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Renal Transplant program celebrates 50 years, a new home and a new director

On October 9, 1959, OHSU made history by performing the first human-to-human kidney transplant on the West Coast. The donor and recipient were identical twin sisters, 12 years old, who are still living today. In fact, the recipient, now in her 60s, is one of the longest-surviving transplant recipients in the world.
Today, on this 50th anniversary, Dr. John Hunter, Mackenzie Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, announced that Dr. David L. Scott will become Surgical Director of the Renal Transplant Program. After 50 years in the Division of Urology, the Renal Transplant Program will now find a new home in the Division of Abdominal Organ Transplantation, previously the Division of Liver/Pancreas Transplantation. And after 33 years as Director of the Renal Transplant Program, Dr. John Barry is passing the baton to Dr. Scott. Click here for the announcement from the Department of Surgery.

Since its inception in 1959, the OHSU Transplant Program has expanded to include heart, liver, pancreas and lungs. The team transplants more than 200 organs a year. Over the years, thousands of people with life-limiting disease have been saved thanks to organ transplantation at OHSU. And along the way, the transplant team has actively contributed to new transplant technologies, including: surgical techniques, organ retrieval and preservation, donor and recipient matching, recipient preparation, chronic immunosuppression regimens, and prevention and treatment of complications.

As of July, the OHSU Transplant Program had transplanted 5,400 organs, including 4,057 kidneys, 530 hearts, 652 livers and 145 pancreases. The program has been a part of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) since its inception in 1984 and a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) since 1988. 
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