Maryl Rae Johnson MD, FACC

Dr. Maryl Johnson is a faculty member in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine within the Department of Medicine. After completing her training at the University of Iowa, she was instrumental in the establishment of a heart transplant program there, serving as the initial Medical Director of the program. Before joining the faculty at UW in 2002 as Medical Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation, Dr. Johnson served as the Associate Medical Director of the Cardiac Transplant Program at Loyola University Medical Center, Associate Medical Director of the Rush Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program, and Medical Director, Heart Failure and Transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Johnson served as a resident member of the Advisory Council of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and has been a member and chair of NIH review committees. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. She is Past-President of the American Society of Transplantation and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and has served as a member and Chair of the Heart Failure and Transplant Committee of the American College of Cardiology.

She is currently Chair, representing the American Society of Transplantation, on the Program Planning Committee for the 2021 American Transplant Congress. She has held many leadership roles with the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, including chair of the Thoracic Organ Transplantation Committee and the Data Advisory Committee. She most recently served on the UNOS/OPTN Board of Directors, including a term as Secretary, and served as the UNOS/OPTN President in 2019-2020.

Dr. Johnson's clinical interests are in the care of patients with severe congestive heart failure, including the use of mechanical circulatory support devices and cardiac transplantation. She has a particular interest in the treatment and outcome of congestive heart failure in women. Her research interests include the use of mechanical assistance in patients with severe heart failure and coronary artery disease which develops in cardiac transplant recipients. She has also been an investigator in many of the multicenter trials evaluating new agents for the medical treatment of heart failure.