Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD, FACS, will join the Duke University School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Surgery, and surgeon-in-chief for the Duke University Health System. He will assume his new roles on May 1, 2014.
An internationally recognized surgical scientist and authority on transplant immunology, Dr. Kirk is a Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Emory University and also serves as scientific director of the Emory Transplant Center and vice chair for research of the Emory Department of Surgery. He maintains an active clinical practice in adult and pediatric organ transplantation while directing a highly successful laboratory. Dr. Kirk’s primary research interests lie in the development and implementation of novel immunomodulatory strategies for transplantation and other surgically relevant conditions. He is principal investigator on numerous projects funded by the NIH, FDA, and Department of Defense.
Dr. Kirk is a diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Transplantation and has authored more than 200 scientific manuscripts.
Dr. Kirk received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine in 1987 and completed his PhD in Immunology at Duke in 1992. He completed his general surgery residency at Duke in 1995 and a multi-organ transplantation fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in 1997. From 1997 through 2001, Dr. Kirk served in the United States Navy where he reached the rank of commander and principal investigator at the Naval Medical Research Center. In 1999, he became the inaugural chief of the NIH Intramural Solid Organ Transplant Program, and subsequently served as a senior investigator and founding chief of the Transplantation Branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.