the man who made transplants a reality.for everone Starzl was born on March 11, 1926 in Le Mars, Iowa, the son of newspaper editor and science fiction writer Roman Frederick Starzl and Anna Laura Fitzgerald who was a teacher and a nurse. He is of German-Irish descent.[1] Originally intending to become a priest in his teenage years, Starzls plans changed drastically when his mother died from breast cancer. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. Starzl attended Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where in 1950 he received a Master of Science degree in anatomy and in 1952 earned both a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and an M.D. with distinction.[3] Starzl was a surgeon and researcher in the then nascent field of organ transplantation at the University of Colorado from 1962 until his move to the University of Pittsburgh in 1981, where he has remained since. He made an exceptional mark on the medical community creating new surgical techniques. He reportedly worked up to three days straight on organ transplantation procedures as he was the only one who could perform them. Starzl has authored or co-authored more than 2,130 scientific articles, four books, and 292 chapters. According to the Institute for Scientific Information, Starzl once averaged one paper every 7.3 days, making him one of the most prolific scientists in the world. In 1999, ISI identified Starzl as the most cited scientist in the field of clinical medicine, a measure of his works lasting influence and utility. His autobiographical memoir, The Puzzle People, was named by The Wall Street Journal as the third best book on doctors lives.[4] Starzls most notable accomplishments include: Performing the first human liver transplant in 1963, and the first successful human liver transplant in 1967, both at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.[5] Establishing the clinical utility of ciclosporin (cyclosporine) in 1982, and tacrolimus in 1991, both leading to FDA approval; Development of multiple technical advances in organ preservation, procurement and transplant; Delineating the indications and limitations of abdominal organ transplantation; Defining the underlying basis for organ transplantation as a treatment of inherited metabolic diseases (thus providing the rationale for current-day gene therapy efforts); Recognizing the causative role of immunosuppression in the development of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and other opportunistic infections and the utility of reversing the immunosuppressed state as the principal treatment; Performing the first simultaneous heart and liver transplant on six-year-old Stormie Jones in 1984;[6] Proposing microchimerism in organ transplant tolerance. transplants a reality.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:17:25 +0000
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