Starzl, Thomas (Earl) (1926- )

US surgeon. He advanced organ transplantation by perfecting both the surgical techniques and the drugs to suppress the body's rejection of transplants. Controversial because of his willingness to take risks and make claims that more conservative surgeons shied away from, he performed the first successful human liver transplant in 1963, and the first baboon liver transplantation in 1992.

He was born in Le Mars, Iowa. He worked at the University of Colorado School of Medicine 1962-80 and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from 1981. His autobiography is titled The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon (1992).