Living liver transplant program
John Fung
Director
UChicago Medicine Transplant Institute
Chicago, USA
John J. Fung, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the UChicago Medicine Transplant Institute. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Transplantation and the Chairman of the Digestive Disease Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, as well as the former Chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. With over 30 years of involvement in kidney, liver, pancreas, islet, and intestinal transplantation, he is also an accomplished immunologist.
Establishing a deceased donor transplant program
Malek Husseini
Surgeon and Board Member
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
Tehran, Iran
Dr. Malek-Hosseini is the pioneer of performing liver transplantation from living donors in Iran and is called the father of liver transplantation in the Country. Establishing the necessary infrastructure to create a network in the region for the procurement of organs from brain-dead donors and therefore, to put an end to organ trade in Iran has always been among his major concerns. Pursuing this objective, he successfully paved the path for organ transplantation experts and has developed transplant programs in Iran.
Owing to his constant endeavors the largest organ transplantation center in the world which is also the largest charitable foundation in the region was built in Shiraz. Performing 638 liver transplantations (93% from deceased donors) in 2017, the center set a new international record. The center also trains transplant surgeons from around the world, mainly those who are accepted via the Middle East Society of Organ Transplantation (MESOT) programs. The Center has a significant impact on the advancement of transplant knowledge resulting in the establishment of 12 transplant centers in Iran and other countries as well as the publication of hundreds of articles in international peer-reviewed journals.
