Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD
Kidney/Pancreas Transplant Surgeon, Pediatric Kidney Transplant Surgeon
My Locations
About Me
I am a transplant surgeon specializing in kidney transplants. Kidney transplantation is unique in surgery because you’re providing a cure for a disease. It’s very rewarding to see the patients succeed after surgery; the donors also make my practice very special. We can’t do a transplant without them providing this wonderful gift. Duke has been performing kidney transplants for 50+ years – since the very beginnings of the field. In fact, the process of how we match tissues for transplants was started at Duke. We’ve done thousands of kidney transplants here, so it’s great to be a part of a program with such a rich history. I’m also the chairman of the Department of Surgery and the surgeon-in-chief for the Duke University Health System, where we perform all types of transplants.
- David C. Sabiston, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Surgery, Abdominal Transplant Surgery 2015
- Professor of Surgery, Surgery, Abdominal Transplant Surgery 2014
- Chair of Surgery, Surgery 2014
Call for an Appointment
Areas of Expertise
- Kidney Transplant
- Transplant Immunosuppression
Training and Education
In the News
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Clinical Focus and Research
My particular area of interest is learning how to manipulate people’s immune systems so that they don’t reject their organ, but can still reject bacteria, viruses and things along those lines. We’re now at the point where in selected cases we can transplant a kidney from one person to another and keep that kidney working with only one medication, once a month. I also work with the Military to help develop better was of managing people who have been critically injured. That work is particularly rewarding and is taking some of the same principles we are learning from my transplant research and using them to improve the outcome after trauma and severe illness.
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Sc2i TDAP (Surgery)IRB# PRO00054947 , NCT# NCT02182180
- Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) - NIAID awarded by National Institutes of Health 2018 - 2029
- Anderson, D. J., D. J. Lo, F. Leopardi, M. Song, N. A. Turgeon, E. A. Strobert, J. B. Jenkins, et al. “Anti-Leukocyte Function-Associated Antigen 1 Therapy in a Nonhuman Primate Renal Transplant Model of Costimulation Blockade-Resistant Rejection.” Am J Transplant 16, no. 5 (May 2016): 1456–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.13628.
- Espinosa, J., F. Herr, G. Tharp, S. Bosinger, M. Song, A. B. Farris, R. George, et al. “CD57(+) CD4 T Cells Underlie Belatacept-Resistant Allograft Rejection.” Am J Transplant 16, no. 4 (April 2016): 1102–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.13613.
- Xu, H., K. P. Samy, A. Guasch, S. I. Mead, A. Ghali, A. Mehta, L. Stempora, and A. D. Kirk. “Postdepletion Lymphocyte Reconstitution During Belatacept and Rapamycin Treatment in Kidney Transplant Recipients.” Am J Transplant 16, no. 2 (February 2016): 550–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.13469.
- Moris, D., and A. D. Kirk. “Mechanisms of Allograft Rejection and Tolerance/Immunosenescence.” In Textbook of Transplantation and Mechanical Support for End-Stage Heart and Lung Disease, 149–63, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119633884.ch11.
- Chambers, E. T., and A. D. Kirk. “Antilymphocyte globulin, monoclonal antibodies, and fusion proteins.” In Kidney Transplantation - Principles and Practice, 283–312, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-53186-3.00019-X.
- Daneshmand, M. A., and A. D. Kirk. “Immunosuppression in organ transplantation.” In Fischer’s Mastery of Surgery, Seventh Edition, 1:141–50, 2018.
- Li, S., I. J. Anwar, H. Xu, and A. D. Kirk. “Xenorecognition and Costimulation of Porcine Endothelium-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in Initiating Human Porcine-Specific T-Cell Immune Responses.” In AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, 23:S559–S559, 2023.
- Anwar, I. J., C. Z. Jordan, B. I. Shaw, Q. Gao, I. DeLaura, A. Dangi, I. Husain, et al. “ECDI-Treated Donor B-Cell Infusions Prolong Allograft Survival in a Nonhuman Primate Kidney Transplantation Model.” In AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, 23:S763–S763, 2023.
- Anwar, I. J., Q. Gao, I. DeLaura, A. Miller, B. I. Shaw, K. Krynychka, and A. D. Kirk. “Assessing the Impact of Calcineurin Versus mTOR Inhibitors on Homeostatic Repopulation When Used with Belatacept in a Nonhuman Primate Model of Kidney Transplantation.” In AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, 23:S771–S771, 2023.
Insurance Accepted
Duke Health contracts with most major health insurance carriers and transplant networks, including the ones listed below.
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Aetna
- Aetna Choice POS, Aetna Choice POS II
- Aetna Elect Choice HMO, Aetna Open Access Elect Choice
- Aetna Health Network Only, Aetna Health Network Option
- Aetna HMO
- Aetna Limited Benefit Insurance PPO
- Aetna Managed Choice POS
- Aetna Medicare Assure Plan (HMO D-SNP)
- Aetna Medicare Eagle Plan (PPO)
- Aetna Medicare Essential Plan (PPO)
- Aetna Medicare Value Plan (HMO)
- Aetna Open Access HMO, Open Access Aetna Select, Aetna Open Access Managed Choice
- Aetna Open Choice PPO
- Aetna PCP Coordinated POS Plan
- Aetna Quality Point of Service (QPOS)
- Aetna Select HMO
- Aetna Traditional Choice
- Aetna Voluntary Indemnity Group Plan
- Aetna Whole Health – Duke WakeMed WKCC
- Aetna/CVS Health
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Ambetter
- Ambetter of North Carolina
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Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC
- Blue Advantage
- Blue Medicare (HMO, PPO)*
- Blue Options (123, PPO, HSA)
- Blue Select
- NC State Employees Health Plan
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*Duke HomeCare and Hospice does not participate in the plan.
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Cigna
- Cigna Behavioral Health (*Limited eligibility)
- Cigna Choice Plus
- Cigna Connect Individual Family Plan
- Cigna Open Access
- Cigna Open Access Plus
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*Please call Cigna Behavioral Heath to see if the provider is participating in your plan.
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Duke Group Plans
- Duke Basic
- Duke Select
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Experience Health
- Experience Health Medicare Advantage (HMO) Plan
- Gateway Health Alliance
- Healthgram
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Humana
- Humana Choice (PPO)
- Humana Choice - Medicare Advantage (PPO)
- Humana ChoiceCare - Medicare Advantage (PPO)
- Humana Gold Choice - Medicare Advantage (PFFS)
- Humana Gold Plus - Medicare Advantage (HMO)
- Humana Medicare Advantage Group Plan - NC State Retirees
- MedCost
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Medicare
- First Medicare Direct
- Medicare Part A
- Medicare Part B
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NC Medicaid
- AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina
- Carolina Complete Health
- Healthy Blue
- NC Medicaid Direct
- WellCare of North Carolina
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TRICARE
- TRICARE Prime
- TRICARE Prime Remote
- TRICARE Select
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United Healthcare
- AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 2 (HMO-POS)
- AARP Medicare Complete (HMO, PPO)*
- AARP Medicare Complete Essential (HMO)*
- All Savers Alternate Funding
- All Savers Fully Insured
- United Healthcare (HMO, PPO, POS)**
- United Healthcare Charter/Charter Balance/Charter Plus
- United Healthcare Choice/Choice Plus
- United Healthcare Core/Core Essential
- United Healthcare Navigate/Navigate Plus/Navigate Balanced
- United Healthcare Option PPO
- United Healthcare Passport Connect Choice/Choice Plus
- United Healthcare Passport Connect Options PPO
- United Healthcare Select/Select Plus
- United Healthcare Shared Services - Harvard Pilgrim/UHC Options PPO Network
- United Medical Resources (UMR)
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*Duke HomeCare and Hospice and mental health providers do not participate with the plan.
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**Duke Health does not participate in UHC plans on the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Before scheduling your appointment, we strongly recommend you contact your insurance company to verify that the Duke Health location or provider you plan to visit is included in your network. Your insurance company will also be able to inform you of any co-payments, co–insurances, or deductibles that will be your responsibility. If you proceed in scheduling an appointment and your health insurance benefits do not participate with Duke, your out of pocket liability may be higher. We will contact you regarding your coverage and patient liability. If you are uninsured, learn more about our financial assistance policy.
External Relationships
- AskBio
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- CareDx
- Clinetic (formerly MedBlue Data)
- Eledon Pharmaceuticals
- Everest Clinical Research Corporation
- IQVIA
- Innoskel
- MedBlue Incubator
- Merge Therapeutics
- Novartis pharmaceuticals
- PeriOptions
- Sana Biotechnology Inc.
- Sanofi Genzyme
- Surgical Safety Technologies
- Tenaya Therapeutics, Inc.
- United Therapeutics Corp.
- Veloxis
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
- egenesis