Joren Christian Madsen, MD, Dphil
Director, MGH Transplant Center
Co-Director, Center for Transplantation Science
Joren Madsen, MD, DPHL, is Director of the Mass General Transplant Center, Co-Director of the Center for Transplantation Science, Paul S. Russell/Warner-Lambert Professor of Surgery at HMS and Professor of Surgery at MGH.
Centers & Specialties
Go To Specialties
Heart Failure & Cardiac Transplant Program
Cardiac (heart) surgery
DPHIL, Oxford University
MD, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Residency, Boston Children's Hospital|Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston: Massachusetts General Hospital
Senior Whole Health
Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil received his bachelor's degree from Brown University and his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1982. After completing his first three years of general surgery training at Mass General, he was awarded the Claude E. Welch Surgical Research fellowship to study at Oxford University. His work there culminated in a doctorate degree from Balliol College in Immunology. Dr. Madsen completed his surgical residency in 1990 and went on to train in cardiothoracic surgery at Mass General and Boston Children's Hospital. He joined the Division of Cardiac Surgery in 1993.
Currently, Dr. Madsen is Professor of Surgery at Mass General and the Paul S. Russell/Warner-Lambert Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He directs the Transplant Center, which encompasses kidney, liver, lung, heart, pancreas and small bowel transplantation in adults and children. He is also Co-Director of the Center for Transplantation Science (CTS), a large, basic and translational research laboratory studying transplantation immunology. Dr. Madsen divides his time between cardiac transplant surgery, transplant immunology research, teaching and administration. His academic interests have focused on transplantation tolerance, chronic rejection, innate immunity, and xenotransplantation. He has a strong commitment to both clinical and scientific education, having mentored over 30 pre- and post-doctoral fellows in his laboratory.
Dr. Madsen curently serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Transplantation. He is a past president of the American Society of Transplantation, the first surgeon to be elected to that position.
View my most recent research
Dr. Madsen leads three interrelated research groups that study the molecular and cellular mechanisms of transplant rejection and immune tolerance in mice, swine and nonhuman primates, respectively. By understanding the biological of these processes Madsen hopes to find ways to prolong organ allograft survival (inducing tolerance), extend transplant recipients lives (preventing chronic rejection) and increase the organ donor pool (pig-to-human xenotransplantation). Dr. Madsen's laboratory has been the first to induce long term tolerance of cardiac allografts in large animals and to demonstrate the natural killer cells contribute to cardiac allograft vasculopathy. He has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1995.
In 2002, he received the Fujisawa Basic Science Award from the American Society of Transplantation. In 2005, he was made the W. Gerald and Patricia R. Austen Distinguished Scholar in Cardiac Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2009, he was elected president of the American Society of Transplantation.
View my most recent publications at PubMed
Center for Transplantation Sciences – A new partnership
The MGH Transplantation Biology Research Center and the Thier 8 Transplant Surgery Research Laboratory combined on Jan. 1 to form the Center for Transplantation Sciences.
Center for Transplantation Sciences: A new partnership
Transplant Center has record year
2013 was a record-breaking year for the MGH Transplant Center with 207 transplants performed.
Madariaga named as cardiothoracic scholar
Maria Lucia Madariaga, MD, was honored with the Willard Daggett Cardiothoracic Scholar award for her research focusing on ways to conduct heart and lung transplants with methods that do not require immunosuppressive drugs.
Leadership changes at the Transplantation Biology Research Center
After more than two decades of leading the MGH Transplantation Biology Research Center (TBRC), David H. Sachs, MD, is stepping down from his role as director.
Celebrating 50 years of transplantation
This week marks 50 years of transplantation at the MGH. Since the first kidney transplant performed on Feb. 27, 1963, the MGH Transplant Center has revolutionized transplant medicine as an innovator in complex, life-saving techniques
An MGH transplant miracle
This marks the second time in the past 20 years that the MGH has performed a heart and liver transplant, also the second operation of its kind ever done in New England.
Transplant Center unfolds strategic vision and plan
MGH Hotline 12.3.10 Members of the MGH Transplant Center gathered in the Bigelow Amphitheater Nov. 17 to hear Joren Madsen, MD, DPhil, director of the MGH Transplant Center; Jay A. Fishman, MD, associate director of the center; and Debra J. Doroni, MBA, executive director of the center and the Department of Surgery, unveil the Transplant Center's new strategic plan.
MGH Transplant Center hosts inaugural golf tournament
MGH Hotline 08.27.10 Nearly 100 golfers -- including MGH President Peter L. Slavin, MD; MGPO Chairman and CEO David F. Torchiana, MD; and Chief of the MGH Division of Transplantation James F. Markmann, MD, PhD -- took to the links at the Weston Golf Club July 12 for the inaugural MGH Transplant Center Golf Classic.
Film festival shines spotlight on organ donation
WHILE SOME MGHERS are having a brush with stardom through the ABC series "Boston Med," one MGH physician -- Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil, director of the MGH Transplant Center and section chief of Cardiac Surgery -- rubbed shoulders with celebrities for a worthwhile cause during the Donate Life Hollywood Film Festival in Beverly Hills June 11 and 12.
Raising awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation
MGH Hotline 4.16.10 IN RECOGNITION OF National Donate Life Month, Partners HealthCare has partnered with the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.
Joren C. Madsen inducted as president of American Transplantation Society
Joren C. Madsen, MD, D.Phil, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center, was inducted president of the American Society of Transplantation during the 2009 American Transplant Congress.
Record Number of Heart Transplants in 2008
MGH Hotline Twenty-eight patients received lifesaving heart transplants at the MGH Heart Center in 2008.
Continuing the legacy
MGH Hotline 010909 Willard M. Daggett, MD, retired MGH cardiac surgeon and founder of the MGH Laboratory of Surgical Cardiovascular Physiologic Research, mentored hundreds of surgical trainees during his 50-year career at the MGH.
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