Prominent Thoracic Surgeon to Lead New Division of Thoracic Surgery at UCSF

Johannes R. Kratz, MD, has been named as the inaugural Chief of UCSF’s Division of Thoracic Surgery, one of the leading, academic robotic thoracic surgery programs in the western United States. He brings a track record of innovation in surgical oncology and will guide multidisciplinary teams of surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists to provide state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients with a wide array of thoracic conditions. Kratz was appointed interim chief of the new division in July 2025 and assumes the role of chief on February 1, 2026.

Since 2023, Kratz has been UCSF Health’s Medical Director of Robotic Surgery and Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Thoracic Surgery. Under his stewardship, robotic surgeries have grown year over year adding service lines and placing UCSF at the forefront of technological innovation in the use of robotic technology in surgery. Kratz is also the Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology and serves as the Program Director of UCSF’s Thoracic Surgery Residency Program.

As chief of the Thoracic Surgery Division of the UCSF Department of Surgery, Kratz leads a team of thoracic surgeons who are specially trained on the da Vinci®, a state-of-the-art robotic surgery system which provides significant advancement in minimally invasive surgery for treatment of conditions like lung cancer, esophageal cancer, thymoma and thymic carcinoma, thymectomy for myasthenia gravis, chest wall tumors, neurogenic tumors, carcinoid tumors, and Barrett's esophagus. As part of the Thoracic Oncology Program, a quaternary referral center for complex thoracic oncology care, the surgical team performs a range of procedures, including lobectomy, segmentectomy, esophagectomy, thymectomy, and metastasectomy.

“I am confident that Johannes Kratz will continue his exceptional leadership, setting the direction for the future of thoracic care, research, and training in thoracic surgery,” said Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS, the Leon Goldman, MD Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at UCSF. “He is well suited to grow the division while refining surgical excellence and spurring innovation in the field.”

In addition to his clinical leadership, Kratz’s research has been productive and impactful. While a surgical research fellow at the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Laboratory, Kratz developed a test, now available to patients, that more accurately identifies early-stage lung cancer patients who benefit from adjuvant therapy. The Kratz Lab focuses on the genetic and immunological mechanisms that drive early-stage, surgically resectable thoracic malignancies, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets and therapies for patients with early-stage, yet deadly thoracic malignancies.

Kratz earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and completed a general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at UCSF. He also holds a master's degree in philosophy from Stanford University.

Kratz is a member of the American College of Surgeons, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and American Society of Clinical Oncology. He has published numerous papers and has been the recipient of many awards and honors including the UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award, Cardiothoracic Surgery Faculty Teaching Award, Hellman Family Clinical-Translational Research Development Award, Michael DeBakey Research Scholarship, and Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Excellence in Teaching Award.