Organ Transplant Pioneer

John S. Najarian, MD

When John Najarian was 12 years old, he was hospitalized for weeks after his appendix ruptured. Nearly dying of peritonitis, he vowed that if he ever made it out of that hospital, he'd become a doctor. A football scholarship sent him to the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with honors in 1948. After earning his medical degree (Alpha Omega Alpha) in 1952, Dr. Najarian chose to specialize in transplantation immunology, intrigued by the research challenge of an emerging field. As chair of the University of Minnesota's Department of Surgery from 1967 to 1993, he presided over the world-renowned transplant program. Under his leadership, the University of Minnesota became known as the place for high-risk, medically complicated transplant candidates of any age who were routinely turned down elsewhere. He and his team also instituted huge advances in organ preservation techniques and the use of living non-directed donors.