Starzl Transplant Prize Lecture: Islet Transplantation: Science or Fiction?

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Department of Surgery, and the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute are honored to present the 2018 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology to Ali Naji, MD, PhD in recognition of his outstanding clinical and scientific achievements. Dr. Naji is the J. William White Professor of Surgical Research, Director of the JDRF-Penn Islet Transplantation Program, and Associate Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

As a leading diabetes immunologist and transplant surgeon, Dr. Naji and his lab members have greatly broadened our understanding of immune tolerance mechanisms. He has shed light on fundamental processes involving the role of the thymus and regulation of the maintenance and loss of immune tolerance to tissue-specific antigens in autoimmune diseases and transplantation. His laboratory was among the first to demonstrate the central role of B lymphocytes in orchestrating the immune attack against islet beta cells in Type 1 diabetes. These findings have led the way for novel therapeutic interventions to preserve beta cell mass and promote transplantation.

Dr. Naji has worked to advance successful islet transplantation for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. He and colleagues performed some of the first attempts to repeat and extend the Edmonton protocol for transplantation in the United States, which involves implanting pancreatic islets to treat Type 1 diabetes. Translation of his research has demonstrated the efficacy of B lymphocyte-directed immunotherapy in the induction of islet allograft tolerance in diabetic non-human primates. He continues to advance beta cell restoration and islet transplantation to improve transplantation outcomes.

After earning his MD at Shiraz University School of Medicine in Shiraz, Iran, Dr. Naji completed surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his immunology PhD in 1981. Naji has published nearly 300 scientific articles on transplantation, immunology, and diabetes and has trained more than 20 students and postdocs who have since launched their own diabetes and transplantation research careers. His honors and awards include the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Training, the Lady Barbara Colyton Prize for Autoimmune Research, the Paul S. Russell Lectureship, and the Paul Lacey Memorial Award Lecture.

The Thomas E. Starzl Prize honors the clinical and scientific contributions of Pitt’s transplantation icon, Thomas Starzl, MD, PhD. Recipients are national and international leaders and researchers who have significantly impacted the fields of organ transplantation and immunology. The prize was established in 1996 by Pitt’s Department of Surgery and was formerly known as the Annual Thomas E. Starzl Lectureship.