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Innovators
Innovation in organ transplantation is driven by the necessity of finding new ways to help people in need of organs. Researchers understand the urgency of developing new techniques to get people organs safely to keep them healthy and alive.
Harold Gillies 9
Harold Gillies was the first person to use skin grafts on undamaged body parts. Because of his techniques on Walter Yeo, the first patient to benefit from his research in skin grafting, Gillies is though to be the father of plastic surgery.
Joseph E.Murray10
Joseph E. Murray performed the world's first successful kidney transplant between twin brothers without immunosuppressants at Peter Brent Brigham Hospital in Boston. Because of his work, it was concluded that immune system reactions from a twin-to-twin transplant were minimal because the immune systems of identical twins are highly similar. Due to this, many more transplants between twins have been performed.
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Martine Rothblatt 11
Martine Rothblatt is the founder of the xenotransplantation company Revivicor. Revivicor is a biotechnology company that works to fight the organ shortage through genetically modified pig-to- human transplantation. Rothblatt is the co-CEO of the company and has become the largest commercial backer of xenotransplantation research.
Photo courtesy of Carole Daly