Carl Jorns

Associate Professor Carl Jorns, MD, PhD, is a transplant surgeon and academic clinician specialized in liver transplantation, organ donation, and regenerative medicine. He studied medicine at the Albert‑Ludwigs‑Universität Freiburg in Germany and completed his doctoral degree at the Department of Virology, where his thesis focused on interferon‑stimulated genes and antiviral host responses.

Carl received his clinical surgical training in general surgery and transplantation surgery at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. In parallel, he pursued research in cellular therapies and obtained his PhD from Karolinska Institutet in 2015, with a thesis centered on clinical and experimental hepatocyte transplantation and liver regeneration.

Carl combines advanced clinical practice with translational research in liver replacement therapies, organ preservation, and approaches to expand the donor pool. He has authored numerous peer‑reviewed publications and collaborates within national and international research networks. He serves as supervisor and co‑supervisor for several PhD students in the fields of organ donation, transplantation, and regenerative medicine.

Carl is currently the Head of Liver Transplantation at the Department of Transplantation Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, where he leads the clinical liver transplant program and contributes to strategic development, research, and education within the field of abdominal transplantation.

Carl Jorns’ research focuses on organ donation, liver transplantation, and regenerative medicine. His work includes neonatal organ donation, hepatocyte transplantation, and strategies to expand the donor pool. He has a particular interest in controlled and uncontrolled donation after circulatory death (cDCD and uDCD) and led the national implementation of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) and DCD liver transplantation in Sweden.

His translational research spans clinical and experimental studies in hepatocyte transplantation and methods to optimize donor organ utilization. He is also an investigator in the IHOPE consortium (Immunology of Human Organ Donors), which examines immunological characteristics of organ donors to better understand factors influencing graft function and transplant outcomes.

Carl Jorns teaches within organ donation, transplantation surgery, and cell‑based regenerative therapies, closely integrated with his clinical role as transplant surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital. He provides clinical teaching for medical and nursing students, residents, and fellows, and contributes to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet. He supervises several PhD students and participates in postgraduate training programs.

He serves as the Swedish delegate to the European Board of Surgery, Division of Transplantation Surgery, and was the Swedish partner in the EU‑funded TEODOR initiative developing training programs in organ donation and transplantation.