Research Summary

Dr. Sandy Feng is a transplant surgeon who performs liver, kidney and pancreas transplants.

In her research, Feng studies transplantation tolerance, a transplant recipient's ability to maintain normal organ function with minimal or no use of immunosuppressive drugs. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, she has led several multicenter clinical trials to study tolerance in both adult and pediatric liver transplant recipients.

Feng is a graduate of Harvard College, where she received the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. She completed a doctorate in molecular biology at the University of Cambridge and earned her medical degree at Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed a general surgery residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by a transplant fellowship at UCSF.

Feng has held leadership positions in prominent professional societies and with the United Network for Organ Sharing. She has organized several national conferences addressing issues critical to the transplantation community, serves on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine and is the editor-in-chief for the American Journal of Transplantation.

Research Funding

  • August 10, 2017 - July 31, 2021 - PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF IWITH SCREEN FAILURES SECONDARY TO HISTOPATHOLOGY , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK114180
  • June 1, 2014 - May 31, 2021 - Donor-Alloantigen-Reactive Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01AI110658
  • February 1, 2013 - January 31, 2020 - Polyclonal Tregs to Promote Tolerance in Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01AI104347
  • July 27, 2012 - June 30, 2019 - Immunosuppression Withdrawal for Stable Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01AI100807
  • April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2014 - Donor-Specific Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R34AI095135
  • September 30, 2009 - March 31, 2013 - Immunosuppression Withdrawal for Stable Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U34DK083031

Education

Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, Cambridge, MA, B.A., 1979-1982, Chemistry
Trinity College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, Ph.D., 1982-1985, Molecular Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, M.D., 1985-1990, Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • 1979
    National Merit Scholarship
  • 1979
    Harvard and Radcliffe National Scholarship
  • 1981
    Phi Beta Kappa
  • 1981
    Marshall Scholarship
  • 1982
    DeLancey Scholarship
  • 1986
    EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Fellowship
  • 1995
    Sandoz Transplant Research Fellowship, American Society of Transplant Surgeons
  • 1997
    Young Investigator Award, American Society of Transplant Surgeons
  • 1999
    American College of Surgeons Faculty Research Fellowship Award
  • 2004
    Young Investigator Award, American Society of Transplant Surgeons
  • 2004
    Vanguard Prize, American Society of Transplant Surgeons

Selected Publications

  1. Dixon W, Sheetz K, Feng S. Kidney transplantation in a patient with anomalous iliofemoral vasculature. Am J Transplant. 2023 Oct; 23(10):1641-1643.  View on PubMed
  2. Meier RPH, Nunez M, Syed SM, Feng S, Tavakol M, Freise CE, Roberts JP, Ascher NL, Hirose R, Roll GR. DCD liver transplant in patients with a MELD over 35. Front Immunol. 2023; 14:1246867.  View on PubMed
  3. Dixon W, Perito ER, Bucuvalas J, Feng S. Mapping children by ALT 4-5 years after liver transplant: Potential individual and population applications. Pediatr Transplant. 2023 09; 27(6):e14569.  View on PubMed
  4. Klepper A, Kung A, Vazquez SE, Mitchell A, Mann S, Zorn K, Avila-Vargas I, Kari S, Tekeste M, Castro J, Lee B, Duarte M, Khalili M, Yang M, Wolters P, Price J, Perito E, Feng S, Maher JJ, Lai J, Weiler-Normann C, Lohse AW, DeRisi J, Tana M. Novel autoantibody targets identified in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) by PhIP-Seq reveals pathogenic insights. medRxiv. 2023 Jun 27.  View on PubMed
  5. Chapman WC, Barbas AS, D'Alessandro AM, Vianna R, Kubal CA, Abt P, Sonnenday C, Barth R, Alvarez-Casas J, Yersiz H, Eckhoff D, Cannon R, Genyk Y, Sher L, Singer A, Feng S, Roll G, Cohen A, Doyle MB, Sudan DL, Al-Adra D, Khan A, Subramanian V, Abraham N, Olthoff K, Tekin A, Berg L, Coussios C, Morris C, Randle L, Friend P, Knechtle SJ. Normothermic Machine Perfusion of Donor Livers for Transplantation in the United States - A Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Surg. 2023 Jun 26.  View on PubMed
  6. Dixon W, Sheetz K, Adelmann D, Bokoch M, Reddy M, Kothari R, Roberts JP, Syed S, Feng S, Roll G. Real-world implementation of normothermic machine perfusion: A detailed analysis of intraoperative and early postoperative impact. Clin Transplant. 2023 10; 37(10):e15049.  View on PubMed
  7. Montano-Loza AJ, Rodríguez-Perálvarez ML, Pageaux GP, Sanchez-Fueyo A, Feng S. Liver transplantation immunology: Immunosuppression, rejection, and immunomodulation. J Hepatol. 2023 06; 78(6):1199-1215.  View on PubMed
  8. Mayo AT, Myers CG, Bucuvalas JC, Feng S, Juliano CE. Supporting Robust Teamwork - Bridging Technology and Organizational Science. N Engl J Med. 2023 Jun 01; 388(22):2019-2021.  View on PubMed
  9. Batsis I, Bucuvalas J, Eisenberg E, Lau J, Squires JE, Feng S, Perito ER. Immunosuppression after pediatric liver transplant: The parents' perspective. Clin Transplant. 2023 04; 37(4):e14931.  View on PubMed
  10. Sawinski D, Lai JC, Pinney S, Gray AL, Jackson AM, Stewart D, Levine DJ, Locke JE, Pomposelli JJ, Hartwig MG, Hall SA, Dadhania DM, Cogswell R, Perez RV, Schold JD, Turgeon NA, Kobashigawa J, Kukreja J, Magee JC, Friedewald J, Gill JS, Loor G, Heimbach JK, Verna EC, Walsh MN, Terrault N, Testa G, Diamond JM, Reese PP, Brown K, Orloff S, Farr MA, Olthoff KM, Siegler M, Ascher N, Feng S, Kaplan B, Pomfret E. Addressing sex-based disparities in solid organ transplantation in the United States - a conference report. Am J Transplant. 2023 03; 23(3):316-325.  View on PubMed
  11. Tang Q, Leung J, Peng Y, Sanchez-Fueyo A, Lozano JJ, Lam A, Lee K, Greenland JR, Hellerstein M, Fitch M, Li KW, Esensten JH, Putnam AL, Lares A, Nguyen V, Liu W, Bridges ND, Odim J, Demetris AJ, Levitsky J, Taner T, Feng S. Selective decrease of donor-reactive Tregs after liver transplantation limits Treg therapy for promoting allograft tolerance in humans. Sci Transl Med. 2022 Nov 02; 14(669):eabo2628.  View on PubMed
  12. Wood-Trageser MA, Lesniak D, Gambella A, Golnoski K, Feng S, Bucuvalas J, Sanchez-Fueyo A, Demetris AJ. Next-generation pathology detection of T cell-antigen-presenting cell immune synapses in human liver allografts. Hepatology. 2023 02 01; 77(2):355-366.  View on PubMed
  13. Hübscher SG, Feng S, Gouw ASH, Haga H, Kang HJ, Kelly DA, Komuta M, Lesniak A, Popp BA, Verkade HJ, Yu E, Demetris AJ. Standardizing the histological assessment of late posttransplantation biopsies from pediatric liver allograft recipients. Liver Transpl. 2022 09; 28(9):1475-1489.  View on PubMed
  14. Tana MM, Klepper A, Lyden A, Pisco AO, Phelps M, McGee B, Green K, Feng S, DeRisi J, Crawford ED, Lammert CS. Transcriptomic profiling of blood from autoimmune hepatitis patients reveals potential mechanisms with implications for management. PLoS One. 2022; 17(3):e0264307.  View on PubMed
  15. Perito ER, Persyn E, Bucuvalas J, Martinez M, Mohammad S, Squires JE, Demetris AJ, Feng S. Graft Fibrosis Over 10 to 15 Years in Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients: Multicenter Study of Paired, Longitudinal Surveillance Biopsies. Liver Transpl. 2022 06; 28(6):1051-1062.  View on PubMed
  16. Lew J, Perito ER, Feng S. We Asked the Experts: Toward Personalized Immunosuppression for Liver Transplant Recipients. World J Surg. 2022 Apr; 46(4):876-877.  View on PubMed
  17. Cheng K, Feng S, Bucuvalas JC, Levitsky J, Perito ER. Not everything that counts can be counted: Tracking long-term outcomes in pediatric liver transplant recipients. Am J Transplant. 2022 04; 22(4):1182-1190.  View on PubMed
  18. Meier RPH, Kelly Y, Yamaguchi S, Braun HJ, Lunow-Luke T, Adelmann D, Niemann C, Maluf DG, Dietch ZC, Stock PG, Kang SM, Feng S, Posselt AM, Gardner JM, Syed SM, Hirose R, Freise CE, Ascher NL, Roberts JP, Roll GR. Advantages and Limitations of Clinical Scores for Donation After Circulatory Death Liver Transplantation. Front Surg. 2021; 8:808733.  View on PubMed
  19. Shaked O, Demetris J, Levitsky J, Feng S, Loza BL, Punch J, Reyes J, Klintmalm G, Jackson W, DesMarais M, Sayre P, Shaked A, Reddy KR. Impact of Donor and Recipient Clinical Characteristics and Hepatic Histology on Steatosis/Fibrosis Following Liver Transplantation. Transplantation. 2022 01 01; 106(1):106-116.  View on PubMed
  20. Lai JC, Shui AM, Duarte-Rojo A, Ganger DR, Rahimi RS, Huang CY, Yao F, Kappus M, Boyarsky B, McAdams-Demarco M, Volk ML, Dunn MA, Ladner DP, Segev DL, Verna EC, Feng S, from the Multi-Center Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study. Frailty, mortality, and health care utilization after liver transplantation: From the Multicenter Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study. Hepatology. 2022 06; 75(6):1471-1479.  View on PubMed

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