Resumen de The 50th Anniversary of the First Successful Human Organ Transplant
December 23, 1954 was a day that changed the lives of countless people all over the world. I have been asked many times to retrace the steps of the first transplant, its impact and long-term effect. Each time I recount these milestones I think not of what any one of us has done individually, but rather what we as a team have achieved. As the famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, "The secret of stardom is the rest of the team". I did not do it alone. The transplant program included Dr. George Thorn, Chief of Medicine, Dr. Francis Moore, Sr., Chief of Surgery. Dr. Gus Dammin, Chief of Pathology and Dr. Jim Dealy, Chief of Radiology. Dr. John Merrill, the nephrologist appointed by Dr. Thorn, used hemodialysis to prepare Richard Herrick for the surgery. I was the surgeon who performed the operation. Dr. J. Hartwell Harrison, Chief of Urologist removed the kidney from the donor in an adjacent operating room.
