Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni

Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni is a physician-scientist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA within the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. He holds the Dr. Allan J. Swartz and Roslyn Holt Swartz Women's Lung Health Endowed Chair. His research focuses on leveraging innate immune proteins, particularly the complement system, to mitigate acute lung injury (ALI) and improve outcomes in lung transplantation.

• Current faculty member at UCLA
• Active in transplantation immunology
• Endowed chair in women's lung health

Dr. Kulkarni's research explores complement system dynamics in lung injury, with specific emphasis on distinguishing local pulmonary complement sources from systemic ones. His program investigates mechanisms of ALI in infection and transplantation settings, utilizing

• In vitro and in vivo models
• Clinical biorepositories (lung tissue, bronchial fluid)
• Translational approaches to therapeutics

His recent work (2024-2025) reveals key insights into complement hexamerization in IgG-mediated ALI, Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced rejection in lung transplants, and mucosal immunity modulation. Common themes across publications include

• Complement system in transplantation
• Lung injury pathogenesis
• Microbiome-immune interactions
• Therapeutic targeting of innate immunity
• Biorepository-validated research
• Translational clinical applications

Scientific contributions recognized by

• Election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2025
• Leadership in American Thoracic Society workshops
• Endowed chair in women's lung health

His laboratory at UCLA combines

• Basic science (complement biology)
• Clinical research (lung transplant outcomes)
• Mucosal immunity studies
• Training programs for future scientists

with active collaborations across the Immunology, Inflammation, Infection and Transplantation (I3T) Research Theme and translational research networks.