Thomas E. Starzl, M.D., Ph.D., is known to most as the "Father of Transplantation" as well as a thinker who continues to be well ahead of his time. Not only did he lay the groundwork for an entire new field of medicine, throughout his career he 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 to enhance understanding of disease process. In more recent years, he has made important discoveries about tolerance, which have completely changed the face and conventional paradigms of transplant immunology.
Retired from clinical and surgical service since 1991, Dr. Starzl now devotes his time to research endeavors and remains active as professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC Health System) program named in his honor: the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. Since his "retirement," he has earned the additional distinctions of being one of the most prolific scientists in the world as well as the most cited scientist in the field of clinical medicine.
Dr. Starzl was born March 11, 1926 in LeMars, Iowa, the son of a newspaper editor. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., where he earned his bachelor's degree in biology. He went on to the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where in 1950 he received a master's degree in anatomy and in 1952 earned both a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and an M.D. with distinction.
Following postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Dr. Starzl pursued his interest in surgery and research with a fellowship and residencies at Johns Hopkins, the University of Miami and the Veterans Administration Research Hospital in Chicago. He was a Markle Scholar in Medical Science, a distinguished honor bestowed annually on a small group of exceptionally promising young physicians in academic medicine. Dr. Starzl served on the faculty of Northwestern University from 1958 to 1961 and joined the University of Colorado School of Medicine as an associate professor in surgery in 1962. He was promoted to professor in 1964 and served as chairman of the department of surgery from 1972 to 1980.
In spite of the prevailing worldwide pessimism regarding the ability to transplant allogeneic (non-identical human) kidneys, Dr. Starzl successfully combined azathioprine (Imuran) and corticosteroids in kidney transplants performed in 1962 and 1963, leading to the largest series of kidney transplants and invigorating clinical attempts throughout the world. In addition, the lessons learned from kidney transplantation and discoveries made by his team on liver physiology lead Dr. Starzl to perform the world's first human liver transplant in 1963 and the first successful liver transplant at the University of Colorado in 1967. Dr. Starzl and his clinical organ transplant and research team went on to perform approximately 1,000 kidney and 200 liver transplants at Colorado General and Denver Veterans Administration hospitals.
In addition to the development of 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 diseases of the liver, kidney and heart. It also allowed surgeons to explore the feasibility of transplanting other organs, such as the pancreas and lung.
Dr. Starzl joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1981 as professor of surgery. Until 1991, he served as chief of transplantation services at Presbyterian University Hospital (now UPMC Presbyterian), Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh, overseeing the largest and busiest transplant program in the world. He then assumed the title of director of the University of Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute, a post which permitted his full attention to research. In 1996, the Institute was renamed in his honor, and he remains its director.
In 1989, Dr. Starzl announced the first-time use of a new, more effective anti-rejection agent, FK506 (tacrolimus), presaging another significant advancements in transplant medicine, whereby patient and graft survival rates for liver and other organ transplants greatly improved and successful clinical intestine transplantation, previously fraught with unacceptably high rejection rates, was made possible for the first time. Dr. Starzl and his team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) had been instrumental in the development of the drug since 1986; in 1994, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for clinical use.
UPMC’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, under Dr. Starzl’s leadership, has also researched the feasibility of cross-species or xenotransplantation to close the gap on the chronic shortage of human organs. In 1992 and 1993, Dr. Starzl's team made medical history when surgeons performed two baboon-to-human liver transplants. Dr. Starzl himself had performed six baboon kidney transplants in 1963 and 1964 and the world's first chimpanzee liver transplants in three children between 1969 and 1974.
A major focus of Dr. Starzl's current research is transplant tolerance and chimerism—the coexistence of donor and recipient cells—which has already offered significant contributions to the understanding of transplant immunology, particularly with respect to how and why organs are accepted.
Among the more than 175 awards and honors bestowed to Dr. Starzl are: the David M. Hume Memorial Award from the National Kidney Foundation for furthering the understanding of kidney diseases, kidney transplantation and the physiology of the kidney; the Brookdale Award in Medicine presented by the American Medical Association Board of Trustees and the Brookdale Foundation for significant contributions to the field of clinical medicine, teaching and research; the Bigelow Medal from the Boston Surgical Society; the City of Medicine Award; the 1991 Distinguished Service Award presented by the American Liver Foundation; the William Beaumont Prize from the American Gastroenterological Association for outstanding contributions to the field and practice of gastroenterology; the Peter Medawar Prize of The Transplant Society; the Jacobson Innovation Award of the American College of Surgeons; the 1998 Lannelongue International Medal which is awarded every five years by the Academie Nationale De Chirurgie (National Academy of Surgery, France); and 21 honorary doctorates from universities in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Starzl's national and international involvement includes membership in more than 58 professional and scientific organizations, including election as president of the International Transplantation Society, founding president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and founding president of the Transplant Recipients International Organization. In 1992, he was inducted as one of only five American members into the prestigious National French Academy of Medicine. A sought-after speaker, Dr. Starzl has given more than 1,200 presentations at major meetings throughout the world. He belongs to the editorial boards of 22 professional publications and has authored or co-authored more than 2,130 scientific articles, four books and 292 chapters.
According to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Dr. Starzl once averaged one paper every 7.3 days, making him one of the most prolific scientists in the world. In 1999, ISI identified Dr. Starzl as the most cited scientist in the field of clinical medicine, a measure of his work's lasting influence and utility. The book, 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium, placed Dr. Starzl 213th on its list of those whose contributions have significantly influenced history's progress.
Dr. Starzl's autobiography, The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon , was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1992. In addition, the book has been published in Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. All author's royalties are being donated to Transplant Recipients International Organization.