American Philosophical Society
Member History

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Residency
Resident[X]
Class
Subdivision
204. Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and Immunology[X]
1Name:  Dr. Judah Folkman
 Institution:  Harvard Medical School & Children's Hospital
 Year Elected:  1999
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  204. Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and Immunology
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1933
 Death Date:  January 14, 2008
   
2Name:  Dr. David G. Nathan
 Institution:  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School
 Year Elected:  1999
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  204. Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and Immunology
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Living
 Birth Date:  1929
   
 
David Nathan is one of the most distinguished pediatric hematologists in the country. He has spent his career at Harvard University, where he has been a professor of medicine and professor of pediatrics, and in 1985 he was appointed Pediatrician-in-Chief at Childrens Hospital in Boston. In 1995 he became President of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Nathan has brought to his position scientific excellence, great integrity and a warm humanity. Among other awards he has received the National Medal of Science (1990) and the Henry Stratton Medal of the American Society of Hematology (1995). He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1955.
 
3Name:  Dr. Thomas E. Starzl
 Institution:  University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
 Year Elected:  1999
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  204. Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and Immunology
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1926
 Death Date:  March 4, 2017
   
 
Thomas E. Starzl was director emeritus of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at the time of his death March 4, 2017, at age 90. He received his Ph.D. in neurophysiology and his M.D. degrees at Northwestern University. Completing surgical training at The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Miami, he became a Markle Scholar and faculty member at Northwestern University. In 1962, shortly after joining the faculty at the University of Colorado, Dr. Starzl performed his first kidney transplant and subsequently the world's first human liver transplant. Within a year, he had more kidney transplant recipients surviving than all other surgeons combined. He improved immunosuppression with anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG), cyclosporine-based treatment and tacrolimus. Largely through Dr. Starzl's efforts, transplantation of all organs came of age. Dr. Starzl joined the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1981and performed the first of 30 liver transplants at the university that year, helping make the city the "transplant capital of the world." Retiring from clinical practice in 1991, Dr. Starzl (in collaboration with fellow APS member and Nobel laureate Rolf Zinkernagel) delineated the previously enigmatic mechanisms of organ engraftment and proposed radical modifications of immunosuppression strategy that facilitates these mechanisms. This work served to improve clinical outcomes as well as the overall understanding of the function of the immune system. In recognition of his groundbreaking work, he was awarded the Jonathan E. Rhoads Medal for Distinguished Service to Medicine in 2002 and the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor, in 2004. He received many other honors and awards, including the 2012 Lasker Award and the Blumberg Award from the Hepatitis B Foundation (2014), as well as 24 honorary doctorates from around the world. He published almost 2,200 scientific articles and four books, including his memoir entitled The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon. Thomas Starzl was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 1999. In 2016 the Society presented him with the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Science. The citation read, "Tom Starzl has transformed human organ transplantation from science fiction to reliable treatment of fatal diseases, virtually changing medical practice. Fifty years ago when the world had only a handful of surviving kidney transplant recipients he showed that rejection was reversible, allowing consistent success. His introduction of new immunosuppressive agents helped him to accomplish the first liver and multivisceral transplants. His studies explain liver regeneration and determine that this organ controls lipid metabolism. His discovery of persistent donor cell chimerism in successful recipients points the way to allograft tolerance without chronic immunosuppression. In recognition of his profound contributions the American Philosophical Society salutes Thomas E. Starzl by awarding him its highest honor."
 
Election Year
1999[X]