[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           DR. THOMAS STARZL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 14, 2001

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call my colleagues' attention 
to an important anniversary--the 20th anniversary of Dr. Thomas 
Starzl's first liver transplant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  Dr. Starzl has been a pioneer in the field of organ transplants for 
the last 40 years. Dr. Starzl performed the world's first liver 
transplant in 1963 and the world's first successful liver transplant in 
1967. His successful use of azathioprine and corticosteroids in kidney 
transplants in 1962 and 1963 produced a surge of transplant research 
around the world. Dr. Starzl's successful experiments with anti-
lymphocyte globulin and cyclosprine in 1980 enabled transplantation to 
move from the experimental stage to an accepted medical procedure. And 
in 1989, Dr. Starzl's experimentation with another anti-rejection 
agent, FK506, led to additional advances in transplantation.
  These are only a few of the highlights of Dr. Starzl's long and 
productive career. One measure of his contribution to modern medicine 
is the sheer volume of research that he has produced. He has authored 
or co-authored more than 2,000 articles, as well as four books and 292 
chapters. I would point out that Dr. Starzl has been identified by the 
Institute for Scientific Information as the most cited scientist in the 
field of clinical medicine. Truly, he is a remarkable man.
  Dr. Starzl was born in 1926 in Iowa. He graduated with a bachelor's 
degree in biology from Westminster College in Missouri. He studied 
medicine at the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and 
he did graduate work at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He 
subsequently worked and studied at Johns Hopkins, the University of 
Miami, and the Veterans Administration Research Hospital in Chicago. 
Dr. Starzl served on the faculty of Northwestern University from 1958 
until 1961 and held several positions, including chairman of the 
department of surgery, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine 
from 1962 until 1980.
  Since 1981, Dr. Starzl has been associated with the University of 
Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Under his leadership, Pittsburgh became 
one of the largest and most successful centers for transplant surgery 
in the world. More than 5,700 liver transplants, 3,500 kidney 
transplants, 1,000 heart transplants, and 500 lung transplants have 
been performed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical center. In 1991. 
Dr. Starzl became director of the University of Pittsburgh 
Transplantation Institute, and in 1996, the Institute was renamed in 
his honor. Dr. Starzl now holds the title of director emeritus, and 
continues to conduct cutting-edge research on transplantation. Dr. 
Starzl has also been active as a leader--and often as a founding 
member--of a number of professional and scientific organizations, and 
he received nearly 200 awards and honors for his work.
  I salute Dr. Starzl for his many contributions to the field of 
medicine on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his first liver 
transplant in Pittsburgh.




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