Professor Starzl wins prestigious award

Dr. Thomas Starzl enjoyed the Fourth of July weekend relaxing with his wife and six dogs in the…Dr. Thomas Starzl enjoyed the Fourth of July weekend relaxing with his wife and six dogs in the country. It wasn’t until he returned home a few days later that he noticed a handful of unread emails — emails sent from Britain and Dallas, each asking why he hadn’t yet responded. “Responded to what?” Starzl wondered.

Scrolling back to an email dated June 30, Starzl learned the reason he was in demand. The former Pitt professor had been named this year’s recipient of the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his innovative work in liver transplantation.

Starzl will accept the Lasker Award, which recognizes scientists who have made major advancements in the medical world, with University of Cambridge’s Dr. Roy Calne later this week. According to the Lasker Foundation’s website, 81 Lasker laureates have also received the Nobel Prize.

Starzl attempted the first human liver transplant almost fifty years ago. Although his first several liver patients died within days of their surgeries, Starzl quickly improved the procedure to allow patients to live for years after.

A few years after his first successful liver transplant, Starzl transformed liver transplant experiments into an accepted and well-practiced form of surgery for patients suffering from end-stage liver, kidney and heart disease with the introduction of a new drug — cyclosporine, which acts as an immunosuppressant and helps prevent rejection during transplant surgeries.As a result, liver transplants are performed today all across the world, and survival rates have increased from zero to between 80 and 90 percent.

Dr. Abhinav Humar, Clinical Director of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at Pitt, said that Starzl is an iconic figure in the field of transplantation.

“Just about anyone in the field will know his name,” he said. “Well, not just about everyone — everyone.”

Starzl began teaching as a professor of surgery at the University’s School of Medicine in 1981. He said that Pittsburgh was an educational center for transplantation at the time.

“As of the 1980s, Pittsburgh was the only place in the Americas that offered liver transplantation as a service,” he said.

Starzl spent the greatest portion of his career at Pitt, although he also spent substantial time at the University of Colorado.

During his time at Pitt, Starzl said, he taught hundreds of students and watched many of them accomplish great things. He said that one of the most important lessons he taught his students was how to treat patients.

“I wanted students to learn how to compassionately take care of sick patients, and how to do it skillfully with a high degree of integrity,” he said.

One of Starzl’s former students and colleague of more than 20 years, Dr. Wallis Marsh, said that the most important lesson Starzl taught him was the importance of perseverance.

“When I was in medical school they called him Dr. Frankenstein. The world was against him, but he didn’t give up,” he said.

Humar said that Starzl advanced in the field at such a fast pace because of his relentless pursuit.

“He never lost sight of the end goal, especially in the early times when there might have be disappointments or problems,” he said.

Marsh said that one of his colleague’s most notable characteristics was that he never forgot such failures.

“Some of them have been quite dramatic, but he never forgot any of them,” he said.

Marsh praised Starzl for his impressive memory.

“He remembers little details — the names of patients and the circumstances. He just never forgets.”

And it is to this impeccable memory that Marsh attributes many of Starzl’s achievements.

“As mere mortals, we make mistakes because we forget, but [Starzl] doesn’t. That’s why he has been able to move forward at such a pace that others cannot,” he said.

At the age of 86, Starzl continues to work as a result of receiving the Lasker Award.

He said that the award has presented him with many new obligations, including the crafting of an essay for the academic journal Nature Medicine. “There are certain assignments I have to get done and deadlines I have to meet,” he said.

Although Starzl has attempted to stay away from his old places of work, he admits that he has still been working throughout his retirement. “[I was] trying to have a low-profile and stay away from the laboratories and the hospital unless I ended up there in the emergency room,” he joked.

Although he’s remained active in the field of medicine, Starzl retired from clinical and surgical practice in 1991. “I’m getting kind of old to be receiving this prize at 86,” he said.

Marsh agreed that the award was long overdue.

“I hope it is just a preface to him winning the Nobel Prize,” he said.

The Lasker Award presents an opportunity for the world to thank and recognize Starzl for his achievements, which have extended life for thousands of patients.

“I feel like this prize has rescued me from obscurity,” Starzl said.