Professor and Director, Diabetes Research Institute
Department of Surgery, Division of Cellular Transplantation
University of Miami
United States
Camillo Ricordi is the Stacy Joy Goodman Professor and Director of the Diabetes Research Institute and the Cell Transplant Center, at the University of Miami. He developed the method for pancreatic islet isolation now used worldwide and ranked as #1 world expert in islet transplantation for treatment of diabetes (2008-2018). He served as Chairperson of the NIH Clinical Islet Transplantation (CIT) Consortium, which standardized cell manufacturing and completed the first multicenter FDA Phase III trials of islet transplantation in the US. He was recently inducted into the National Academy of Inventors for contributing outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society, and was appointed to the Supreme Council of Health of Italy. Research interests include reversal of autoimmunity, transplant tolerance, modulation of inflammation and regenerative medicine to prevent disease and to prolong healthspan. Ricordi has been awarded 27 patents, has >1,000 scientific publications, >45,000 citations and a 99 H-index.
Professor and Vice Chair of Translational Medicine, Dept. of Surgery;
McKnight Presidential Chair in Transplantation Science;
Jeffrey Dobbs and David Sutherland, MD, PhD Chair in Diabetes Research;
Executive Director, Schulze Diabetes Institute
University of Minnesota
United States
Bernhard J. Hering, M.D, is Professor and Vice Chair of Translational Medicine in the Department of Surgery, Executive Director of the Schulze Diabetes Institute and Director of Islet Transplantation at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the Jeffrey Dobbs and David Sutherland, MD, PhD Chair in Diabetes Research and the McKnight Presidential Chair in Transplantation Science. Dr. Hering is internationally renowned for his expertise in islet transplantation for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. His research on antigen-specific immune tolerance of transplants has been considered an important breakthrough in transplantation medicine and his studies on porcine islets as a scalable cell source have reinvigorated the field of islet xenotransplantation.
Why do we need beta cell replacement when there is insulin?*
Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Diabetes,
King College London
United Kingdom
Pratik Choudhary, MBBS MD FRCP, is a consultant clinical diabetologist and senior lecturer. He serves as clinical lead for the islet transplant service at King's College Hospital, London, and diabetes lead for the pancreas transplantation at Guy's Hospital, London. Dr. Choudhary’s main research work is based around mechanisms and treatments of hypoglycaemia unawareness and maintains a special interest in the psychology of patients with recurrent hypoglycaemia, and the associated changes in the brain observable via neuroimaging.
Dr. Choudhary is also interested in the use of technology in diabetes, with a large clinical and research interest in the use of insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitoring and closed loop insulin delivery.
Professor of Diabetology,
Beta Cell Transplant & Regeneration
Leiden University Medical Center
The Netherlands
Eelco de Koning is professor of diabetology at the Leiden University Medical Center. He heads the LUMC diabetes center and coordinates the human islet transplantation program which is a national service. He also heads the national expertise center on Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). His research is focused on innovative cell replacement therapies as treatment for patients with diabetes mellitus. Eelco de Koning is also group leader in the Hubrecht Institute for developmental and stem cell biology in Utrecht.
Recipient selection/work-up for Islet or Pancreas transplantation*
Professor of Surgery;
Director, Islet/Pancreas Transplant Program; Head, Cell Isolation and Transplantation Center
University of Geneva
Switzerland
Thierry Berney, MD, MSc is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Geneva School of Medicine and an attending surgeon in the Division of Visceral and Transplantation Surgery at Geneva University Hospitals. He graduated from the University of Geneva School of Medicine in 1987 and specialized in Visceral Surgery in Switzerland. He further specialized in Transplantation Surgery in Brussels, Belgium and Miami, Florida, with a particular interest in islet, pancreas and small bowel transplantation. Since 2002, he is an attending surgeon in Visceral Surgery, with a focus on Pancreatic and Gastro-Intestinal Surgery. He is the head of the Cell Isolation and Transplantation Center, and the director of the Islet and Pancreas Transplant Programs in Geneva University Hospitals, which is one of the most active worldwide. He is a founding member of the Intestinal Transplant Association, and a member of several Surgical and Transplantation Societies.
Islet transplantation in non-uremic non-type 1 DM patients
Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetology Strasbourg University Hospitals;
Chief Researcher, Regenerative Nanomedicine, INSERM UMR 1260, University of Strasbourg
France
Laurence Kessler is Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetology at Strasbourg University Hospitals. Her main interest is the management of type 1 diabetic patients and patients with secondary diabetes: post-transplantation and cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. She is particularly interested in the development of innovative therapies, including diabetes cell therapy, close loop insulin delivery and continuous glucose monitoring. She is head of the GRAGIL Swiss French pancreatic islet transplantation network. She is in charge of the Organ Dysfunction and Transplantation research group within the INSERM UMR 1260 unit at the University of Strasbourg, created in 2018. Her fundamental researches are focused on vascular and tissue stress in transplantation through the study of micro vesicles and cellular environment. Via the input of the MPs and the specific environment representing pancreatic islet transplantation, her research articulated around two axes: (i) the vascular alterations of islet graft and approaches for tissue repair (ii) the development of biomarkers for islet graft monitoring.
Indications and Evaluation for Islet auto-transplantation in Chronic Pancreatitis
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
University of Minnesota Medical School
United States
Dr. Bellin completed her pediatric residency and pediatric endocrine fellowship training at the University of Minnesota, and joined the faculty in 2009, with a joint appointment in Pediatrics and Surgery. Dr. Bellin’s research focus is islet transplantation (transplantation of the insulin producing cells of the pancreas) for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and for patients who have their pancreas removed to treat severe chronic pancreatitis. She provides care for children with diabetes or general endocrine disorders at M Health Maple Grove Clinic and for islet transplant recipients at the University site.
Indications and Evaluation for Islet auto-transplantation with Pancreatic Neoplasms
Associate Professor of Surgery
Director, Pancreatic Islet Transplantation Program
Director, Transplant Surgery Fellowship Program
Director, Polish-American Transplant Center
Transplantation Institute
University of Chicago Medicine, United States
As a transplant surgeon, I help patients who require kidney and/or pancreas transplantation. As a scientist, I am mainly focused on translational research testing and bringing novel technologies and procedures to clinical practice. For the past 9 years, I have been optimizing pancreatic islet transplantation as a minimally invasive procedure to achieve improved blood glucose control and freedom from insulin in our patients. Another objective I have is to minimize, and eventually eliminate, the need for toxic anti-rejection medications for transplant protection (to induce immunologic tolerance- the Holy Grail of transplantation).
To meet this goal, I am preparing a novel cellular therapy based on ex-vivo expanded T regulatory cells (Tregs). We have already optimized Treg production in our clinical Laboratory. This therapy can not only benefit transplant patients, but also those with autoimmune disorders like type 1 diabetes, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.Currently, we are also conducting several different clinical trials testing novel approaches to improve outcomes in kidney and pancreatic islet transplantation.
Chief, Division of Transplantation;
Surgical Director, Liver, Pancreas and Islet Transplant Programs; Clinical Director
MGH Transplant Center, United States
James F. Markmann MD, PhD is the Chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery and Director of Clinical Operations at the Transplant Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Claude Welch Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He specializes in liver, kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation as well as hemodialysis access surgery. He is active in numerous societies, editorial boards and organizations and is currently secretary of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association and Councilor of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. He has published more than 300 scientific papers over the last 30 years, most in the area of immune tolerance and pancreas and islet transplantation and has held continuous NIH R01 funding for >15 years. His current research interests include: 1) understanding the mechanism of action and therapeutic potential of regulatory B cells, 2) exploring the potential of ex vivo liver perfusion to improve marginal organ function, and 3) clinical trials in transplantation tolerance and pancreatic islet transplantation.
Introduction to Pancreas and Islets allocation models*
Ty Dunn
Professor of Surgery
Surgical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs
University of Pennsylvania
United States
Dr. Dunn is a professor of surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she is the Surgical Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant programs. She has expertise in living kidney donation and transplantation, transplantation of the pancreas, and total pancreatectomy and islet transplantation for pancreatitis, specializing in the care of the diabetic transplant patient. She has been actively involved in clinical outcomes research and translational research throughout her career. Dr. Dunn’s main contributions to the field are in the recognition of the impact of donor sensitization/HLA incompatible transplantation on outcomes of kidney transplant, and she is an internationally recognized expert in pancreas retransplantation and islet autotransplantation. Dr. Dunn enjoys teaching clinical surgery to students, residents and fellows, and in particular, participating in the development of young women surgeons in training.
Senior Scientist
Department of Transplantation Medicine
Oslo University Hospital, Norway
Dr. Hanne Scholz is a senior scientist at the Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway and the director of the human islet isolation facility performing clinical islet transplantation for treatment of type 1 diabetes in Norway. Dr. Scholz leads a major research program within Department of Transplantation, Institute for Surgical Research and University of Oslo which aim to improve and optimize islet isolation, beta cell replacement therapies and improve patient outcomes. The Scholz lab has led to multiple publications involving regenerative medicine projects such as development of new cellular therapies for diabetes using stem cells and 3D bio-printing of biomimetic pancreatic islets. Her research programme is extremely multidisciplinary and comprises clinician, transplant surgeon, technicians, postdoctoral researchers and students in different disciplines. The Scholz group is part of the Hybrid Technology Hub-Organ on a chip, a Centre of Excellence at University of Oslo aiming to develop “organ on a chip” platforms of functional metabolic human tissue. Dr. Scholz is active board member of the Nordic Network for Clinical Islet Transplantation, member of Oslo Diabetes Research Center, and councilor of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (IPITA 2017-2021) and European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT 2019-2023).
Director, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVI),
Australia
Professor Kay is Director of SVI. He holds a Professorial appointment within the Department of Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital and The University of Melbourne. He also holds the position of Honorary Endocrinologist at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Professor Kay’s research interests are in the area of autoimmunity, particularly of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.
Professor of Surgery, Medicine and Surgical Oncology;
Director of the Clinical Islet and Living Donor Liver Transplant Programs University of Alberta in Edmonton Canada
James Shapiro is Professor of Surgery, Medicine and Surgical Oncology, and Director of the Clinical Islet and Living Donor Liver Transplant Programs at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He has a busy clinical surgical practice in hepatobiliary and pancreatic oncology, and in liver, pancreas and kidney transplantation. He directs one of the leading clinical islet transplant programs worldwide with 152 patients treated, and was the lead investigator of the team that developed the "Edmonton Protocol" - the first trial to achieve consistent 100% insulin independence in islet-alone transplant recipients with Type 1 diabetes (NEJM 2000). He led an international multicentre trial to replicate these findings in 9 international centres (NEJM 2006). He has an active experimental laboratory working on improving long term survival of transplanted islets, and in immunomodulation of transplanted tissues. He is Principle Investigator on several NIH and JDRF-funded clinical trials, including clinical testing of costimulation blockade in islet transplantation.
Procedural Complications following Islet Transplantation
Director, Oxford Islet Isolation and Islet Transplant Programmes; Professor of Paediatric Surgery
Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences
Univesity of Oxford
United Kingdom
I am Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Islet Transplant Programme. I am a Fellow and Clinical Tutor at St Edmund Hall. I qualified in Medicine from the University of Leicester and trained in Paediatric Surgery in Oxford, Melbourne and Great Ormond Street. My particular clinical interests are paediatric and endocrine surgery, and cell transplantation. My research interests include optimising human islet isolation, and understanding normal pancreatic development and islet neogenesis. I was awarded a Hunterian Professorship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England for this research in 1998. I am currently Immediate Past President of the International Pancreas and Islet Association (IPITA) having served as President from 2011-2013. I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The American Academy of Paediatrics in February 2010. I currently sit on a number of Research Boards and Editorial Boards. I chair the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences Clinical Academic Sub Group
Alberta Clinical Islet Transplant Program
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Canada
Anna Lam is an endocrinologist at the University of Alberta and is a part of the University of Alberta Clinical Islet Transplant Program with research interests in
the application of clinical surrogates for beta cell function.
Clinical Director, Pediatric Transplantation; Director, Living Donor Liver Transplant Program
University of Minnesota Medical School
United States
Dr. Srinath Chinnakotla is a Professor of Surgery and Transplant Surgeon, University of Minnesota. He performs both Adult and Pediatric Transplants. He is currently Clinical Director of Pediatric Transplantation and Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program. Dr. Chinnakotla is a ASTS certified transplant surgeon, who graduated from Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research in 1990 and did his initial surgical training in India before relocating to the United States for a multi-organ Transplant Surgery Fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Prior to moving to Minneapolis, Dr. Chinnakotla spent 10 years as staff transplant surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center, a busy Liver Transplant Program where he established himself with expertise in Liver Transplantation and served as Assistant Director of Adult Transplant Surgery 2004-2010. He started the Intestinal Transplant Program at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where he performed the first pediatric intestinal/multivisceral transplant in Texas. He also served as Surgical Director of Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at Children’s Medical Center from 2007-2010. Dr. Chinnakotla has over 14 years of experience as a staff transplant surgeon and has performed over 1,000 abdominal organ transplants, including 652 liver transplants, in both adults and children. His special interests include pediatric transplantation, liver transplantation, complex and high-risk liver transplants, liver surgery, kidney transplants, auto-islet transplants and multi-organ transplants. .
Immunological aspects and long-term follow-up
Immunosuppression protocols in islet transplantation
Co-Director, Cell Transplant Center,
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Director, Clinical Cell Transplant Program
Diabetes Research Institute
United States
Rodolfo Alejandro, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Cell Transplant Center, and Director/Attending Physician of the Clinical Cell Transplant Program at the Diabetes Research Institute. Dr. Alejandro has overseen all facets of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program since the program began in 1985. He has extensive experience in the field of islet isolation and transplantation, transplantation medicine, and endocrinology and metabolism (board certified in both internal medicine and endocrinology and metabolism). Dr. Alejandro has significantly contributed to the standardization of islet assessment with the introduction of a quick method for islet identification (dithizone staining), the use of Cobe cell processor for islet separation and islet purification. His observations in islet transplantation in preclinical models has helped spark the renewed interest in clinical islet transplantation trials.
Medium and long-term monitoring after islet transplantation
Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition
C Huriez Hospital, Lille University Hospital
France
Marie-Christine Vantyghem, MD, PhD, received hre specialty trainings in Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism at the University of Lille, France. In 2009, she obtained an interface contract with the INSERM Unit U1190, dedicated to «Translational Research in Diabetes”. She has spent time in the islet transplantation program at the University Hospital of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute at Seattle, USA. She was appointed professor of Endocrinology in 2011 and is head of the Endocrinology Department of Lille University Hospital, which cares for a population of 4 million people. Her main research areas are islet transplantation and lipodystrophy syndromes, with a large cohort of more than two hundred patients investigated. A biobank (plasmatheque, DNAtheque and adipose tissue bank) has been organised under the name project PHRC (Hospital Project for Clinical Research) IL7 lipodystrophies. Lille University Hospital belongs to FIRENDO, a network for rare endocrine diseases. In this network, MC Vantyghem is more especially involved in PRISIS reference center directed by Prof C Vigouroux dedicated to Rare diseases of insulin secretion and insulin resistance, especially lipodystrophies. She is a former member of the executive board of the French Endocrine Society, member of the European Society of Endocrinology, of the Endocrine Society, of the French and European Societies of Transplantation and has been or is involved in two FP7 programs.
Professor / Division Director
Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism
University of Alberta, Canada
Medical Director, Clinical Islet Transplant Program, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Peter Senior is Professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Medical Director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. He is originally from the UK where he completed his specialist training in Diabetes and Endocrinology and received his PhD in 2002.
His clinical and research interests focus on type 1 diabetes, hypoglycemia and islet transplantation. He has worked in Clinical Islet Transplantation since 2002 providing care for 295 islet transplant recipients. Key contributions have been in developing and refining tools to assess hypoglycemia, glycemic lability and islet graft function, most notably the development of the BETA-2 Score. He has helped lead multiple clinical trials in islet transplantation designed to achieve better long-term outcomes more safely.
He has published more than 150 manuscripts, review articles and book chapters. He received the Gerald Wong Service Award for “diabetes research, clinical care, the organization and diabetes advocacy” from Diabetes Canada in 2020. Currently he serves as Chair of Diabetes Canada’s Board of Directors. He is also Chair of the Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines Steering Committee and Past-Chair of the Diabetes Canada Professional.
Outcomes
Definition of allograft graft function and failure in pancreas and islet transplantation*
Surgical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplant and Pediatric Kidney Transplant Programs
UCSF, United States
Dr. Peter Stock is a multiorgan transplant surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, and performs kidney, pancreas and liver transplants. He also serves as the Surgical Director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at UCSF, as well as the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program. His translational research explores beta cell replacement for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes, and he is currently co-Director of the UCSF Pancreatic Islet Transplant Program and was co-PI on the CIRM (California Institute of Regenerative Medicine) stem cell initiative to bring stem cell-derived beta cells to a clinical trial. He is the Principal Investigator on the NIH U01 multicenter trial studying the immune response following liver and kidney transplants in people with HIV.
Head, Department of General and Endocrine Surgery
Lead Researcher, INSERM
University of Lille, France
François Pattou is professor of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lille 2, Lille, France. Head of the department of general and endocrine surgery at Lille University Hospital, he also leads a research group at the University of Lille 2, INSERM U859, devoted to the clinical development of biotherapies for treating diabetes. The recipient of more than 25 research grants from national and international institutions, including 7th Framework Program, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, OSEO, Juvenile Diabete Research Fundation, François Pattou has been awarded the Grand Prix of the National Academy of Medicine. He is author or co-author of more than 150 publications in peer reviewed journals. Regularly invited to give lectures on biotherapies for diabetes in international meetings, Francois Pattou is also the principal investigator of several ongoing clinical trials of islet cell transplantation in patients with severe type 1 diabetes and metabolic surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Recurrence of autoimmunity in islet transplantation
Diabetes Immunology, Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute Beckman Research Institute City of Hope National Medical Center
United States
Bart O. Roep, Ph.D., is the Chan Soon-Shiong Shapiro Distinguished Chair in Diabetes within the Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute at City of Hope. He serves as project director for The Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope, an ambitious initiative committed to developing a cure for type 1 diabetes. Dr. Roep is an internationally recognized authority and key opinion leader on multiple aspects of type 1 diabetes, with particular interest in understanding the cause of the disease and translating this knowledge into immune intervention strategies (including gene therapy, stem cell therapy and bone marrow transplantation) with the ultimate goal to cure type 1 diabetes.
Impact of islet transplantation on secondary complications of DM
Head Physician, Transplant Medicine
IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele
Italy
Antonio Secchi, MD, Full Professor of Internal Medicine, San Raffaele Vita Salute University, Milan; Head of the Transplant Unit, San Raffaele Hospital, was born in Milan. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Milan in 1978, then he trained for General Medicine at San Carlo Hospital, Milan. In 1980 he won a fellowship at the Clinique de Nephrologie et des Maladies Metaboliques, University Claude Bernard, Hopital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France where he became Assistant Universitaire Etranger in 1981. He was Registrar at the Dept. of Internal Medicine in 1982 and Scientific Coordinator in 1993 at San Raffaele Scientific Institute. In 1997 he gained the role of Councilor of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA). In 1999 he was President of the Study group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes «Artificial insulin delivery systems, pancreas and islet transplantation» (AIDPIT). In 2001 he worked as Vice-president of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA) where became President in 2002. He was Coordinator of the Study Group “Immunology and transplantation” of the Italian Society of Diabetology and Member of the Board of the Cell Transplantation Society. He is Associate Editor of the Journal Acta Diabetologica (SpringerNature). Fields of interests are the alternative routes of insulin administration, the artificial pancreas immunosuppressive therapy at the onset of IDDM and kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation, Emergency Medicine. He published 249 full papers in journals reported by the Current Content, Life Science, H index (Scopus) 45.
Present positions
1992-present: Professor of Internal Medicine, University Vita Salute San Raffaele, Milan
2014-present: Director of Medical Specialization School in Emergency Medicine at University Vita Salute San Raffaele, Milan
2015-2020: Director of Medical Specialization School in Internal Medicine at University Vita Salute San Raffaele, Milan
2002- present: Director of the Transplant Unit at the San Raffaele Institute, Milan
Other Beta-cell replacement strategies*
Artificial pancreas and closed loop delivery systems
Consultant, Division of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, United States
The research of Yogish C. Kudva, M.B.B.S., centers on improving existing treatments and developing novel therapies for patients with type 1 diabetes. In particular, Dr. Kudva is interested in developing an effective artificial pancreas system to improve outcomes for patients with type 1 diabetes. Additionally, his research contributes to the creation of new and better cell replacement therapies for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Professor, Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences
School of Biomedical Engineering
Diabetes Research Group Leader Life Sciences Institute
University of British Columbia, Canada
Dr. Kieffer’s laboratory is focused on the development of novel gene and cell therapy approaches to treat diabetes. He has co-authored >175 peer reviewed publications on these topics in addition to several book chapters and patents and given >100 invited presentations. He has mentored >40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in addition to numerous undergraduates and is an active teacher. He has received scholarships from the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and JDRF and his research has been supported by these agencies, in addition to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Stem Cell Network. Dr. Kieffer has also been a reviewer and member of grants review committees for these agencies, including serving as Scientific Officer and Chair on CIHR and CDA committees. In 2010 he received the CDA Young Scientist Award and in 2018 was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2016/17 he spent 1 year on sabbatical at The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University.
Hans W. Sollinger, M.D., Ph.D., Dr.h.c.
Folkert O. Belzer Professor of Surgery and Pathology
University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin
Hans-Werner Sollinger, M.D., Ph.D., Dr h.c. is the Folkert O. Belzer Professor of Surgery and Pathology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. Sollinger received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Munich in 1974 and 1975 with Summa cum Laude. He completed his surgical residency in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin in 1980 and joined the faculty that same year. He served as Chair of the Division of Transplantation from 1995 to 2009.
In 1996, Dr. Sollinger was elected President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), and in 1997, President of International Society for Organ Donation and Procurement. He was a member of the National Institutes of Health Surgery, Anesthesiology and Trauma Study Section from 1994-1997. In 2001, he was appointed by Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, to a four-year term as a member of the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, during which time he served one year as Chair of the Committee.
Dr. Sollinger was the recipient of the American Society of Transplantation Mentoring Award in 2010, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons Francis Moore Excellence in Mentorship in Transplantation Surgery Award in 2011, and the Transplantation Society-Roche Award for Outstanding Achievement in Transplantation Science (Clinical) in 2012. Other honors include membership in the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences, first Honorary Member of the German Society for Transplantation, and the Alumni Distinction Award from the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Sollinger’s contributions to transplantation include the introduction of bladder drainage for pancreas transplantation and the preclinical and clinical development of mycophenolate mofetil. He was the first surgeon to use UW solution for pancreas preservation and the first surgeon to perform 1,000 simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Sollinger’s research interests have been gene therapy for type 1 diabetes and the prevention of fibrosis after transplantation. His laboratory recently demonstrated for the first time perfect glucose control in diabetic animals treated with gene therapy.
Dr. Sollinger’s curriculum vitae currently lists 503 peer-reviewed publications, five books, and 70 book chapters.
Director of Transplantation
Renal Unit
University of Sydney at Westmead Hospital Australia
Philip O’Connell is a clinical professor in medicine at the University of Sydney. He is director of Transplantation and medical director of the National Pancreas Transplant Unit, Westmead Hospital. Currently he is director of the Centre for Transplant and Renal Research, The Westmead Institute of Medical Research. His major research interests are in the development of islet transplantation as a main stream treatment for type 1 diabetes and the use of genomics as a marker of renal allograft dysfunction. He was a principle investigator of the NIH funded GOCAR study. He is director of the Australian Clinical Islet Transplant Consortium, which has undertaken Australia’s first multicentre clinical trial of islet transplantation
What does the future hold
Early Immune Intervention for Beta-cell Preservation in Type 1 Diabetes*
Bart Keymeulen, MD PhD, is a diabetologist and head of the research group Diabetes, Transplantation and Pathology. His main focus is translational research in the field of type 1 diabetes: diagnosis and immune intervention in the early stages and islet cell replacement therapy in patients with problematic hypoglycemia. This includes the use of stem cell-based cells in phase 1-2 human trials.
