Skip to main content

Allan Douglas Kirk

David C. Sabiston, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Surgery
Surgery, Abdominal Transplant Surgery

Overview


I am a surgeon with interest in immune management of transplant recipients. I am particularly interested in therapies that influence T cell costimulation pathways and adjuvant therapies that facilitate costimulation blockade to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs without undue suppression of protective immunity. I am also interested in understanding how injury, such as that occurring during trauma or in elective surgery, influences immune responses and subsequent healing following injury.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


David C. Sabiston, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Surgery · 2015 - Present Surgery, Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Surgery
Professor of Surgery · 2014 - Present Surgery, Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Surgery
Professor in Pediatrics · 2014 - Present Pediatrics, Clinical Science Departments
Professor in Integrative Immunobiology · 2014 - Present Integrative Immunobiology, Basic Science Departments
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute · 2015 - Present Duke Cancer Institute, Institutes and Centers

In the News


Published December 15, 2023
What Matters Most to Surgeons-in-Training
Published September 1, 2023
Antibody May Help Prevent Organ Rejection After Transplants
Published May 20, 2020
What Causes a Person's Immune System to Weaken?

View All News

Recent Publications


Costimulatory blockade and infectious risk in solid organ transplantation.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · April 2026 Costimulatory blockade has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional immunosuppression with the potential to reduce chronic allograft injury and minimize drug-related toxicities, including nephrotoxicity, cardiometabolic complications, and maligna ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dual costimulation blockade with the CD154-specific fusion protein dazodalibep and belatacept for prophylaxis of kidney allograft rejection.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · April 2026 Organ transplant immunosuppression includes daily calcineurin inhibitors and corticosteroids, which target broad, toxic metabolic pathways. This phase 2a, open-label, single-arm trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of combining dazodalibep (cluster of d ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Case Sequencing and Patient Flow: A Simulation Study With Downstream Resources.

Journal Article J Surg Res · March 27, 2026 INTRODUCTION: Surgical sequencing impacts patient flow and hospital operations. Discrete event simulation has been used to study these effects, specifically examining heuristics such as shortest cases first (SCF) and longest cases first (LCF). We propose a ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications

Recent Grants


Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) - NIAID

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2018 - 2029

Advanced Immunobiology Traning Program for Surgeons

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2019 - 2029

Tolerance to Allogeneic Hearts via Implantation of Cultured Donor Thymus

ResearchAdvisor · Awarded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute · 2025 - 2028

View All Grants

Education


Duke University · 1992 Ph.D.
Duke University, School of Medicine · 1987 M.D.
Old Dominion University · 1983 B.S.