The long-term goal of my work is to achieve immune tolerance after transplantation — a state in which patients can safely discontinue the immunosuppressive medications required after their life-saving transplant surgeries. We believe that transplantation “without drugs” has the potential not only to dramatically improve patients’ quality of life, but also to extend both patient survival and the longevity of the donated organ.

Building on decades of pioneering research led by the late Dr. Sam Strober at Stanford University School of Medicine, our team has successfully translated this work from the laboratory to patient care. Our approach has been particularly successful in perfectly matched kidney transplant recipients, where approximately 80% of patients have been able to discontinue all immunosuppressive medications — some for as long as 17 years.

The success of this work has led to adoption of our protocol at transplant centers across the United States and internationally. We are now focused on expanding these advances to less well-matched transplant recipients and to patients who received their transplants years earlier. Early results from these efforts are highly encouraging and represent an important step toward transforming the future of transplantation.