Norman Shumway was the father of cardiac transplantation and performed the world’s first heart-lung transplant. Unlike some of his contemporaries who sought the limelight, Shumway spent a decade carrying out research into cardiac transplantation before he was ready to do the operation on a live reci

Rudolf Pichlmayr was a pioneering German transplant surgeon. He was born on 16 May 1932 in Munich, Germany. He graduated from the University of Munich Medical School in 1956, and in 1959 started his career in medicine at the same university. He qualified as a surgeon in 1964. In 1967, he presented h

Michael Woodruff was a pioneering surgeon and researcher in the specialty of transplantation. He was born in Mill Hill, London, on 3 April 1911, where his father, Harold Addison Woodruff, was the Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College. His mother was Margaret Ada née Cooper

Carl-Gustav Groth was a pioneering transplant surgeon at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He was born in Helsinki, Finland, on 15 October 1933. His father, Carl-Johan Groth, was a businessman; his mother, Margareta Groth née Sonkin, was a housewife. Carl-Gustav's elder brother, Carl-Johan, went on

Ross Taylor was a consultant surgeon, director of the transplantation unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, and a pioneer of kidney transplantation. He was born in Calcutta, India, on 10 December 1932, the son of George Ross, a medical practitioner, and Helen Baillie Murray. The family ha

Peter John Anthony Griffin was a transplant surgeon at Cardiff Royal Infirmary. He was born on 19 July 1946 and studied medicine in Cardiff, gaining his MB BCh in 1970. He was a house surgeon at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, and a senior house officer in the accident department at Radcliffe Infir

William James Dempster, known as ‘Jim’, was a transplant researcher and surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London. He was born on the island of Ibo, north of Madagascar, on 15 March 1918, although his birth was not registered until 28 April and his birth certificate was not issued until 9 August of that

George J M Abouna was a pioneering transplant surgeon who worked in the United States, Canada and the Middle East. He created many firsts in organ transplantation and, over the course of a career which spanned more than 50 years, saved thousands of lives across the world. Abouna was a true master of

Anthony P Monaco was the Peter Medawar professor of transplantation surgery at Harvard University. This is a draft obituary. If you have any information about this surgeon or are interested in writing this obituary, please email lives@rcseng.ac.uk

Rene Wen Suen Chang studied medicine at London University and trained at the Westminster Hospital Medical School. In London he worked as a house surgeon at the Whittington Hospital and registrar at St Stephen’s Hospital, before gaining his fellowship of the college and moving to Saudi Arabia as seni

Thomas Earl Starzl was a pioneering transplant surgeon. Known as the *Father of transplantation* he carried out the first successful human liver transplant in 1967. Born on 11 March 1926 in LeMars, Iowa, he was the second son of Roman (Rome) Frederick Starzl and his wife Anna Laura née Fitzgerald. H

Derek Sampson was born in London in 1937 and went to medical school in Birmingham where he obtained a BSc in physiology in 1959. After graduating MB, ChB in 1962 he trained in general surgery passing both the English and Edinburgh fellowship examinations. He had developed an interest in transplantat