UT Health San Antonio

Deborah Jo Levine, M.D.

Professor/Clinical

Medical Director Lung Transplantation

Director of Pulmonary Hypertension Center

I have been on faculty as a full-time lung transplant pulmonologist at our transplant center since 2003 after completing a one year fellowship in lung transplantation. I am immersed in both outpatient and inpatient care of our patients, and have attained the role of inpatient pulmonary transplant director. I have also been extremely involved in both translational and clinical research in several areas of lung transplantation. We have formed a strong alliance for research in lung transplantation with our transplant pulmonology, surgical, immunological and pathological specialists. Our collaborative efforts have led to multiple research trials and publications in all areas of lung transplantation since our program’s inception in 1989. Six years ago, I assembled an outstanding team of expert investigators at our center to analyze all aspects of antibody-mediated-rejection (AMR) in lung transplant recipients. Our main goal of establishing our lung transplant AMR team was not only to evaluate the role of each element of AMR, but to develop a set of criteria that could be used as a universal standard for this diagnosis. We have performed three studies evaluating a combination of serologic donor specific antibodies (DSA) and C4d staining and histopathology of transbronchial biopsies on transplant recipients in order to better define this entity. We have presented this work in two national conferences and have six abstracts on this topic. Manuscripts resulting from these abstracts are in preparation. The goals of this proposal are in line with the work being done by our team here. I look forward to continuing this important work by participating in this multi-center trial looking at the evaluation and treatment of AMR.