2009 Thomas E. Starzl Prize Winner
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| Dr. Clyde F. Barker Receives the 2009 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology |
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Dr. Clyde F. Barker received his medical degree in 1958 from Cornell University. After completing his surgical and research training at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barker ascended through the academic ranks at the same institution to the Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery in 1982. He was appointed Chairman of the Department of Surgery in 1983; a position he retained for 18 years. Additionally, Dr. Barker served as the Director of the Harrison Department of Surgical Research from 1983 to 2001 and Co-director of the Diabetes Research Center from 1989 to 1997 at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Barker launched the clinical transplantation program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, when he performed the first kidney transplant in the Philadelphia area. Under his leadership, this clinical transplant program flourished into one of the largest and most successful transplant programs in the country. Dr. Barker also led a productive basic transplantation immunobiology research program, continually funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 25 years. His research focus on pancreatic islet transplantation led to the initiation of a clinical islet transplant program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.
Dr. Barker’s research interests in transplantation started while a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Rupert Billingham at the Wistar Institute, where he published a landmark study in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, describing that skin transplantation on a vascular pedicle was protected from rejection. This phenomenon proved the importance of lymphatic drainage in triggering immunity. Dr. Barker’s second major discovery was that the transplantation of pancreatic islets could successfully reverse diabetes in animal models. He devoted the last 35 years of his research career to this theme by studying the immunological barriers to pancreatic islet graft acceptance and the impact of autoimmunity on islet graft survival. These and other findings generated more than 400 publications.
Dr. Barker has received numerous honors and awards for his contributions to the field of transplantation. These include membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. He is the recipient of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons Roche Pioneer Award, the Medallion for Scientific Achievement of the American Surgical Association, and the Sheen Award of the American College of Surgeons.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Department of Surgery, and the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute are honored to present the 2009 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology to Dr. Clyde F. Barker in recognition of his outstanding clinical and scientific achievements. |
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