RCSEd Saddened by the Death of Honorary Fellow Sir Roy Yorke Calne
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It is with great sadness to share the news of the death of Honorary Fellow of the College, Sir Roy Yorke Calne.
Sir Roy was awarded the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Honorary Fellowship on 8 October 1993.
Sir Roy Calne was an extraordinary doctor and pioneer in organ transplantation. On 2 May 1968 Calne performed the UK’s first successful Liver transplant at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge.
Addenbrooke’s hospital named its specialist transplant unit after the medic, honouring his “world firsts”, and a plaque was placed at the entrance.
In 1978 Sir Roy became the first doctor to use an immunosuppressant, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection. This great achievement paved the way for transplant medicine to become mainstream and a huge expansion in the number of transplant units worldwide.
Calne performed a series of surgical “world firsts” and his work on liver transplants offered thousands of people with end-stage liver disease a normal life.
Sir Roy is said to have conducted the earliest ever liver, heart and lung transplant nine years later, and in 1992 carried out the UK’s first intestinal transplant.
Two years after that he successfully performed a multi-visceral transplant combining stomach, intestine, pancreas, liver, and kidney cluster – another world first.
Source Link: The Guardian
On behalf of everyone at the College, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends and the many colleagues who worked alongside Sir Roy Yorke Calne.
