School of Medicine

News and Publications

July 31, 2006

'Father of transplantation' speaks at Perinatology Research Branch

Thomas E. Starzl, M.D., Ph.D., known to many as the “father of transplantation” and a thinker who has been and continues to be well ahead of his time, recently spoke at the National Institutes of Health's Perinatology Research Branch on the WSU School of Medicine campus.

Dr. Starzl

By laying the groundwork for a new field of medicine, Dr. Starzl has continued to make among the most significant landmark advancements in medicine and science -- from identifying better ways to control organ rejection to offering novel approaches that enhance understanding of disease processes. In recent years, he has made important discoveries about tolerance, which have completely changed the conventional paradigms of transplant immunology.

Despite prevailing worldwide pessimism regarding the ability to transplant allogenic (non-identical) human kidneys, Dr. Starzl successfully combined azathioprine (Imuran) and corticosteroids in allogenic kidney transplants performed in 1962 and 1963, leading to the largest series of kidney transplants and invigorating clinical attempts throughout the world. The lessons learned from kidney transplantation and discoveries made by his team on liver physiology led Dr. Starzl to perform the world's first human liver transplant in 1963 and the first successful liver transplant in 1967 both at the University of Colorado. Dr. Starzl and his transplant team went on to perform approximately 1,000 kidney and 200 liver transplants at Colorado General and Denver Veterans Administration hospitals.

In addition to developing azathioprine and corticosteroid immunosuppression, Dr. Starzl subsequently introduced anti-lymphocyte globulin and cyclosporine. It was this development in 1980 that advanced transplantation from an experimental procedure to an accepted form of treatment for patients with end-stage liver, kidney and heart disease. It also allowed surgeons to explore the feasibility of transplanting other organs, such as the pancreas and lung.

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