Dr. Minnie M. Sarwal MD, PhD, is an adult and pediatric nephrologist, researcher of transplant iimmunology and kidney disease, and an exited biotechnology entrepreneur in San Francisco. She has made significant contributions to the field of kidney disease and organ transplantation, including conducting the first successful complete steroid avoidance trial in the US and the first dosing safety trial for Rituximab in pediatric renal transplantation.

Sarwal directs the Precision Transplant Medicine lab at UCSF, and previously at Stanford University for 16 yrs, where she also directed the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program. She has spearheaded genomic and proteomics investigations into mechanisms of organ transplant injury and was the first to determine that there was substantive molecular heterogeneity in acute kidney transplant rejection. She then developed and successfully commercialized genomic and proteomics testing kits for early diagnosis of both acute rejection and operational tolerance in kidney transplant patients, providing tools for proactive and predictive immunosuppression monitoring for transplant recipients.

Using high-throughput gene assays and artificial intelligence, Sarwal’s research focuses on developing new tests to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of organ rejection and infection in transplant recipients. Her lab has done pivotal work to produce commercially available tests for organ transplant rejection, including the blood tests kSORT and Prospera and the urine test QSant.

Sarwal is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, holds a PhD in molecular genetics from Cambridge University (mentor Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner), serves on the FDA Science Board and chairs various NIH and Department of Defense Scientific committees. A prolific speaker and author, Sarwal has co-authored over 300 publications and book chapters.