Professor Randall E. Morris obtained his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and has been Research Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and (by courtesy) Medicine and Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, USA (now Emeritus). He has also been a non-exclusive consultant in the fields of transplantation and medical devices since 2010.
Professor Morris was Head of Therapeutic Sciences for Transplantation and Immunology, Global Head of Transplantation research and Head of Translational Medicine for Transplantation at Novartis, Switzerland. He has also been a non-exclusive consultant in the fields of transplantation and medical devices.
Professor Morris has collaborated with over 20 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to discover and study new immunosuppressant's for transplantation. He initiated experiments that led to the discoveries and /or first publications showing mycophenolate mofetil, and sirolimus suppress acute and chronic rejection, and is an inventor on the foundational patent for mTOR inhibitor drug-eluting stents. His group and their collaborators were the first to show that the humanized anti-LFA-1 monoclonal antibody, efalizumab, and the Janus kinase 3/1 (JAK3/1) inhibitor, tafocitinib, suppress rejection. He also oversaw the preclinical development and early clinical development of the novel protein kinase C inhibitor, sotrastaurin.
Professor Morris has presented the results of his research in over 400 lectures and has published over 400 articles, reviews, book chapters and published abstracts on immunosuppression, the pharmacodynamics of immunosuppressants, chronic rejection, lung transplantation and xenografting. He was the President of the International Congress on New Trends in Experimental and Clinical Immunosuppression and served two terms as a Councilor of The Transplantation Society (third term on-going). Awards include the N.I.H. Medical Scientist Trainee, Stanford Medical Alumni Award, American College of Surgeons Schering Research Award and the Karolinska Institute & Huddinge Hospital (Stockholm) Transplant Medal.