Roy Calne, a surgeon who led Europe's first liver transplant, has died aged 93
ABC News
Pioneering surgeon Roy Calne, who led Europe’s first liver transplant operation, has died aged 93
LONDON -- Roy Calne, a pioneer of organ transplantation who led Europe’s first liver transplant operation in 1968, has died aged 93.
Calne’s family said he died late Saturday in Cambridge, England, where he was professor emeritus of surgery at Cambridge University.
Born in 1930, Calne trained as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital in London and developed an interest in organ transplantation in the 1950s — partly inspired, he later said, by his father's work as a car mechanic. At the time he was told the procedure would be impossible.
He is considered one of the fathers of organ transplantation, alongside American scientist Dr. Thomas Starzl. Their work on the surgical procedure and treatment to prevent organ rejection was done initially on dogs. In 1960, Calne’s dog experiments demonstrated for the first time that a drug could fend off organ rejection. Starzl attempted the first human liver transplant in 1963. That patient died during the procedure.
The next several patients also died within weeks of their transplants, but the surgeries showed that transplanted livers could function.
