Single-Center Long-Term Analysis of Combined Liver-Lung Transplant Outcomes.

I am a Transplant Infectious Diseases Physician who specializes in the care of immunocompromised patients including solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients and patients with HIV. My research interests are in infections and clinical outcomes in patients with hematologic malignancies.

I am interested clinically in all abdominal organ transplants (kidney, liver, pancreas and intestine).  I am specifically interested in intestine transplantation and improving intestine graft preservation and long-term graft function and patient survival.  In addition, I am interested in monitoring of patients to improve our ability to determine the etiology of graft dysfunction when there are complex interacting issues such as infection and rejection as well as examining better immunosuppressive regimens to maintain excellent graft function.  We have numerous research studies and trial to improve our knowledge in these areas and thereby contribute to improved patient outcomes!

Dr. Hartwig is a thoracic surgeon with a clinical focus in lung transplantation and robotic assisted minimally invasive thoracic surgery for the treatment of diseases of the chest.  He serves as the Surgical Director of the Duke Lung Transplant Program and the Esophageal Center at Duke.  Additionally, he directs the Surgical Office of Clinical Research, which manages the clinical research portfolio for the Department of Surgery.  He also leads a successful program of clinical, basic and translational research in thoracic surgery and lung transplantation. He currently directs the Duke Ex Vivo Organ Laboratory (DEVOL), is the Chief of Lung Transplant Research, and is a faculty member at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).

Dr. Hartwig has over 150 peer reviewed publications, received numerous awards, chaired many sessions at national and international meetings, serves regularly on NIH study sections, and is on the editorial board of many prominent journals. He has also personally mentored over pre-and post-doctoral trainees, many of whom are now engaged in their own successful research careers.

During my career as an academic surgeon, I have had the privilege of leading and/or participating in a diverse portfolio of hypothesis-driven research projects.  These projects have centered on the immunology of surgery and transplantation, including both cellular and antibody-mediated immune responses.  During my training I studied the response of hyper-sensitized recipients to allogeneic liver transplantation, and am currently studying means of reducing immunologic memory that might allow more successful transplantation in sensitized recipients.  This immune response involves pathways of coagulation, antibody-mediated rejection, and cellular rejection and current work in my lab involves these three pathways.  The other major focuses of my work have been co-stimulation blockade and immune cell depletion as approaches to immunologic unresponsiveness or tolerance.  My research group has been involved in translational and clinical research to develop these mechanistic tools for the benefit of human organ transplant recipients.

Recent Publications

Knechtle SJ, Shaw JM, Hering BJ, Kraemer K, Madsen JC. Translational impact of NIH-funded nonhuman primate research in transplantation. Sci Transl Med. 2019 Jul 10;11(500). pii: eaau0143. Reprint | Full Text