Research Summary

Dr. Sang-Mo Kang is an organ transplant surgeon, performing transplants of the kidney, liver and pancreas. His expertise includes gastrointestinal surgery, laparoscopic kidney donor surgery, laparoscopic liver surgery, and surgeries related to the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder.

Kang maintains a research laboratory focused on understanding how the immune system responds to transplanted organs. He investigates new methods to induce transplant-specific tolerance, with the goal of replacing immunosuppressive medications. He has been awarded research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Kang earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and completed a surgical residency and transplant fellowship at UCSF Medical Center. He received two research fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which he used to study transplant immunology at the NIH and the UCSF Transplantation Research Laboratory.

Kang teaches fellows, residents and medical students at UCSF.

Research Funding

  • June 1, 2014 - May 31, 2021 - Donor-Alloantigen-Reactive Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01AI110658
  • April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2014 - Donor-Specific Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R34AI095135
  • April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2010 - Tolerance Induction Using Modified Dendritic Cells , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R03DK075431
  • April 1, 2003 - March 31, 2008 - Tolerance Induction Using Modified Dendritic Cells , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08DK061970

Education

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, B.A., 1986, Chemistry
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, MD, 1992, Magna Cum Laude
General Surgery Program, University of California at San Francisco, June 1992 to June 1999
University of California, San Francisco, CA, 7/99-3/01, Fellow in Transplant Surgery

Honors & Awards

  • 1986
    Phi Beta Kappa
  • 1986
    Merck Scholarship
  • 1985-87
    Beinecke Memorial National Scholar
  • 1987
    NIH Outstanding Summer Research Fellow Award
  • 1989
    Francis D. Moore Scholarship
  • 1991-92
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Continuing Fellowship for "exceptional promise in biomedical research"
  • 1992
    Henry Asbury Christian Award for outstanding academic achievement
  • 1995
    British Journal of Surgery Award for outstanding surgical resident
  • 1995-97
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
  • 1997
    ASTS Upjohn Award for most outstanding paper
  • 1997-98
    Hefne Research Grant
  • 1998
    Elected to AOA for excellence in teaching
  • 1999
    ASTS Travel Award
  • 1999-2001
    ASTS Novartis Fellowship in Transplantation
  • 2003-2005
    ASTS Faculty Development Award

Selected Publications

  1. 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
  2. Lee AY, Lehrman ED, Perito ER, Kerlan RK, Kohi MP, Kolli KP, Taylor AG, Ostroff JW, Kang SM, Roberts JP, Rhee S, Rosenthal P, Fidelman N. Non-operative management of biliary complications after Liver Transplantation in pediatric patients: A 30-year experience. Pediatr Transplant. 2021 Sep; 25(6):e14028.  View on PubMed
  3. Braun HJ, Torres AM, Louie F, Weinberg SD, Kang SM, Ascher NL, Roberts JP. Expanding living donor liver transplantation: Report of first US living donor liver transplant chain. Am J Transplant. 2021 04; 21(4):1633-1636.  View on PubMed
  4. Syed SM, Gardner J, Roll G, Webber A, Mehta N, Shoji J, Adelmann D, Niemann C, Braun HJ, Mello A, Yao F, Posselt A, Kang SM, Hirose R, Roberts J, Feng S, Ascher N, Stock P, Freise C. COVID-19 and Abdominal Transplant: A Stepwise Approach to Practice During Pandemic Conditions. Transplantation. 2020 11; 104(11):2215-2220.  View on PubMed
  5. Yamanaga S, Freise CE, Stock PG, Rosario A, Fernandez D, Kobayashi T, Tavakol M, Kang SM. Inferior Long-Term Graft Survival of Suboptimal Kidneys After Living Donor Kidney Transplantation. Transplant Proc. 2020 Jul - Aug; 52(6):1734-1740.  View on PubMed
  6. Gupta N, Henry RG, Kang SM, Strober J, Lim DA, Ryan T, Perry R, Farrell J, Ulman M, Rajalingam R, Gage A, Huhn SL, Barkovich AJ, Rowitch DH. Long-Term Safety, Immunologic Response, and Imaging Outcomes following Neural Stem Cell Transplantation for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease. Stem Cell Reports. 2019 08 13; 13(2):254-261.  View on PubMed
  7. Yamanaga S, Rosario A, Fernandez D, Kobayashi T, Tavakol M, Stock PG, Kang SM. Inferior long-term graft survival after end-to-side reconstruction for two renal arteries in living donor renal transplantation. PLoS One. 2018; 13(7):e0199629.  View on PubMed
  8. Yamanaga S, Posselt AM, Freise CE, Kobayashi T, Tavakol M, Kang SM. A Single Perioperative Injection of Dexamethasone Decreases Nausea, Vomiting, and Pain after Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy. J Transplant. 2017; 2017:3518103.  View on PubMed
  9. Tang Q, Kang SM. Interpretation of transplant biopsies and immune responses following Treg cell therapy. Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2014 Dec; 19(6):616-20.  View on PubMed
  10. Gupta N, Henry RG, Strober J, Kang SM, Lim DA, Bucci M, Caverzasi E, Gaetano L, Mandelli ML, Ryan T, Perry R, Farrell J, Jeremy RJ, Ulman M, Huhn SL, Barkovich AJ, Rowitch DH. Neural stem cell engraftment and myelination in the human brain. Sci Transl Med. 2012 Oct 10; 4(155):155ra137.  View on PubMed
  11. Tang Q, Leung J, Melli K, Lay K, Chuu EL, Liu W, Bluestone JA, Kang SM, Peddi VR, Vincenti F. Altered balance between effector T cells and FOXP3+ HELIOS+ regulatory T cells after thymoglobulin induction in kidney transplant recipients. Transpl Int. 2012 Dec; 25(12):1257-67.  View on PubMed
  12. Tang Q, Bluestone JA, Kang SM. CD4(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T cell therapy in transplantation. J Mol Cell Biol. 2012 Feb; 4(1):11-21.  View on PubMed
  13. Lopez-Vergès S, Milush JM, Schwartz BS, Pando MJ, Jarjoura J, York VA, Houchins JP, Miller S, Kang SM, Norris PJ, Nixon DF, Lanier LL. Expansion of a unique CD57⁺NKG2Chi natural killer cell subset during acute human cytomegalovirus infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 06; 108(36):14725-32.  View on PubMed
  14. Ahearn AJ, Posselt AM, Kang SM, Roberts JP, Freise CE. Experience with laparoscopic donor nephrectomy among more than 1000 cases: low complication rates, despite more challenging cases. Arch Surg. 2011 Jul; 146(7):859-64.  View on PubMed
  15. Alemi F, Kwon E, Freise C, Kang SM, Hirose R, Stewart L, Corvera CU. Hepatic surgery at a VA tertiary medical center: lessons learned. Am J Surg. 2010 Nov; 200(5):591-5.  View on PubMed
  16. Brennan TV, Hoang V, Garrod KR, Liu FC, Hayden T, Kim J, Kang SM. A new T-cell receptor transgenic model of the CD4+ direct pathway: level of priming determines acute versus chronic rejection. Transplantation. 2008 Jan 27; 85(2):247-55.  View on PubMed
  17. Kim J, Chang CK, Hayden T, Liu FC, Benjamin J, Hamerman JA, Lanier LL, Kang SM. The activating immunoreceptor NKG2D and its ligands are involved in allograft transplant rejection. J Immunol. 2007 Nov 15; 179(10):6416-20.  View on PubMed
  18. Kang SM. Investigating the immunological mechanisms underlying organ transplant rejection. J Vis Exp. 2007; (7):256.  View on PubMed
  19. Liu F, Kang SM. Small bowel transplantation in mice. J Vis Exp. 2007; (7):258.  View on PubMed
  20. Liu F, Kang SM. Heterotopic heart transplantation in mice. J Vis Exp. 2007; (6):238.  View on PubMed

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