). View on PubMed
  16. Gordon R, Yen B, Dewey K, Jariwala R, Kukreja J, Hays S, Singer JP, Florez R. Evaluation of Crushed Posaconazole Delayed Release Tablets in Lung Transplant Recipients. Transpl Infect Dis. 2025 Jan-Feb; 27(1):e14402. View on PubMed
  17. Prather AA, Gao Y, Betancourt L, Kordahl RC, Sriram A, Huang CY, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Calabrese DR, Venado A, Kapse B, Greenland JR, Singer JP. Disturbed sleep after lung transplantation is associated with worse patient-reported outcomes and chronic lung allograft dysfunction. JHLT Open. 2025 Feb; 7:100170. View on PubMed
  18. Martin AK, Mercier O, Fritz AV, Gelzinis TA, Hoetzenecker K, Lindstedt S, Marczin N, Wilkey BJ, Schecter M, Lyster H, Sanchez M, Walsh J, Morrissey O, Levvey B, Landry C, Saatee S, Kotecha S, Behr J, Kukreja J, Dellgren G, Fessler J, Bottiger B, Wille K, Dave K, Nasir BS, Gomez-De-Antonio D, Cypel M, Reed AK. ISHLT Consensus Statement on the Perioperative use of ECLS in Lung Transplantation: Part II: Intraoperative Considerations. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026 Jan; 45(1):e35-e62. View on PubMed
  19. Tsao T, Qiu L, Bharti R, Shemesh A, Hernandez AM, Cleary SJ, Greenland NY, Santos J, Shi R, Bai L, Richardson J, Dilley K, Will M, Tomasevic N, Sputova T, Salles A, Kang J, Zhang D, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Singer JP, Lanier LL, Looney MR, Greenland JR, Calabrese DR. CD94+ natural killer cells potentiate pulmonary ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Eur Respir J. 2024 Sep; 64(3). View on PubMed
  20. Seijo L, Gao Y, Betancourt L, Venado A, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Calabrese DR, Greenland JR, Singer JP. Improvements in Patient-Reported Functioning after Lung Transplant is Associated with Improved Quality of Life and Survival. medRxiv. 2024 Aug 06. View on PubMed

Go to UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI