Johannes R. Kratz, M.D., FACS
- Associate Professor of Surgery
- Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology
- Director, Minimally Invasive and Robotic Thoracic Surgery
- Medical Director of Robotic Surgery, UCSF Health
- Director, Thoracic Surgery Residency Program
Contact Information
Academic Office
500 Parnassus Ave., MUW 405, Box 0118
San Francisco, CA 94143
Tel: 415-353-7502
Email: [email protected]
Assistant: [email protected]
Thoracic Surgery and Oncology Clinic:
1600 Divisadero St., 4th Floor, Box 1674
San Francisco, CA 94115
Clinic:415-885-3882
Fax: 415-353-7151
500 Parnassus Ave., MUW 405, Box 0118
San Francisco, CA 94143
Tel: 415-353-7502
Email: [email protected]
Assistant: [email protected]
Thoracic Surgery and Oncology Clinic:
1600 Divisadero St., 4th Floor, Box 1674
San Francisco, CA 94115
Clinic:415-885-3882
Fax: 415-353-7151
Education
M.D. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA., Magna cum laude, 2006
M.A. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA., Philosophy, 2000
B.S. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA., Biological Sciences (with Honors with Distinction), 1999
B.A. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.,Philosophy (with Distinction), 1999
Residencies
- 6/06-6/14 Resident, Department of General Surgery. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
Fellowships
- ACGME Fellowship in Thoracic Surgery, UCSF, 2014-2017
- Surgical Robotics Fellowship, American Association of Thoracic Surgery Graham Foundation, Beverly, MA 2015 - 2016
- Advanced Surgical Robotics Fellowship, University of Alabama, Birmingham (Dr. Cerfolio), 2016
Postdoctoral Training
- Research Fellow, Thoracic Oncology Laboratory, University of California, San Francisco, 2008-2011
- Research in Vascular Biology, Dr. Guillermo Garcia-Cardena, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Clinical Expertise
- Carcinoid Tumors
- Chest Wall Tumors
- Lung Transplantation
- Malignant Mesothelioma
- Mediastinal Masses
- Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery
- Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Robotic Thoracic Surgery
- Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Thymoma & Thymic Carcinoma
- Tracheal Tumors
- Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS)
Biography
Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. is Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Thoracic Surgery and holds the Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology. Kratz graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School and holds a Masters in Philosophy from Stanford.
Kratz worked as research fellow in the Thoracic Oncology Lab from 2008-2011 where he played a pivotal role in the development of a prognostic assay for early-stage lung cancer patients. The novel assay was validated in an international clinical trial led by thoracic surgeons David M. Jablons, M.D. and Michael Mann, M.D. The assay better predicted risk of death in early-stage lung cancer patients versus conventional staging guidelines and later successfully identified Stage 1A lung cancer patients who had a very high likelihood of mortality after surgery. Kratz finished his clinical training as a clinical fellow in Thoracic Surgery at UCSF from 2014 - 2017.
Kratz has published numerous papers and has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Partners Healthcare Resident/Fellow as Teacher Award, Willard M. Daggett Award, Edward Churchill Surgical Research Fellowship, Wyeth Scholarship of the American College of Surgeons, John E. Thayer Scholarship Award, Howard Hughes Medical Fellows Program Continued Support Award, Howard Hughes Medical Student Research Fellowship, and designation as a Soma Weiss Scholar.
Kratz was recently honored with the 2017 UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award for service during the last year of his clinical fellowship, among 8 winners out of 61 nominees, notably the only clinical fellow at UCSF to receive the award in 2017, and one of only two winners not on the faculty.
Awards & Honors
Award
Confired By
Date
Research Overview
The Kratz lab focuses on the genetic and immunological mechanisms that drive early-stage, surgically resectable thoracic malignancies. These malignancies include lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and thymic cancer. The lab uses novel high-throughput "-omics" techniques such as genomic DNA and RNA sequencing, proteomics, and metabolomics to unravel the complex nature of early-stage thoracic malignancies. At the same time, the lab actively investigates the complex immunological landscapes that nurture the growth of these malignancies. The knowledge gained from these investigations is being used to identify novel therapeutic targets and therapies for patients with early-stage, yet deadly thoracic malignancies.
Research & Funding
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0696-4073 
- Immune Phenotypes of High-Risk Early Stage Lung AdenocarcinomaSponsor: American Association of Thoracic SurgerySponsor ID:Funding Period:Jul 2020-Jun 2022Principal Investigator
- CoProject Pilot in Early-Stage Lung CancerSponsor: Bakar ImmunoX FoundationSponsor ID:Funding Period:Aug 2019-Jul 2021Principal Investigator
- COVID-19 Related Rapid Research Pilot InitiativeSponsor: University of California, San FranciscoSponsor ID:Funding Period:Jun 2020-Jun 2021Principal Investigator
- Lung Cancer Tumor Immune MicroenvironmentsSponsor: Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer CenterSponsor ID:Funding Period:Oct 2019-Sep 2020Principal Investigator
Clinical Trials
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
- Study ID: NCT03508830Start Date: Dec 2018Estimated Completion Date: Dec 2019Condition(s): Thoracic Diseases, Postoperative Pain, Opioid Use
Publications
MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 74
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
- Tawil ME, Chryssikos T, Sorour O, Ambati VS, Jamieson A, Theologis AA, Kratz J, Mummaneni PV. Trans-Sternal Multilevel Corpectomy for Cervicothoracic Renal Cell Metastasis: 2-Dimensional Operative Video. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown). 2024 Jan 15. View in PubMed
- Murillo AD, Kratz JR. PET Standardized Uptake Value May Influence Surgical Planning For Clinical Stage IA Non- Small Cell Lung Cancer. Ann Thorac Surg. 2023 Jun 25. View in PubMed
- Hu KH, Kuhn NF, Courau T, Tsui J, Samad B, Ha P, Kratz JR, Combes AJ, Krummel MF. Transcriptional space-time mapping identifies concerted immune and stromal cell patterns and gene programs in wound healing and cancer. Cell Stem Cell. 2023 06 01; 30(6):885-903.e10. View in PubMed
- Jacqueline V. Aredo, Anatoly Urisman, Matthew A. Gubens, Claire Mulvey, Greg M. Allen, Julia K. Rotow, Daniel Lucas Kerr, Turja Chakrabarti, Bianca Bacaltos, Megan Gee, Kirk Jones, Dara L. Aisner, Tejas Patil, Erin Lynn Schenk, Trever G. Bivona, Jonathan W. Riess, Melissa Coleman, Johannes Ruediger Kratz, David Jablons, Collin M. Blakely. Phase II trial of neoadjuvant osimertinib for surgically resectable EGFR -mutated non-small cell lung cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023 Jun 1; 41(16_suppl):8508-8508. View in PubMed
- P. Jonathan Li, Jessica Tsui, Vivianne W. Ding, Alexis J. Combes, Matthew F. Krummel, David M. Jablons, Johannes R. Kratz. 287 Genomic and Immunologic Characterization of Lung Adenocarcinoma in Never Smokers vs. Smokers. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. 2023 Apr 24; 7(s1):86-86. View in PubMed
- View All Publications
In the News
- UCSF Department of Surgery - April 10, 2023We are pleased to announce that Johannes Kratz, MD has been selected as UCSF's first Medical Director of Robotic Surgery. Johannes has served as co-Director of the UCSF Health Robotic Executive committee from 2018-2022 and in 2022 became sole director of the same. Under his careful stewardship, robotic surgeries have grown year over year adding additional service lines and placing UCSF at the forefront of technological innovation in the use of robotic technology in surgery. Johannes has led the [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - - August 01, 2020UCSF surgeon-scientist Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. was awarded a Junior Clinical Investigator Award from the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Care Center. This mentored award is given to a junior clinical investigator to support their research efforts in the early stages of their career. Dr. Kratz was given this prestigious award to pursue the study of the tumor immune microenvironment in high-risk early-stage lung cancer. The Kratz lab focuses on the genetic and immunological mechanisms that [...]
- UCSF Department of Surgery - - June 26, 2020Since the first community-transmission of Covid-19 was identified in the United States on February 26, 2020,1 the medical community has experienced an upheaval like never before. Looking to the experiences abroad, urgent steps were taken to reduce surgical cases and preserve inpatient capacity for a potential surge of Covid-19 patients.2 Many patients in need of nonurgent but essential surgical care were delayed those services. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), we [...]
- Cancer Therapy Adviser - - January 16, 2020"Looking at the genomic aspect of tumors allows us to get deeper than just looking at the microscopic appearance of the tumor and see how aggressive they are biologically," said Johannes Kratz, MD, FACS, director of minimally invasive and robotic thoracic surgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and coauthor of the study that was published in December 2019 in JAMA Network Open. "We can make a more accurate prediction of which patients will recur and better predict [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - - December 11, 2019UCSF surgeon-scientist Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. has been awarded the Michael DeBakey Research Scholarship by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and AATS Foundation. This two-year research scholarship is awarded annually to a single North American surgeon committed to pursuing an academic career in cardiothoracic surgery. Dr. Kratz was given this prestigious award for the study of genetic and immunologic determinants of recurrent early-stage lung cancer. The Kratz Lab focuses [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program and Kratz Lab - - May 20, 2019Despite adoption of molecular biomarkers in the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the recently adopted 8th Edition staging utilized only clinicopathologic characteristics, and validated improvement in risk stratification of early-stage disease remains elusive. We therefore evaluated the integration of a clinically-validated molecular prognostic classifier into conventional staging.... Incorporation of a molecular prognostic classifier significantly improved identification of [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - - May 06, 2019UCSF surgeon-scientist Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. was awarded the Inaugural Hellman Family Clinical-Translational Research Development Award from the Bakar ImmunoX initiative. This development award embeds a young investigator in an ImmunoX CoLab for two years in order to rapidly translate clinical insights into molecular-level understanding of disease. Dr. Kratz was given this prestigious award for the study of tumor immune populations in high-risk early-stage lung cancer. The Kratz [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - - March 26, 2018The Thoracic Oncology Program proudly announces the launch of the Kratz Lab, which will focus on understanding the genetic and immunological mechanisms that drive early-stage, surgically resectable thoracic malignancies, most notably non-small cell lung cancer. The translationally-focused Kratz Lab will use the knowledge gained from investigating these mechanisms to identify novel therapeutic targets and treatments for this group of patients. Johannes R. Kratz, M.D., assistant professor in [...]
- UCSF Department of Surgery - - February 24, 2018Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. has been named the new Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology. Kratz is an assistant professor in the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery, a member of the Thoracic Oncology Program, and director of Advanced Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery. The Van Auken Endowed Chair supports research, teaching and service in the field of thoracic oncology. Kratz has excelled in all three areas. As a research fellow at UCSF, he was instrumental in the development of a [...]
- UCSF Department of Surgery - - July 27, 2017Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. and Yeranuí Ledesma, M.D. are among this year's recipients of the 2017 UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award. Dr. Kratz, now a member of the Thoracic Oncology Program and Assistant Professor in the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Dr. Ledesma, a Senior Resident in General Surgery, were among 8 winners out of 61 nominees, notably the only clinical fellow and resident, respectively, at UCSF to receive the award, and the only recipients not on the faculty. [...]
- UCSF Department of Surgery - - July 01, 2017The Department of Surgery welcomes Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. to the faculty as Assistant Professor in the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery and member of the Thoracic Oncology Program. Dr. Kratz was a surgical research fellow in the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Laboratory from 2008-2011 where he played a key role in the research leading to the development of a prognostic assay for early-stage lung cancer by a team led by David M. Jablons, M.D. and Michael Mann, M.D., a test now in widespread [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - November 01, 2012Building on their earlier work reported in The Lancet, two UCSF thoracic surgeons David M. Jablons, M.D. (left) and Michael Mann, M.D. (middle), and Johannes Kratz, M.D. (right) a former surgical resident in the Thoracic Oncology Lab, showed they could accurately stratify patients even with the earliest stage of lung cancer into groups at low-, intermediate- or high-risk of death based solely on the activity of 14 different genes found in their tumors. The group analyzed lung tumors of [...]
- UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program - January 26, 2012In the two largest clinical studies ever conducted on the molecular genetics of lung cancer, an international team, led by UCSF thoracic surgeons David M. Jablons, M.D. and Michael Mann, M.D., demonstrated that a 14-gene prognostic molecular assay better predicted the likelihood of death in early-stage lung cancer patients versus conventional staging guidelines. Johannes Kratz, M.D., a former surgical resident in the Thoracic Oncology Laboratory, helped spearhead the development of the [...]