Transplantation Medical Advisors

Tolera has brought together leading transplant practitioners from world class transplant centers to advise and guide the company through its transplant clinical trials.

Diane M. Cibrik, MD, MS
University of Michigan Medical Center 
Dr. Cibrik is Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center, specializing in transplant nephrology.  Dr. Cibrik received her MS from the University of Michigan and her MD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Following her residency in internal medicine at University Hospitals, Cleveland she did fellowships in general and transplant nephrology at Case Western Reserve University.  Her research interests include study of kidney cell infection with BK virus, and new drug development and pharmacokinetics in transplantation.

Stuart M. Flechner, MD 
Cleveland Clinic Foundation   
Dr. Flechner is Director of Clinical Research in the Section of Renal Transplantation at Cleveland Clinic, and a Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  Dr. Flechner received a BA in zoology and his MD from the University of California at Los Angeles.  After completing a residency in surgery and urology at Moffitt Hospital of the University of California, San Francisco, he did a fellowship in transplantation and renal vascular surgery at Cleveland Clinic.

John J. Fung, M.D., Ph.D.
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Dr. Fung is Chairman of Transplant Surgery and General Surgery. He also serves as Director of Transplantation Center. He received his BA from the Johns Hopkins University in 1975, and a PhD in Immunology in 1980 and MD in 1982 from the University of Chicago. He completed his surgical residency at the University of Rochester, and a transplant surgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Between 1987 and 1988, he served as Director of Histocompatibility Testing at the University of Rochester. In 1989, he joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Professor of Surgery at the Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western University. His principal research interests are in transplantation immunology, immunosuppressive therapies, and liver related immunology.

Xunrong Luo, MD, PhD
Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine 
Dr. Luo is Associate Professor, Division of Nephrology / Hypertension at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.  Dr. Luo received her PhD and Medical degrees from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.  She completed her fellowship in nephrology at New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York.  Her clinical and research interests include pancreas and islet cell transplant for treatment of type 1 diabetes and understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes, and tolerance to autoimmunity and alloimmunity.