Dr Starzl, pictured in 1989, first carried out a procedure, which has since saved thousands of lives. Over the centuries, there have been many great physicians and nurses who made huge contributions to the medical world through trial and error with the key goal to help save people’s lives. Today, there are four doctors who should be remembered and paid tribute to for not only the lifelong impact they made for the society but also the determined spirit they have for the advancement of healthcare to continue creating miracles. 1. Liver transplant pioneer, Thomas Starzl Thomas Starzl was an American surgeon who performed the world’s first liver transplant in 1963 although his first patient did not survive. He carried out the first successful transplant in 1967 with a new blend of anti-rejection drugs and saved thousands of lives ever since. Starzl passed away recently just days before his 91st birthday. According to the University of Pittsburgh where he joined in the 1980s to conduct his drugs research, Starzl was known as the “father of transplantation” as his work advanced the surgery “from a risky, rare procedure to an accessible” one. After his retirement in 1991, Starzl published his autobiography and revealed his anxiety for performing surgeries. “I had an intense fear of failing the patients who had placed their health or life in my hands,” he wrote. Besides human liver transplants, Starzl also pioneered animal-to-human liver transplants, which could briefly extend life when human organs are in shortage. His research later in life led the improved drugs, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, to acceptance. 2. Niacinamide therapy pioneer, William Kaufman William Kaufman was a pioneer in the orthomolecular medicine as he discovered niacinamide, vitamin B3 found in food, could treat osteoarthritis and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) over 60 years ago. Some of his ADHD patients had a response to his niacinamide therapy, which indicated the clinical “decreased running” observed in experimental animals. He claimed that patients could work more calmly and efficiently with vitamin therapy. In addition to ADHD, Kaufman had also treated arthritis patients with two to four grams of niacinamide daily. One of Kaufman’s first patients who was severely arthritic could bend his arms after he consumed niacinamide for a week in divided doses. While he advocated relatively modest quantities of niacinamide, 250mg per dose, Kaufman emphasised that dosage frequency is an important factor to the efficiency of treatment. Kaufman’s discovery of niacinamide as an effective remedy for hyperactivity and lack of mental focus is very significant as the media and the orthodox medicine were reluctant to believe optimum nutrition could be curative of both conditions. Today, Kaufman’s works have led to more medical discoveries in orthodox medicine and received recognition he well deserves. 3. Father of blood banks, Charles Drew Charles Drew was the first African-American surgeon who revolutionised the understanding of blood plasma and created the two of the largest blood banks during World War II. Many would have lost their lives without the discoveries of Drew in the storage and processing of blood for transfusions. His major contribution was to discover that blood plasmas last longer than the whole blood thus it could be dried and reconstituted when needed. It was an important discovery as blood and plasma were desperately in need for transfusions especially in emergency or combat situations. Despite the lack of oxygen-carrying red cells, it works well with fluids replacement and shock treatment. Drew first led a medical effort known as “Blood for Britain” and then another blood bank for the American Red Cross during the WWII period. 4. Founder of bioethics, Edmund Pellegrino Edmund Pellegrino was an early pioneer in teaching humanities in medical schools who began teaching medical ethics to his residents in 1959. Pellegrino emphasised that the practice of medicine was “...the most humanitarian of the sciences, and the most scientific of the humanities”. He founded many prestigious institutes at Georgetown University in the US and wrote more than six hundred peer-reviewed papers on medicine, philosophy, scientific research and bioethics as well as 20 books. Dr G. Kevin Donovan, director of Edmund D. Pellegrino Centre for Clinical Bioethics, said, “As a founding father of modern bioethics, he has had an immense effect on students, residents and practising physicians. He taught virtue ethics and personified it in his actions. He always recalled our attention to the bedrock of medical practice, the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship." Pellegrino said, “Medicine is a moral enterprise, and if you take away the ethical and the moral dimensions, you end up with a technique. The reason it’s a profession is that it’s dedicated to something other than its own self-interests.” Undeniably, Pellegrino’s passion towards medicine has shaped contemporary clinical bioethics. Source
