[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 49 (Thursday, April 5, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E542]]
         RECOGNIZING DR. STARZL, A PIONEER IN ORGAN TRANSPLANTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PHIL ENGLISH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 4, 2001

  Mr. ENGLISH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
accomplishments of a great man, one who is truly a living legend. 
Transplant pioneer Thomas E. Starzl not only performed the world's 
first liver transplant in 1963 and the first successful series of 
kidney transplants between nonidentical twins between 1963, and 1964, 
he has for forty decades continued to make equally extraordinary 
advancements.
  For instance, in 1980, just before coming to the University of 
Pittsburgh, he developed a combination of drugs that transformed 
transplantation of the liver and heart from an experimental procedure 
to an accepted form of treatment for patients with end-stage organ 
failure and opened the door to pancreas and lung transplantation. In 
1989, his development of another drug markedly improved survival rates 
for all kinds of transplants and made possible for the first time 
successful transplantation of the small intestine.
  The entire field of transplantation has advanced because of his 
courage, his genius, and his compassion for his patients.
  When Pittsburgh welcomed him just 20 years ago, no one had any idea 
the incredible contributions this man would make to medicine and 
mankind. Indeed, the city has enjoyed an enhanced reputation because he 
chose to make the University of Pittsburgh his academic home. This year 
marks the 20th anniversary of the first liver transplant he performed 
in Pittsburgh. Since then, surgeons at the University of Pittsburgh and 
the UPMC Health System have performed nearly 6,000 liver transplants 
and more than 11,300 transplants of all organs. No other center in the 
world comes close.
  But the impact of Dr. Starzl's work goes far beyond Pittsburgh. 
Patients throughout the world, even those who have not been under his 
skillful care, have benefited from his contributions. He has trained 
numerous surgeons and research scientists. In fact, many, if not most 
of the world's transplant surgeons and physicians have been trained by 
Dr. Starzl or by those trained by him. Later this month, many of these 
former students and colleagues will honor Dr. Starzl at a scientific 
symposium in his honor, and the University of Pittsburgh will unveil 
his portrait, which will hang in the School of Medicine with the likes 
of other great pioneers, including Jonas Salk.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring and 
thanking one of history's great surgeons, Dr. Thomas Starzl.

                          ____________________