PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Transplant.
Sec. Abdominal Transplantation
This article is part of the Research TopicTransplantation Pillars: Volume IIView all 3 articles
Thomas E. Starzl, M.D., Ph.D. – The Sui Generis Medical Pioneer and Mentor
Provisionally accepted
- 1The University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
- 2University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States
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As the “Father of Modern Transplantation”, Dr. Starzl pioneered every aspect of organ transplantation: immunosuppression, organ procurement and preservation, tissue matching, surgical transplant technology, and the operational management of the transplant team. His work paved the way for heart, lung, pancreas, intestinal, liver, and kidney transplantation and opened doors to understanding immune regulation of a number of acquired and inherited disorders. Dr. Starzl’s contributions to the scientific literature, in a span of 60 years, are nothing short of remarkable - 2,872 publications placing him at the top of scientific citations according to the Institute of Scientific Information. Dr. Starzl was a man of unique vision, enthusiasm, and persistence; many of his ideas were considered revolutionary and radical – stimulating opposition and criticism. He called upon an inner strength, likely entrenched from his small-town upbringing, to persist in spite of adversity and promote social and medical acceptance of transplantation. Through his tireless efforts he educated scientists, other professionals, and the public. He was involved in all of the controversies of organ donation, from the use of non-heart beating donors, to living donors, to brain dead donor and to xenotransplantation (animal-to-human transplantation).
Keywords: Starzl, History, Transplantation, Cyclosporine, Tacrolimus, organ donation
Received: 18 Aug 2025; Accepted: 28 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 FUNG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: JOHN Julian FUNG, jfung@surgery.bsd.uchicago.edu
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