Office of Public Relations — Newsroom
News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Sarah Ellis, (303) 724-1520, sarah.ellis@uchsc.edu
Dr. Igal Kam Named First Endowed Chair in Transplant Surgery
AURORA (Sept. 27, 2007) – A generous gift of $1 million from the American Transplant Foundation, founded by Steve Farber, will serve as the basis for the first endowed chair in the transplant program at University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center and the University of Colorado Hospital.
The endowment will support the continuing work of world-renowned transplant surgeon Dr. Igal Kam, who has led the transplant program at UCH for nearly two decades.
The endowment of $1.5 million is also supported by numerous other pledges and gifts, including funding from the UBS Foundation , as well as the John and Kathy Zeschin Charitable Fund. The endowment is the beginning of efforts to further support endowed chairs in the transplant program.
A celebration event is planned for Sept. 29 to showcase the new comprehensive Transplant Center at the Anschutz Outpatient Pavilion at the Anschutz Medical Campus and to honor Kam as the first endowed chair. With the move to the Anschutz Medical Campus, all transplant-related disciplines came together to make the Transplant Center one of the most advanced centers in the country, providing solid organ transplants including heart, lung, kidney, liver and pancreas.
Steve Farber, founder of the American Transplant Foundation and a kidney transplant patient, said, “I am thrilled that the Foundation is involved and endowing a chair. I know first hand the good work of the transplant program, from Dr. Larry Chan, head of Transplant Nephrology, to Dr. Kam, head of Transplant Surgery. This center has the finest team in the country and we’re happy to be a part of the team.”
The transplant program offers the finest transplant care available in the region and some of the highest outcome records in the nation. It was among the first in the United States to offer living-donor surgery in both kidney and liver transplantation. The nation’s first liver transplant was performed at University of Colorado Hospital, then known as Colorado General Hospital, in 1963 by famed surgeon Dr. Thomas Starzl.
Kam studied under Starzl in the 1980s and came to University of Colorado Hospital in 1988 to revive the liver and kidney transplant program. Since then, the team has performed nearly 4,000 solid organ transplants including more than 1,300 liver transplants and 1,500 kidney transplants. Of those, there have been more than 120 adult-to-adult living donor liver transplants and more than 530 adult-to-adult living donor kidney transplants. More than 350 heart transplants and more than 425 lung transplants also have been performed.
The endowment honors Kam’s significant accomplishments in transplant surgery, which he attributes to the skills and cooperation of the entire transplant team, consisting of both adult and pediatric surgeons, hepatologists, nurses, and coordinators, among others. The co-location of all transplant services is unique and allows all adult patients to receive medical care from a team of experts who are specifically trained to address transplant patients’ special needs.
“This recognition is an honor, and belongs to the entire clinical and academic team in transplant surgery,” said Kam. “The program continues to grow and make advances in transplant surgery and care because of their dedication and tremendous skills. I am honored to lead such a team and to provide some of the best clinical care and research in the country.”
The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center is one of three universities in the University of Colorado System. Located in Denver, on the Auraria Campus, at Ninth & Colorado Blvd. and on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo., UCDHSC is Colorado’s premier research university offering more than 100 degrees and programs in 12 schools and colleges and serving more than 28,000 students in Metro Denver and online. For more information, visit the Web site at www.ucdhsc.edu or the UCDHSC Newsroom at http://www.uchsc.edu/news.
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