Internal Advisory Board, MISM
Professor in Surgery & in Immunology, Duke University
Allan Kirk, MD, FACS, Internal Advisory Board, is the David C. Sabiston, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Professor in Pediatrics, Professor in Integrative Immunobiology, and Member of the Duke Cancer Institute. He is a transplant surgeon and physician, specializing in kidney and pancreas transplantation, with an interest in immune management of transplant recipients, particularly in therapies that modulate T-cell costimulation pathways and in adjuvant therapies that facilitate costimulation blockade to prevent rejection of transplanted organs without undue suppression of protective immunity. Dr. Kirk served as editor-in-chief for the American Journal of Transplantation from 2010 through 2020, and is now Editor Emeritus. He is internationally recognized for his work in transplant immunology, serving as the inaugural chief of the Transplantation Branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and as a principal investigator for multiple clinical trials, including the first-in-human experience with novel immunosuppressive agents. Dr. Kirk is also interested in understanding how injury, such as trauma or elective surgery, influences immune responses and subsequent healing.