University Times

Organ transplant pioneer Thomas E. Starzl, professor of surgery in Pitt's School of Medicine, has donated his personal papers to Pitt's University Library System (ULS).

The papers, which span some 200 linear feet, reflect Starzl's medical career before, during and after his significant contributions to the field of transplantation.

According to Rush Miller, director of ULS, "Dr. Starzl is not only a pioneer in transplantation, he is also the most-cited scientist in the world today. These papers are a rich source of detail about his illustrious career as well as the dramatic developments in the past two decades that have been made in this field of medicine."

The collection includes extensive correspondence that Starzl amassed when writing his book "The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992). Most of the materials date from 1981, the year Starzl arrived at Pitt.

Starzl and his staff were about to discard many of the papers when ULS archivist Marianne Kasica and Dick Thornburgh Collection archivist Nancy Watson approached Starzl and asked if he would be interested in donating any materials.