Hirohito Ichii
•Professor of Clinical Surgery, Division of Transplant, Department of Surgery, University of California Irvine
•Surgical Director, Living Donor Kidney Transplant
Biography
Hirohito Ichii, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, Irvine. He serves as Surgical Director of the Living Donor Kidney Transplant Program and Director of the Pancreas/Islet Transplant Program at UCI. Ichii received his M.D. from Kobe University School of Medicine in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Immunology from Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in 2002. He holds a California medical license and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Ichii's research focuses on pancreatic islet transplantation and the role of oxidative stress in diabetes and transplantation. His work on the Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant pathway has explored protective mechanisms for pancreatic beta cells and transplanted organs. He has served as principal investigator on multiple NIH-funded studies, including projects through the Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium and the Integrated Islet Distribution Program. His laboratory has investigated methods to improve human islet isolation and viability, including the development of novel assessment techniques for cellular composition and beta-cell viability in islet preparations.
Ichii has authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications and has been an active member of the transplant community through service on NIH study sections and as a representative to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network Pancreas Transplantation Committee. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals including Medicine, Islets, and Pancreatic Disorders & Therapy. His clinical work encompasses kidney, pancreas, and islet transplantation, with particular focus on developing improved protocols for organ preservation and transplant outcomes.
Return to topEducation
- M.D., Kobe University School of Medicine, 1995
- Ph.D. in Immunology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 2002
Areas of Expertise
- Transplant Surgery
- Islet Cell Transplantation
- Pancreatic Beta Cell Viability
- Oxidative Stress Pathways
- Immunosuppression Protocols
- Organ Preservation Techniques
- Diabetic Nephropathy
Recent Publications
- Gliozheni E, Salem Y, Cho E, Wahlstrom S, Olbrich D, Shams BD, Alexander M, Ichii H, “Food derived phytochemicals: Multi-cultural approaches to oxidative stress and immune response” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 26, no. 15, pp. 7316, 2025.
- Hasjim B, Chen S, Ichii H, Bhat M, “Social Determinants of Health and Liver Transplant Outcomes in U.S. Indigenous Populations” (opens in new tab), American Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 120, no. 12, pp. 2957-2963, 2025.
- Yi M, Cisneros LC, Cho EJ, Alexander M, Kimelman FA, Swentek L, Ferrey A, Tantisattamo E, Ichii H, “Nrf2 Pathway and Oxidative Stress as a Common Target for Treatment of Diabetes and Its Comorbidities” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 821, 2024.
- Hasjim BJ, Sanders JM, Alexander M, Redfield RR 3rd, Ichii H, “Perfusion Techniques in Kidney Allograft Preservation to Reduce Ischemic Reperfusion Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” (opens in new tab), Antioxidants (Basel), vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 642, 2024.
- Yi M, Toribio AJ, Salem YM, Alexander M, Ferrey A, Swentek L, Tantisattamo E, Ichii H, “Nrf2 Signaling Pathway as a Key to Treatment for Diabetic Dyslipidemia and Atherosclerosis” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 5831, 2024.
- Alexander M, Cho E, Gliozheni E, Salem Y, Cheung J, Ichii H, “Pathology of Diabetes-Induced Immune Dysfunction” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 25, no. 13, pp. 7105, 2024.
- Hasjim BJ, Sanders JM, Alexander M, Redfield RR 3rd, Ichii H, “Perfusion techniques and long-term outcomes in kidney transplantation: A systematic review and meta-analysis”, Transplantation, vol. 108, no. 9, pp. 431, 2024.
- Hasjim B, Okumura K, Redfield RFR, Ichii H, “Tale of Two Transplants: A Kidney Pair Analysis on the Impact of Social Determinants of Health”, American Journal of Transplant, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. S1016, 2024.
- Eguchi N, Tantisattamo E, Chung D, Reddy UG, Ferrey A, Dafoe D, Ichii H, “Noninferiority Outcomes Among Undocumented Immigrant Kidney Transplant Recipients in California- a Single Center Study” (opens in new tab), JAMA Network Open, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. e2254660, 2023.
- Eguchi N, Toribio AJ, Alexander M, Xu I, Whaley DL, Hernandez LF, Dafoe D, Ichii H, “Dysregulation of β-cells Proliferation in Diabetes: Possibilities of combination therapy in the development of a comprehensive treatment” (opens in new tab), Biomedicines, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 472, 2022.
- Hernandez LF, Eguchi N, Whaley D, Alexander M, Tantisattamo E, Ichii H, “Anti-Oxidative Therapy in Diabetic Nephropathy” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Bioscience-Scholar, vol. 12, no. 2, 2022.
- Eguchi N, Damyar K, Alexander M, Dafoe D, Lakey JRT, Ichii H, “Anti-oxidative Therapy in Islet Cell Transplantation” (opens in new tab), Antioxidants, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1038, 2022.
- Rickels MR, Eggerman TL, Bayman L, Qidwai JC, Alejandro R, Bridges ND, Hering BJ, Markmann JF, Senior PA, Hunsicker LG, Ichii H, “Long-term Outcomes With Islet-Alone and Islet-After-Kidney Transplantation for Type 1 Diabetes in the Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium: Aliva J, Begley B, .. Ichii H … et al. The CIT-08 Study” (opens in new tab), Diabetes Care, 2022.
- Li S, Vaziri ND, Swentek L, Takasu C, Vo K, Stamos MJ, Ricordi C, Ichii H, “Prevention of Autoimmune Diabetes In NOD Mice By Dimethyl Fumarate” (opens in new tab), Antioxidants (Basel), vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 193, 2021.
- Klangjareonchai T, Eguchi N, Tantisattamo E, Ferrey AJ, Reddy U, Dafoe DC, Ichii H, “Current Pharmacological Intervention and Medical Management for Diabetic Kidney Transplant Recipients” (opens in new tab), Pharmaceutics, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 413, 2021.
- Swentek L, Chung D, Ichii H, “Antioxidant Therapy of Pancreatitis” (opens in new tab), Antioxidants (Basel), vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 657, 2021.
- Lau H, Lopez AJ, Eguchi N, Shimomura A, Ferrey A, Tantisattamo E, Reddy UG, Dafoe D, Ichii H, “Intraoperative near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring of renal allograft reperfusion in kidney transplant recipients: A feasibility and proof-of-concept study” (opens in new tab), Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 10, no. 19, pp. 4292, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Eguchi N, Vaziri ND, Dafoe DC, Ichii H, “The role of oxidative stress in pancreatic β cell dysfunction in Diabetes” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1509, 2021.
- Hirohito Ichii, A. Sakamoto, M. Hatano, S. Okada, H. Toyama, S. Taki, M. Arima, Y. Kuroda, T. Tokuhisa, “Role for Bcl-6 in the generation and maintenance of memory CD8+ T cells” (opens in new tab), Nature Immunology, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 558-63, 2002.
- Ichii H, Inverardi L, Pileggi A, Molano RD, Cabrera O, Caicedo A, Messinger S, Kuroda Y, Berggren PO, Ricordi C, “A novel method for the assessment of cellular composition and beta-cell viability in human islet preparations” (opens in new tab), American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 5, no. 7, pp. 1635-45, 2005.
- Ichii H, Sakamoto A, Kuroda Y, Tokuhisa T, “Bcl6 acts as an amplifier for the generation and proliferative capacity of central memory CD8+ T cells” (opens in new tab), Journal of Immunology, vol. 173, no. 2, pp. 883-91, 2004.
- Ichii H, Pileggi A, Molano RD, Baidal DA, Khan A, Kuroda Y, Inverardi L, Goss JA, Alejandro R, Ricordi C, “Rescue purification maximizes the use of human islet preparations for transplantation” (opens in new tab), American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 21-30, 2005.
- Li S, Eguchi N, Lau H, Ichii H, “The role of the Nrf2 signaling in Obesity and Insulin Resistance” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 21, no. 18, pp. 6973, 2020.
- Ichii H, Sakuma Y, Pileggi A, Fraker C, Alvarez A, Montelongo J, Szust J, Khan A, Inverardi L, Naziruddin B, Levy MF, Klintmalm GB, Goss JA, Alejandro R, Ricordi C, “Shipment of Human Islets for Transplantation” (opens in new tab), American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 1010-20, 2007.
- Miki A, Ricordi C, Yamamoto T, Misawa R, Mita A, Molano RD, Vaziri ND, Pileggi A, Ichii H, “Divergent antioxidant capacity of human islet cell subsets: A potential cause of beta-cell vulnerability in diabetes and islet transplantation” (opens in new tab), PLoS One, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. e0196570, 2018.
- Ichii H, Ricordi C, “Current Status of Islet Cell Transplantation” (opens in new tab), Journal of Hepato Biliary Pancreatic Surgery, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 101-12, 2009.
- Ichii H, Sakamoto A, Arima M, Hatano M, Kuroda Y, Tokuhisa T, “Bcl6 is essential for the generation of long-term memory CD4+ T cells” (opens in new tab), International Immunology, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 427-33, 2007.
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Last updated on 4/28/2026.