Johnny C. Hong, MD, FACS

About Me

An internationally recognized leader in abdominal transplant surgery with a track record for building top programs, Dr. Johnny C. Hong is a fellowship-trained multi-organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgeon whose expertise spans the entire spectrum of liver transplantation, including living-donor liver transplant and hepatobiliary surgery for adults and children. Joining Penn State Health from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Froedtert Health and Children's Wisconsin, he has performed some of the “firsts” in hepatobiliary surgery, including an innovative liver surgery procedure on a two-month-old infant. 

Board-certified by the American Board of Surgery, Hong earned his medical degree from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, College of Medicine, Philippines. He completed his residency training in general surgery and fellowship in immunology and organ transplantation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas, followed by a fellowship in multi-organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Hong has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to teaching and advancing the field of transplantation and surgery, training transplant surgeons throughout the world. He has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at academic medical centers. As a researcher, Hong served as principal investigator and co-investigator in National Institutes of Health-funded research studies and other peer-reviewed studies related to liver diseases and transplantation. His clinical research led to patient treatment guidelines for cholangiocarcinoma, immunosuppression, transplantation critical care and transplantation of partial hepatic grafts from live and deceased donors.

His basic science research focuses on organ resuscitation to mitigate the adverse effects of liver ischemia and reperfusion injury. Hong received a patent for a novel liver resuscitation therapy that converts marginal quality deceased donor livers into organs suitable for transplantation, reducing the number of patient deaths on the transplant waitlist. He is a recipient of multiple awards and honors, including Fellowships in the American College of Surgeons and American Surgical Association.