Mary Ellen Kleinhenz, MD
Professor Emeritus
Medicine
School of Medicine

Dr. Kleinhenz's clinical interests include adult cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis due to conditions other than cystic fibrosis, pulmonary disease from non-tuberculous mycobacteria and lung transplantation. She maintains an active consultative practice in the UCSF Pulmonary Practice at Parnassus.

Dr. Kleinhenz long-term commitment to adult cystic fibrosis care and management. She is a member of the Center Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and participates in the Foundation's Quality Assurance Program. She has championed the training of clinicians in adult cystic fibrosis care; several of her former trainees now staff and direct Adult Cystic Fibrosis Programs across the Nation. Dr. Kleinhenz has directed several trials of potential therapies for cystic fibrosis at UCSF.

• Design and implementation of a digital health home spirometry intervention for remote monitoring of lung transplant function.
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2023 Odisho AY, Liu AW, Maiorano AR, Bigazzi MOA, Medina E, Leard LE, Shah R, Venado A, Perez A, Golden J, Kleinhenz ME, Kolaitis NA, Maheshwari J, Trinh BN, Kukreja J, Greenland J, Calabrese D, Neinstein …
• NKG2D receptor activation drives primary graft dysfunction severity and poor lung transplantation outcomes.
  JCI insight 2022 Calabrese DR, Tsao T, Magnen M, Valet C, Gao Y, Mallavia B, Tian JJ, Aminian EA, Wang KM, Shemesh A, Punzalan EB, Sarma A, Calfee CS, Christenson SA, Langelier CR, Hays SR, Golden JA, Leard LE, …
• Depressive symptoms in lung transplant recipients: trajectory and association with mortality and allograft dysfunction.
  Thorax 2022 Kolaitis NA, Gao Y, Soong A, Greenland JR, Hays SR, Golden JA, Venado A, Leard LE, Shah RJ, Kleinhenz ME, Katz PP, Kukreja J, Blanc PD, Smith PJ, Singer JP
• Lung Allograft Epithelium DNA Methylation Age Is Associated With Graft Chronologic Age and Primary Graft Dysfunction.
  Frontiers in immunology 2021 Dugger DT, Calabrese DR, Gao Y, Deiter F, Tsao T, Maheshwari J, Hays SR, Leard L, Kleinhenz ME, Shah R, Golden J, Kukreja J, Gordon ED, Singer JP, Greenland JR
• Construct and Predictive Validity of Sarcopenia in Lung Transplant Candidates.
  Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2021 Maheshwari JA, Kolaitis NA, Anderson MR, Benvenuto L, Gao Y, Katz PP, Greenland J, Wolters PJ, Covinsky K, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Calabrese DR, Venado A, Shah RJ, Leard LE, Trinh B, Huang CY, Glidden D, …
• Enabling antibiotic allergy evaluations and reintroduction of first-line antibiotics for patients with cystic fibrosis.
  Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology 2021 Anstey KM, Choi L, Dawson D, Kleinhenz ME, Otani IM
• The association of post-operative delirium with patient-reported outcomes and mortality after lung transplantation.
  Clinical transplantation 2021 DeBolt CL, Gao Y, Sutter N, Soong A, Leard L, Jeffrey G, Kleinhenz ME, Calabrese D, Greenland J, Venado A, Hays SR, Shah R, Kukreja J, Trinh B, Kolaitis NA, Douglas V, Diamond JM, Smith P, Singer J
• Chronic lung allograft dysfunction small airways reveal a lymphocytic inflammation gene signature.
  American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2020 Dugger DT, Fung M, Hays SR, Singer JP, Kleinhenz ME, Leard LE, Golden JA, Shah RJ, Lee JS, Deiter F, Greenland NY, Jones KD, Langelier CR, Greenland JR
• Primary graft dysfunction attenuates improvements in health-related quality of life after lung transplantation, but not disability or depression.
  American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2020 Kolaitis NA, Gao Y, Soong A, Greenland JR, Hays SR, Golden J, Leard LE, Shah RJ, Kleinhenz ME, Katz PP, Venado A, Kukreja J, Blanc PD, Singer JP
• Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant Recipients Have Suppressed Airway Interferon Responses during Pseudomonas Infection.
  Cell reports. Medicine 2020 Dugger DT, Fung M, Zlock L, Caldera S, Sharp L, Hays SR, Singer JP, Leard LE, Golden JA, Shah RJ, Kukreja J, Gordon E, Finkbeiner W, Kleinhenz ME, Langelier C, Greenland JR
• Antibiotic adverse reactions in adult cystic fibrosis patients.
  The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. In practice 2020 Anstey KM, Lee M, Dawson D, Jue V, Budzik JM, Yu M, Kleinhenz ME, Otani IM
• Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator dysfunction in platelets drives lung hyperinflammation.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 2020 Ortiz-Muñoz G, Yu MA, Lefrançais E, Mallavia B, Valet C, Tian JJ, Ranucci S, Wang KM, Liu Z, Kwaan N, Dawson D, Kleinhenz ME, Khasawneh FT, Haggie PM, Verkman AS, Looney MR
• Improvements in frailty contribute to substantial improvements in quality of life after lung transplantation in patients with cystic fibrosis.
  Pediatric pulmonology 2020 Perez AA, Hays SR, Soong A, Gao Y, Greenland JR, Leard LE, Shah RJ, Golden J, Kukreja J, Venado A, Kleinhenz ME, Singer JP
• Mitochondrial DNA Stimulates TLR9-Dependent Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation in Primary Graft Dysfunction.
  American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology 2020 Mallavia B, Liu F, Lefrançais E, Cleary SJ, Kwaan N, Tian JJ, Magnen M, Sayah DM, Soong A, Chen J, Saggar R, Shino MY, Ross DJ, Derhovanessian A, Lynch JP, Ardehali A, Weigt SS, Belperio JA, Hays SR, …
• Tacrolimus trough monitoring guided by mass spectrometry without accounting for assay differences is associated with acute kidney injury in lung transplant recipients.
  American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2019 Kolaitis NA, Calabrese DR, Ahearn P, Venado A, Florez R, Lei HL, Isaak K, Henricksen E, Martinez E, Chong T, Shah RJ, Leard LE, Kleinhenz ME, Golden J, De Marco T, Greenland JR, Kukreja J, Hays SR, …
• Management and clinical outcomes after lung transplantation in patients with pre-transplant Mycobacterium abscessus infection: A single center experience.
  Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society 2019 Perez AA, Singer JP, Schwartz BS, Chin-Hong P, Shah RJ, Kleinhenz ME, Gao Y, Venado A, Leard LE, Golden JA, Kukreja J, Greenland JR, Hays SR
• Gene signatures common to allograft rejection are associated with lymphocytic bronchitis.
  Clinical transplantation 2019 Greenland JR, Wang P, Brotman JJ, Ahuja R, Chong TA, Kleinhenz ME, Leard LE, Golden JA, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Singer JP, Rajalingam R, Jones K, Laszik ZG, Trivedi NN, Greenland NY, Blanc PD
• Frailty trajectories in adult lung transplantation: A cohort study.
  The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2019 Venado A, McCulloch C, Greenland JR, Katz P, Soong A, Shrestha P, Hays S, Golden J, Shah R, Leard LE, Kleinhenz ME, Kukreja J, Zablotska L, Allen IE, Covinsky K, Blanc P, Singer JP
• Improvement in patient-reported outcomes after lung transplantation is not impacted by the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to transplantation.
  The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery 2018 Kolaitis NA, Soong A, Shrestha P, Zhuo H, Neuhaus J, Katz PP, Greenland JR, Golden J, Leard LE, Shah RJ, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Kleinhenz ME, Blanc PD, Singer JP
• Severe piperacillin-tazobactam-induced hemolysis in a cystic fibrosis patient.
  Clinical case reports 2017 Kerkhoff AD, Patrick L, Cornett P, Kleinhenz ME, Brondfield S
• Effect of Lung Transplantation on Health-Related Quality of Life in the Era of the Lung Allocation Score: A U.S. Prospective Cohort Study.
  American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2017 Singer JP, Katz PP, Soong A, Shrestha P, Huang D, Ho J, Mindo M, Greenland JR, Hays SR, Golden J, Kukreja J, Kleinhenz ME, Shah RJ, Blanc PD
• Cystic Fibrosis Transitions of Care: Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Cystic Fibrosis.
  Clinics in chest medicine 2015 Okumura MJ, Kleinhenz ME
• Prolonged Barium-Impaction Ileus in Two Lung Transplant Recipients With Systemic Sclerosis: Case Report.
  Transplantation proceedings 2015 Tokman S, Hays SR, Leard LE, Bush EL, Kukreja J, Kleinhenz ME, Golden JA, Singer JP
• The feasibility of lung transplantation in HIV-seropositive patients.
  Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2014 Kern RM, Seethamraju H, Blanc PD, Sinha N, Loebe M, Golden J, Kukreja J, Scheinin S, Hays S, Kleinhenz ME, Leard L, Hoopes C, Singer JP
• Improving transition from paediatric to adult cystic fibrosis care: programme implementation and evaluation.
  BMJ quality & safety 2014 Okumura MJ, Ong T, Dawson D, Nielson D, Lewis N, Richards M, Brindis CD, Kleinhenz ME
• Airway microbiota and pathogen abundance in age-stratified cystic fibrosis patients.
  PloS one 2010 Cox MJ, Allgaier M, Taylor B, Baek MS, Huang YJ, Daly RA, Karaoz U, Andersen GL, Brown R, Fujimura KE, Wu B, Tran D, Koff J, Kleinhenz ME, Nielson D, Brodie EL, Lynch SV
• Colonic wall redundancy at CT in patients with cystic fibrosis.
  Radiology 2008 Webb EM, Kleinhenz ME, Coakley FV, Chang CI, Westphalen AC, Yeh BM
• Lung transplantation in patients with connective tissue disorders and esophageal dysmotility.
  Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus 2008 Gasper WJ, Sweet MP, Golden JA, Hoopes C, Leard LE, Kleinhenz ME, Hays SR, Patti MG
• Antireflux surgery for patients with end-stage lung disease before and after lung transplantation.
  Surgical endoscopy 2007 Gasper WJ, Sweet MP, Hoopes C, Leard LE, Kleinhenz ME, Hays SR, Golden JA, Patti MG
• The diffusing capacity in adult cystic fibrosis.
  Respiratory medicine 2003 Espiritu JD, Ruppel G, Shrestha Y, Kleinhenz ME
• Chronic ventilator dependence in elderly patients.
  Clinics in geriatric medicine 2000 Kleinhenz ME, Lewis CY
• Paradoxical embolization in an adult patient with cystic fibrosis.
  Mayo Clinic proceedings 2000 Espiritu JD, Kleinhenz ME
• Bovine aortic endothelial cells elaborate an inhibitor of the generation of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated human blood monocyte procoagulant activity.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 1984 Goodnough LT, Kleinhenz ME, Goldsmith GH, Ziats NP, Robertson AL
• Destruction of the multicellular parasite Schistosoma mansoni by T lymphocytes.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 1982 Ellner JJ, Olds GR, Lee CW, Kleinhenz ME, Edmonds KL
• Suppression of lymphocyte responses by tuberculous plasma and mycobacterial arabinogalactan. Monocyte dependence and indomethacin reversibility.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 1981 Kleinhenz ME, Ellner JJ, Spagnuolo PJ, Daniel TM