Milestones and successes

The University of Minnesota has been a leader in transplant medicine since the 1960s, pioneering and refining techniques, as well as training many of the transplant surgeons around the world today. Our work in pancreas and islet cell transplantation, in particular, has a long history of success.

1963 The University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic establish organ transplantation programs. Surgeons from both facilities perform kidney transplants.

1966 University of Minnesota surgeons Richard C. Lillehei, M.D. and William D. Kelly, M.D. perform the world’s first pancreas transplant.

1967 Drs. Lillehei and Kelly perform the world’s first simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant.

1974 University of Minnesota surgeons David Sutherland, M.D., Ph.D. and John Najarian, M.D. perform the first allo-islet cell transplant (from a deceased donor to a living recipient) to treat type 1 diabetes.

1977 Drs. Sutherland and Najarian perform the world’s first auto-islet transplant (using the patient’s own cells) on a person with pancreatitis.

1979 Dr. Sutherland performs the world’s first partial pancreas transplant from a living related donor.

1983 The FDA approves the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine. Cyclosporine transforms organ transplantation from experimental to routine.

1987 A University of Minnesota/Mayo Clinic collaborative led by Dr. Sutherland and James D. Perkins, M.D. results in the development of a technique for simultaneous liver/pancreas procurement.

1992 Dr. Sutherland performs the first unrelated living-donor pancreas transplant. That same year, Sutherland and Paul Gores, M.D. conduct one of the world’s first clinical islet transplant trials using single donors of simultaneous kidney transplants.

1994 Dr. Sutherland and Rainer Gruessner, M.D. perform the first combined segmental pancreas and kidney transplant from a living donor.

2000 Dr. Gruessner, Dr. Sutherland and Raja Kandaswamy, M.D. perform the first simultaneous laparoscopic living donor pancreas-kidney transplant.

2008 The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation infuses $40 million into our program, putting the Schulze Diabetes Institute on an accelerated path to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.

2010 Recognizing our success, the National Institutes of Health renewed funding for us to continue our human islet clinical trials. Of the 7 sites in the United States chosen to conduct these trials, no other site has enrolled more patients than the University of Minnesota.

Today, nearly 90% of islet transplant recipients become insulin independent post-transplant, and more than 50% remain so after 5 years.