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Roy Calne, a trailblazing figure in organ transplantation renowned for leading Europe’s first liver transplant surgery in 1968, has passed away at the age of 93. Calne, who was also a professor emeritus of surgery at Cambridge University, breathed his last in Cambridge, England, on Saturday, as confirmed by his family.
A graduate of Guy’s Hospital in London, Calne nurtured an interest in organ transplantation in the 1950s, undeterred by early beliefs that the procedure was unattainable. Inspired in part by his father’s work as an automobile mechanic, he ventured into pioneering research that revolutionized organ transplantation.
Together with Dr. Thomas Starzl, an American scientist, Calne embarked on groundbreaking work exploring surgical techniques and treatments to prevent organ rejection. Their experiments, initially conducted on dogs, laid the foundation for preventing organ rejection through drug therapy. Despite initial setbacks, their perseverance bore fruit when Calne led the first liver transplant on a 46-year-old woman with liver cancer at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in May 1968. Although the patient succumbed to an infection resulting from immunosuppressive drugs, the surgery marked a milestone in medical history.
Calne’s relentless pursuit of effective anti-rejection methods resulted in the development of cyclosporine, a breakthrough drug that dramatically improved patients’ survival chances. His contributions revolutionized the field, making liver transplants a widely accepted and successful medical procedure from the 1980s onward.
Notably, Calne was instrumental in landmark surgeries, including the world’s first triple liver, lung, and heart transplant in 1986 and a groundbreaking six-organ transplant involving the liver, kidney, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, and pancreas in 1994.
Acknowledged for his groundbreaking contributions, Calne was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986. In 2012, he and Starzl jointly received the prestigious Lasker Award for their exceptional research in the field of organ transplantation.
Beyond his groundbreaking medical achievements, Calne was a talented artist, capturing portraits of numerous patients and medical colleagues through his paintings.
His legacy as a pioneer in organ transplantation endures, with Addenbrooke’s Hospital commemorating his impact by naming its transplant unit after Calne in 2021, a testament to his lasting contributions to medicine and humanity.
