About

Joshua Mezrich, MD, is a Professor and the Mark A. Fischer Chair in the Division of Transplantation within the Section of Liver and Kidney Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He specializes in solid organ transplant, including liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants. Dr. Mezrich provides a wide range of clinical services such as Kidney Transplant, Liver Transplant, Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy, Liver Resection, Wedge Resection of the Liver, and 'Scarless' Single-Port Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy. His research interests focus on transplant tolerance and how environmental exposures alter the immune system. Dr. Mezrich has been recognized for his contributions to the field, including receiving a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations Foundation. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and has contributed to the scientific community through numerous publications on topics related to transplantation and surgical outcomes.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Surgery
• Pathology
• Urology
• Gastroenterology

Selected publications

• IP11-23 OUTCOMES FOR LOCALIZED RENAL CELL CARCINOMA IN SOLID ORGAN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS IS COMPARABLE TO NON-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

  The Journal of Urology · 2026-04-27

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  PublisherDOI

• Imminent Death Donation: Ethical, Justified, Compassionate and Necessary

  American Journal of Transplantation · 2025-08-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Automated abdominal CT imaging biomarkers and clinical frailty measures associated with postoperative deceased-donor liver transplant outcomes

  European Radiology · 2025-03-23 · 4 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• COMPARATIVE OUTCOMES OF LOCALIZED RENAL CELL CARCINOMA IN SOILD ORGAN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS AND NON- TRANSPLANT PATIENTS

  Urologic Oncology Seminars and Original Investigations · 2025-02-27

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  PublisherDOI

• Outcomes of Patients With Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma on Immunosuppression Following Solid Organ Transplantation

  Urology · 2025-12-11 · 1 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Plasma Metagenomic Sequencing in Organ Transplant Donors

  American Journal of Transplantation · 2025-08-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Assessing the Predictive Ability of the Living Kidney Donor Profile Index for Graft Survival

  American Journal of Transplantation · 2025-08-01

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  PublisherDOI

• Twelve Thousand Kidney Transplants Over More Than 55 Y: A Single-center Experience

  Transplantation Direct · 2024-01-19 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background: Kidney transplant outcomes have dramatically improved since the first successful transplant in 1954. In its early years, kidney transplantation was viewed more skeptically. Today it is considered the treatment of choice among patients with end-stage kidney disease. Methods: Our program performed its first kidney transplant in 1966 and recently performed our 12 000th kidney transplant. Here, we review and describe our experience with these 12 000 transplants. Transplant recipients were analyzed by decade of date of transplant: 1966-1975, 1976-1985, 1986-1995, 1996-2005, 2006-2015, and 2016-2022. Death-censored graft failure and mortality were outcomes of interest. Results: Of 12 000 kidneys, 247 were transplanted from 1966 to 1975, 1147 from 1976 to 1985, 2194 from 1986 to 1995, 3147 from 1996 to 2005, 3046 from 2006 to 2015, and 2219 from 2016 to 2022 compared with 1966-1975, there were statistically significant and progressively lower risks of death-censored graft failure at 1 y, 5 y, and at last follow-up in all subsequent eras. Although mortality at 1 y was lower in all subsequent eras after 1986-1995, there was no difference in mortality at 5 y or the last follow-up between eras. Conclusions: In this large cohort of 12 000 kidneys from a single center, we observed significant improvement in outcomes over time. Kidney transplantation remains a robust and ever-growing and improving field.

  PublisherDOI

• Navigating challenges in recipient selection for end-chain kidneys

  American Journal of Transplantation · 2024-10-28 · 2 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Primary inferior vena cava synovial sarcoma treated with caval replacement during cardiopulmonary bypass and <i>ante situm</i> liver perfusion

  Journal of Surgical Case Reports · 2024-11-16

  articleOpen access

  Primary inferior vena cava (IVC) tumors are rare. Most are leiomyosarcomas. The prognosis is poor with those involving and superior to the hepatic veins faring worse than those isolated within the retrohepatic cava. Tumors with superior extension were historically considered unresectable, though there are mounting reports of multicavity resections. We present an exceedingly rare case of a primary IVC synovial sarcoma treated with caval replacement to the right atrium (without hypothermic circulatory arrest) and hepatic vein reconstruction with autologous pericardium during ante situm liver perfusion. We highlight the value of multidisciplinary consideration for extensive primary caval tumors.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Surgery Summer Research Experience for Medical Students

  NIH · $822k · 2006–2024

• A Novel mechanism for Environmentally Induced Airway Disease

  NIH · $1.7M · 2014–2019

• Pollution Aggravates Autoimmunity Through the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor

  NIH · $421k · 2015–2017

Frequent coauthors

• David P. Foley

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  29 shared

• John H. Fechner

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  24 shared

• Luis A. Fernandez

  23 shared

• Anthony M. D’Alessandro

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  21 shared

• Joren C. Madsen

  18 shared

• David H. Sachs

  Columbia University

  17 shared

• Glen Leverson

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  15 shared

• Hans W. Sollinger

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  15 shared

Awards & honors

• Madison Magazine Top Docs 2016 Award