Baylor Regional Transplant Institute celebrated the many achievements of its first quarter century with a dinner and concert in November in the first private event at the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.
Below are a few photos from the anniversary event and its private reception.
Göran Klintmalm, M.D., Ph.D., was selected in 1984 to design, develop and direct the Baylor transplant program at the age of 34. As one of the nation’s first transplant institutes, BRTI has since performed more than 6,500 solid organ transplants and become one of a small number of institutions in North America approved to perform islet-cell transplantation. Physicians on its medical staff have helped author the premier textbook on liver transplantation and participated in research that has yielded medications now used as standard therapy.
The 25th anniversary celebration was hosted by Baylor Health Care System Foundation. The event was co-chaired by former Baylor Health Care System president and chief executive officer Boone Powell Jr. along with John Fordtran, M.D., Ph.D. Both Mr. Powell and Dr. Fordtran were instrumental in the creation of BRTI in 1984. The invocation was given by Norm Bagwell, chairman and chief executive officer of Bank of Texas, who himself was a kidney transplant patient at Baylor. Mr. Bagwell’s wife, Robin, donated her kidney for his treatment.
Notable attendees included Tom Starzl, M.D., who performed the world’s first successful liver transplant; Sir Roy Calne, M.D., who pioneered the use of the anti-rejection drug cyclosporine, significantly increasing transplant survival rates; and Ronald Busuttil, M.D., Ph.D., who co-authored the textbook on liver transplantation with Dr. Klintmalm.
Attendees also included transplant pioneers such as Carl Groth, M.D., Ph.D., of Sweden, Dr. Klintmalm’s mentor; Suzanne McDiarmid, M.D., considered a thought leader in pediatric liver transplantation; William Bennett, M.D., a leader in the use of cyclosporine; and Doris Taylor, Ph.D., a lead researcher of the use of stem cells, genes and devices to develop cardiac and vascular technologies.
Many of BRTI’s former fellows came from countries including Israel and Japan to celebrate their alma mater’s anniversary. Attendees also took part in a historic symposium commemorating BRTI’s milestone.