Francis L. Delmonico

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Francis L. Delmonico
Francis delmonico.jpg
Francis L. Delmonico, MD
Born1945 (age 8081)
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materGeorge Washington University Virginia Commonwealth University
Known forOrgan Transplant Surgery
AwardsNKF Hume Lifetime Achievement Award

AST Senior Achievement Award in Clinical Transplantation AOPO The President's Award

TTS Medawar Prize

Contents

Scientific career
InstitutionsMassachusetts General Hospital New England Donor Services

Francis L. Delmonico, MD, FACS (born in New York in 1945) is a retired American surgeon, clinical professor and health expert in the field of transplantation. [1] He served on numerous national and international committees regarding donation and transplant and is affiliated with various leading organizations and institutions. In addition to his work as a transplant surgeon, he served as chief medical officer of the New England Donor Services (NEDS) and Professor of Surgery, Part-Time at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is emeritus director of renal transplantation. [1] He is the author or co-author on over 300 academic papers. [2] He served as president of The Transplantation Society (TTS) from 2012 to 2014, an international non-profit organization based in Montreal, Canada that works with international transplantation physicians and researchers. [1] He also served as the president of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) in 2005 [3] which overseas the practice of organ donation and transplantation in the United States. He was appointed and still serves as an advisor to the World Health Organization in matters of organ donation and transplantation. [4] He was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2016. [5] In 2020, he became the recipient of the Medawar Prize of The Transplantation Society. [6]

Education

Delmonico received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at Mount Saint Mary's College in 1966 [7] and a Doctor of Medicine degree from George Washington University in 1971. [4] His initial general surgical training was under the direction of pioneer transplant surgeon Dr. David Hume at the Medical College of Virginia. In 1974, Delmonico interrupted his general surgical training to complete a two-year Clinical and Research Fellowship in Transplantation at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He then returned to the Medical College of Virginia to continue his general surgical residency training, which he completed in 1978 as chief resident in surgery. [8]

Career

After serving for two years in the United States Navy as a staff surgeon at Walter Reed Medical Center, an assistant professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, and as ship's surgeon on the USS Independence, Delmonico was recruited to the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1980 as a member of the transplantation unit of the department of surgery. He was promoted to visiting surgeon in 1997 and to professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School in 2000. From 1990 until 2004 he was the director of the Renal Transplantation Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital. [9] Throughout his time at Mass General, he has devoted much of his research efforts to clinical investigation. In the early part of his career, he focused upon the management of recipient immunosuppression and more recently upon the clinical parameters that define the suitable organ donor.

In 1995, Delmonico was appointed medical director of the New England Organ Bank, now New England Donor Services. [1] Under his direction, NEDS has undertaken several research projects, most notably an outcome study of organs transplanted from deceased donors who were bacteremic at the time of their death. This study removed a heretofore absolute contraindication to organ donation, thereby expanding the organ donor pool for selected allograft recipients. [10] Another focus of Delmonico's organ donor interest has been the concept of death. He has been responsible for the development of the Donation after Cardiac Death initiative in transplant centers within the NEDS service area. He was awarded a Department of Health and Human Services Grant as the principal investigator of a project to study the acceptance of kidneys recovered from deceased expanded criteria donors [11] and has served as the medical advisor to the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations.

Delmonico has served on the board of trustees and numerous committees of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and as its President. [3] UNOS is the contractor for the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN), the federally designated organization that oversees the practice of transplantation in the United States.

His contributions to The Transplantation Society (TTS) have been long-standing. As chairman of TTS's ethics committee, he convened an international forum on the live kidney donor in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in April 2004, and on the liver lung, liver, intestine and pancreas donor in Vancouver, Canada, in September 2005, with participation of over 100 physicians and surgeons from 44 countries around the world. Furthermore, he served as TTS's director of medical affairs from 2006 to 2010 and president from 2012 to 2014. [12] In 2020, he received the Society's highest distinction in being awarded the Medawar Prize for his lifetime contribution to the field of transplantation. [13]

He works closely with the World Health Organization who made him a WHO consultant on matter of human organ donation and transplantation. In 2008, he was responsible for convening the Istanbul Summit from which the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism was derived. [14] He became executive director the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group in 2015. [15]

Writings

He has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications, either as original articles, reviews, commentaries or book chapters. His original writings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine , the Journal of the American Medical Association and The New York Times . He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including Nightline , Good Morning America , CBS Sunday Morning [3] and NPR news. Other educational achievements include his work as associate editor of the American Journal of Transplantation and his reviews for many medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of the American Association of Nephrology, and Surgery. He is a member of the editorial board of Transplantation, Kidney International and Clinical Transplantation.

Awards and recognition

Select publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mordowanec, Nick (August 9, 2024). "The Dark Side of Transplant Tourism: Inside the Illegal Organ Black Market". Newsweek. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
  2. "ResearchGate: Search and explore research". ResearchGate. January 8, 2026. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Alfano, Sean (July 17, 2006). "The Ultimate Gift Found Online". CBS Sunday Morning. Retrieved January 14, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Championing an End to Organ Trafficking". Medicine + Health Magazine of the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  5. "Francis L. Delmonico". www.pas.va. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  6. "2020 Medawar Prize". tts.org. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  7. "Offering A Second Chance" (PDF). Mount Magazine. 2007. p. 20.
  8. Byrd, Leha. "International organ donation advocate Francis Delmonico, M.D., to speak at VCU Health". VCU News. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  9. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (1999) "Pennsylvania Set to Break Taboo On Reward for Organ Donations", The New York Times , May 6, 1999, retrieved 2011-07-31
  10. Freeman, R. B.; Giatras, I.; Falagas, M. E.; Supran, S.; O'Connor, K.; Bradley, J.; Snydman, D. R.; Delmonico, F. L. (1999-10-27). "Outcome of transplantation of organs procured from bacteremic donors". Transplantation. 68 (8): 1107–1111. doi:10.1097/00007890-199910270-00008. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   10551637.
  11. 1 2 Metzger, Robert A.; Delmonico, Francis L.; Feng, Sandy; Port, Friedrich K.; Wynn, James J.; Merion, Robert M. (2003). "Expanded criteria donors for kidney transplantation". American Journal of Transplantation. 3: 114–125. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-6143.3.s4.11.x . PMID   12694055.
  12. "Prescence (Globally), Engagement, Partnership" (PDF). The Transplantation Society Tribune. November 2012.
  13. 1 2 "2020 Medawar Prize". tts.org. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  14. United States House of Representatives Biographical Sketch for Francis Delmonico, MD
  15. Pullen, Lara (November 2018). "Ten-Year Celebration of the Declaration of Istanbul". American Journal of Transplantation. 18 (11): 2615–2616. doi:10.1111/ajt.15138. PMID   30372599 via Elsevier.
  16. "In The News" (PDF). The Transplantation Society Tribune. 2012.
  17. Delmonico, Francis L.; Snydman, David R. (March 1998). "ORGAN DONOR SCREENING FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Review of Practice and Implications for Transplantation". Transplantation. 65 (5): 603–610. doi:10.1097/00007890-199803150-00001. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   9521191.
  18. Delmonico, Francis L.; Harmon, William E.; Lorber, Marc I.; Goguen, Jane; Mah, Helen; Himmelfarb, Jonathan; Lipkowitz, George; Valliere, Shauneen; Bow, Laurine; Milford, Edgar L.; Rohrer, Richard J. (January 1999). "A New Allocation Plan for Renal Transplantation". Transplantation. 67 (2): 303–309. doi:10.1097/00007890-199901270-00021. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   10075599.
  19. Freeman, Richard B.; Giatras, Ioannis; Falagas, Mathew E.; Supran, Stacey; O'Connor, Kevin; Bradley, James; Snydman, David R.; Delmonico, Francis L. (October 1999). "Outcome of Transplantation of Organs Procured from Bacteremic Donors". Transplantation. 68 (8): 1107–1111. doi:10.1097/00007890-199910270-00008. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   10551637.
  20. Delmonico, Francis L.; Arnold, Robert; Scheper-Hughes, Nancy; Siminoff, Laura A.; Kahn, Jeffrey; Youngner, Stuart J. (2002-06-20). "Ethical Incentives — Not Payment — For Organ Donation". New England Journal of Medicine. 346 (25): 2002–2005. doi:10.1056/NEJMsb013216. ISSN   0028-4793. PMID   12075064.
  21. Rosengard, Bruce R.; Feng, Sandy; Alfrey, Edward J.; Zaroff, Jonathan G.; Emond, Jean C.; Henry, Mitchell L.; Garrity, Edward R.; Roberts, John P.; Wynn, James J.; Metzger, Robert A.; Freeman, Richard B.; Port, Friedrich K.; Merion, Robert M.; Love, Robert B.; Busuttil, Ronald W. (September 2002). "Report of the Crystal City Meeting to Maximize the Use of Organs Recovered from the Cadaver Donor". American Journal of Transplantation. 2 (8): 701–711. doi:10.1034/j.1600-6143.2002.20804.x. PMID   12243491.
  22. Delmonico, Francis L.; Morrissey, Paul E.; Lipkowitz, George S.; Stoff, Jeffrey S.; Himmelfarb, Jonathan; Harmon, William; Pavlakis, Martha; Mah, Helen; Goguen, Jane; Luskin, Richard; Milford, Edgar; Basadonna, Giacomo; Chobanian, Michael; Bouthot, Beth; Lorber, Marc (October 2004). "Donor Kidney Exchanges". American Journal of Transplantation. 4 (10): 1628–1634. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00572.x. PMID   15367217.
  23. Delmonico, Francis L. (2004-04-29). "Exchanging Kidneys — Advances in Living-Donor Transplantation". New England Journal of Medicine. 350 (18): 1812–1814. doi:10.1056/NEJMp038228. ISSN   0028-4793. PMID   15115826.
  24. Takemoto, Steven K.; Zeevi, Adriana; Feng, Sandy; Colvin, Robert B.; Jordan, Stanley; Kobashigawa, Jon; Kupiec-Weglinski, Jerzy; Matas, Arthur; Montgomery, Robert A.; Nickerson, Peter; Platt, Jeffrey L.; Rabb, Hamid; Thistlethwaite, Richard; Tyan, Dolly; Delmonico, Francis L. (2004). "National Conference to Assess Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Solid Organ Transplantation". American Journal of Transplantation. 4 (7): 1033–1041. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00500.x. PMID   15196059.
  25. Delmonico, Francis; Council of the Transplantation Society (2005-03-27). "A Report of the Amsterdam Forum On the Care of the Live Kidney Donor: Data and Medical Guidelines". Transplantation. 79 (6 Suppl): S53–66. doi:10.1097/01.TP.0000157343.27949.9F. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   15785361.
  26. Bernat, J.L.; D'Alessandro, A.M.; Port, F.K.; Bleck, T.P.; Heard, S.O.; Medina, J.; Rosenbaum, S.H.; DeVita, M.A.; Gaston, R.S.; Merion, R.M.; Barr, M.L.; Marks, W.H.; Nathan, H.; O'Connor, K.; Rudow, D.L. (2006). "Report of a National Conference on Donation after Cardiac Death". American Journal of Transplantation. 6 (2): 281–291. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2005.01194.x. PMID   16426312.
  27. Delmonico, F.-L.; Dew, M.-A. (2007). "Living donor kidney transplantation in a global environment" . Kidney International. 71 (7): 608–614. doi:10.1038/sj.ki.5002125. PMID   17290291.
  28. Dew, M.A.; Jacobs, C.L.; Jowsey, S.G.; Hanto, R.; Miller, C.; Delmonico, F.L. (2007). "Guidelines for the Psychosocial Evaluation of Living Unrelated Kidney Donors in the United States". American Journal of Transplantation. 7 (5): 1047–1054. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2007.01751.x. PMID   17359510.
  29. Schulz-Baldes, Annette; Delmonico, Francis L. (2007). "Improving institutional fairness to live kidney donors: donor needs must be addressed by safeguarding donation risks and compensating donation costs". Transplant International. 20 (11): 940–946. doi:10.1111/j.1432-2277.2007.00542.x. ISSN   0934-0874. PMID   17711405.
  30. DuBois, James M.; Delmonico, Francis L.; D'Alessandro, Anthony M. (2007). "When organ donors are still patients: is premortem use of heparin ethically acceptable?". American Journal of Critical Care. 16 (4): 396–400. doi:10.4037/ajcc2007.16.4.396. ISSN   1062-3264. PMID   17595373.
  31. Saidi, R.F.; Elias, N.; Kawai, T.; Hertl, M.; Farrell, M.-L.; Goes, N.; Wong, W.; Hartono, C.; Fishman, J.A.; Kotton, C.N.; Tolkoff-Rubin, N.; Delmonico, F.L.; Cosimi, A.B.; Ko, D.S.C. (2007). "Outcome of Kidney Transplantation Using Expanded Criteria Donors and Donation After Cardiac Death Kidneys: Realities and Costs". American Journal of Transplantation. 7 (12): 2769–2774. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2007.01993.x . PMID   17927805.
  32. Saidi, R. F.; Elias, N.; Kawai, T.; Hertl, M.; Farrell, M.-L.; Goes, N.; Wong, W.; Hartono, C.; Fishman, J. A.; Kotton, C. N.; Tolkoff-Rubin, N.; Delmonico, F. L.; Cosimi, A. B.; Ko, D. S. C. (2007). "Outcome of kidney transplantation using expanded criteria donors and donation after cardiac death kidneys: realities and costs". American Journal of Transplantation. 7 (12): 2769–2774. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2007.01993.x . ISSN   1600-6135. PMID   17927805.
  33. Sung, R. S.; Christensen, L. L.; Leichtman, A. B.; Greenstein, S. M.; Distant, D. A.; Wynn, J. J.; Stegall, M. D.; Delmonico, F. L.; Port, F. K. (2008). "Determinants of discard of expanded criteria donor kidneys: impact of biopsy and machine perfusion". American Journal of Transplantation. 8 (4): 783–792. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2008.02157.x. hdl: 2027.42/73820 . ISSN   1600-6143. PMID   18294347.
  34. Tsoulfas, George; Hertl, Martin; Ko, Dicken S. C.; Elias, Nahel; Delmonico, Francis L.; Romano, Linda; Fernandes, Isabel; Schoenfeld, David; Kawai, Tatsuo (2008). "Long-term outcome of a cuffed expanded PTFE graft for hemodialysis vascular access". World Journal of Surgery. 32 (8): 1827–1831. doi:10.1007/s00268-008-9514-z. ISSN   0364-2313. PMID   18343971.
  35. Saidi, R. F.; Wertheim, J. A.; Ko, D. S. C.; Elias, N.; Martin, H.; Delmonico, F. L.; Cosimi, A. B.; Kawai, T. (2008). "Impact of donor kidney recovery method on lymphatic complications in kidney transplantation". Transplantation Proceedings. 40 (4): 1054–1055. doi:10.1016/j.transproceed.2008.04.007. ISSN   0041-1345. PMID   18555113.
  36. Delmonico, Francis L. (2008). "The development of the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism". Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation. 23 (11): 3381–3382. doi:10.1093/ndt/gfn552. ISSN   1460-2385. PMID   18922862.
  37. Gritsch, H. A.; Veale, J. L.; Leichtman, A. B.; Guidinger, M. K.; Magee, J. C.; McDonald, R. A.; Harmon, W. E.; Delmonico, F. L.; Ettenger, R. B.; Cecka, J. M. (2008). "Should pediatric patients wait for HLA-DR-matched renal transplants?". American Journal of Transplantation. 8 (10): 2056–2061. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2008.02320.x. hdl: 2027.42/74900 . ISSN   1600-6143. PMID   18839440.
  38. Delmonico, Francis L.; McBride, Maureen A. (2008-12-27). "Analysis of the wait list and deaths among candidates waiting for a kidney transplant". Transplantation. 86 (12): 1678–1683. doi:10.1097/TP.0b013e31818fe694. ISSN   1534-6080. PMID   19104404.
  39. Hanto, Ruthanne L.; Reitsma, William; Delmonico, Francis L. (2008-12-27). "The development of a successful multiregional kidney paired donation program". Transplantation. 86 (12): 1744–1748. doi:10.1097/TP.0b013e3181909035. ISSN   1534-6080. PMID   19104415.
  40. Tilney, Nicholas; Murray, Joseph; Thistlethwaite, Richard; Norman, Doug; Delmonico, Francis; Hanto, Douglas; Leichtman, Alan; Danovitch, Gabriel; Sayegh, Mohamed; Shapiro, Ron; Harmon, William; Salvatierra, Oscar; Brennan, Dan; McDiarmid, Sue; Stock, Peter (2009-09-27). "Promotion of Altruistic Donation" . Transplantation. 88 (6): 847. doi:10.1097/TP.0b013e3181b6bd65. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   19920786.
  41. Humar, A.; Morris, M.; Blumberg, E.; Freeman, R.; Preiksaitis, J.; Kiberd, B.; Schweitzer, E.; Ganz, S.; Caliendo, A.; Orlowski, J. P.; Wilson, B.; Kotton, C.; Michaels, M.; Kleinman, S.; Geier, S. (2010). "Nucleic acid testing (NAT) of organ donors: is the 'best' test the right test? A consensus conference report". American Journal of Transplantation. 10 (4): 889–899. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2009.02992.x. ISSN   1600-6143. PMID   20121734.
  42. Delmonico, Francis L. (2013-07-15). "A Welcomed New National Policy in China". Transplantation. 96 (1): 3–4. doi:10.1097/TP.0b013e31829949fb. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   23743729.
  43. 1 2 Capron, Alexander M.; Danovitch, Gabriel M.; Delmonico, Francis L. (2014-10-03). "Organ Markets: Problems Beyond Harms to Vendors". The American Journal of Bioethics. 14 (10): 23–25. doi:10.1080/15265161.2014.947048. ISSN   1526-5161. PMID   25229575.
  44. Muller, Elmi; White, Sarah; Delmonico, Francis (2014-05-27). "Regional Perspective: Developing Organ Transplantation in Sub-Saharan Africa". Transplantation. 97 (10): 975–976. doi:10.1097/TP.0000000000000144. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   24770622.
  45. Alkuwari, Hanan; Fadhil, Riadh; Almaslamani, Yousef; Alansari, Abdalla; Almalki, Hassan; Khalaf, Hatem; Ali, Omar (2014-01-15). "The Doha Donation Accord Aligned With the Declaration of Istanbul: Implementations to Develop Deceased Organ Donation and Combat Commercialism". Transplantation. 97 (1): 3–4. doi:10.1097/01.TP.0000437564.15965.2e. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   24378648.
  46. Garcia-Gallont, Rudolf; Matesanz, Rafael; Delmonico, Francis L. (2015). "Organ Donation and Transplantation in Central America". Transplantation. 99 (3): 459–460. doi:10.1097/TP.0000000000000696. ISSN   0041-1337. PMID   25695780.