Lothrop Street dedicated to Dr. Starzl

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Lothrop Street is no longer just Lothrop Street.

The… Click here to view slideshow

Lothrop Street is no longer just Lothrop Street.

The Western Pennsylvania American Liver Foundation and the City of Pittsburgh honored transplant surgeon and Pitt professor Dr. Thomas E. Starzl yesterday with the unveiling of “Thomas E. Starzl Way,” a special addition to the street sign on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Lothrop Street.

Starzl’s team made the first liver transplants routine and found how to prevent the body’s immune system from fighting transplanted organs.

The city council and the ALF chose to add the sign to Lothrop Street because of its prominent location next to Starzl’s office as well as the Biomedical Science Tower also dedicated to him, according to Suzanna Masartis, executive director of the Western Pennsylvania ALF.

Starzl has received more than 200 honors and 24 honorary degrees including the National Medal of Science.

The ALF also began a $100,000 research fund in his name to honor his contributions last month.

The AFL also proclaimed Aug. 23 as a day to recognize Starzl’s enumerated contributions locally and to the world, Masartis said.

Lothrop Street was named after Sylvanus Lothrop, a prominent engineer and businessman who constructed the first locks and several major bridges on the Monongahela River in the 1830s and ’40s.

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