History Maker: Transplant Surgeon
Samuel L. Kountz, MD, a pioneering kidney transplant surgeon, helped lay the foundation for modern transplantation. Dr. Kountz was born in Arkansas during segregation, making access to education difficult. His college rejected him at first, but he graduated third in his class, then earning his master’s and medical degrees from University of Arkansas. He specialized in kidney transplantation, a new field, participating in the first West Coast kidney transplant, performing the first kidney transplant between non-identical twins, and helped create a machine that preserved kidneys after removal.
Image courtesy of UCSF Archives and Special Collections
