Education

• MD, University of Minnesota, 1983
• NIH National Research Service Award, 1986 – 1989
• Surgery Internship and Residency, University of Minnesota, 1983 – 1991
• Transplantation Fellowship, University of Minnesota, 1991 – 1992
• PhD, University of Minnesota, 1994

Professional Activities

Faculty Appointments:

• Ray D. Owen Professor and Chief, Division of Transplantation, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin – Madision, 2011 – present
• Director, Transplantation Service Line, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI, 2011 – present

Dr. Kaufman is involved with the following professional societies:

• American Surgical Association
• American Society of Transplant Surgeons
• Association for Academic Surgery
• Fellow, American College of Surgeons
• Cell Transplant Society, Founding Member
• Central Surgical Association
• International Pancreas and Islet Association, Founding Member
• Society of University Surgeons
• The Surgical Biology Club I
• Transplantation Society

Leadership Roles in Transplantation

Dr. Kaufman has held leadership positions in many facets of the transplant field. He has been very active with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) and has served as Chair of the Education Committee, the Executive Program Committee Chair for the American Transplant Congress, and on the Council of the ASTS. Dr. Kaufman is also very active with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). He was past Chair of the Pancreas/Islet Transplant Committee, served on the MPSC Committee and currently is Councilor of UNOS Region 7 and a member of the Executive Board. Dr. Kaufman is an associate editor for the American Journal of Transplantation, Transplantation Journal, and Clinical Transplantation Journal.

Clinical Specialties

Dr. Kaufman is certified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery. Dr Kaufman’s clinical focus has been on kidney, pancreas, and islet transplantation. He was the first pancreas transplant surgeon in North America to conduct and publish studies regarding steroid-free immunosuppression in pancreas transplantation, and the first to describe the use of alemtuzumab in pancreas transplants.

Research Interests

Dr. Kaufman’s experimental clinical research has focused on immunosuppression minimization in kidney transplant recipients, and human clinical trials of islet transplantatio. His basic research efforts have focused on development of a tolerance induction protocol in large animals. It is supported by an NIH UO-1 award as part of the Non-human Primate Tolerance Study Group Consortium.

Recent Publications

• Serum β2-microglobulin at discharge predicts mortality and graft loss following kidney transplantation.
  Astor BC, Muth B, Kaufman DB, Pirsch JD, Michael Hofmann R, Djamali A
  Kidney Int. 2013 May 8.
  [PubMed ID: 23657143]
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• Induction therapy in pancreas transplantation.
  Niederhaus SV, Kaufman DB, Odorico JS
  Transpl. Int. 2013 Apr 30.
  [PubMed ID: 23672537]
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• Increased C4d in post-reperfusion biopsies and increased donor specific antibodies at one-week post transplant are risk factors for acute rejection in mild to moderately sensitized kidney transplant recipients.
  Djamali A, Muth BL, Ellis TM, Mohamed M, Fernandez LA, Miller KM, Bellingham JM, Odorico JS, Mezrich JD, Pirsch JD, D'Alessandro TM, Vidyasagar V, Hofmann RM, Torrealba JR, Kaufman DB, Foley DP
  Kidney Int. 2013 Feb 27.
  [PubMed ID: 23447068]
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• Protein polymer hydrogels: Effects of endotoxin on biocompatibility.
  Beenken-Rothkopf LN, Karfeld-Sulzer LS, Zhang X, Kissler H, Michie SA, Kaufman DB, Fontaine MJ, Barron AE
  J Biomater Appl 2012 Aug 3.
  [PubMed ID: 22832218]
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• Improvement in outcomes of clinical islet transplantation: 1999-2010.
  Barton FB, Rickels MR, Alejandro R, Hering BJ, Wease S, Naziruddin B, Oberholzer J, Odorico JS, Garfinkel MR, Levy M, Pattou F, Berney T, Secchi A, Messinger S, Senior PA, Maffi P, Posselt A, Stock PG, Kaufman DB, Luo X, Kandeel F, Cagliero E, Turgeon NA, Witkowski P, Naji A, O'Connell PJ, Greenbaum C, Kudva YC, Brayman KL, Aull MJ, Larsen C, Kay TW, Fernandez LA, Vantyghem MC, Bellin M, Shapiro AM
  Diabetes Care 2012 Jul; 35(7):1436-45.
  [PubMed ID: 22723582, PMC ID: 3379615]
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• Differential outcomes of expanded-criteria donor renal allografts according to recipient age.
  Mezrich JD, Pirsch JD, Fernandez LA, Foley DP, Bellingham JM, Odorico JS, Leverson GE, Munoz-Del-Rio A, Sollinger HW, Kaufman DB, D'Alessandro AM
  Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2012 Jul; 7(7):1163-71.
  [PubMed ID: 22653256, PMC ID: 3386667]
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• Early metabolic markers that anticipate loss of insulin independence in type 1 diabetic islet allograft recipients.
  Hirsch D, Odorico J, Danobeitia JS, Alejandro R, Rickels MR, Hanson M, Radke N, Baidal D, Hullett D, Naji A, Ricordi C, Kaufman D, Fernandez L
  Am. J. Transplant. 2012 May; 12(5):1275-89.
  [PubMed ID: 22300172]
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• Conditional and specific inhibition of NF-κB in mouse pancreatic β cells prevents cytokine-induced deleterious effects and improves islet survival posttransplant.
  Rink JS, Chen X, Zhang X, Kaufman DB
  Surgery 2012 Feb; 151(2):330-9.
  [PubMed ID: 21982523, PMC ID: 3256254]
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• Extrahepatic islet transplantation with microporous polymer scaffolds in syngeneic mouse and allogeneic porcine models.
  Gibly RF, Zhang X, Graham ML, Hering BJ, Kaufman DB, Lowe WL, Shea LD
  Biomaterials 2011 Dec; 32(36):9677-84.
  [PubMed ID: 21959005, PMC ID: 3195897]
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• The Right Organ for the Right Recipient: the Ninth Annual American Society of Transplant Surgeons' State-of-the-Art Winter Symposium.
  Sung RS, Abt PL, Desai DM, Garvey CA, Segev DL, Kaufman DB
  Clin Transplant 2011 Nov-Dec; 25(6):E592-8.
  [PubMed ID: 21906173]
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