OBITUARY
Sir Roy Calne obituary
Pioneering surgeon and artist who led Europe’s first liver transplant and developed a revolutionary drug which prevents organ rejection
Calne at work in 1993. He achieved spectacular success with a patient called Lollipop – his own dog
REX
About 60 years ago, the medical and surgical elite of Harvard met in the university amphitheatre to hear about a notable case. It heralded a revolution that was to save at least one million lives and establish Roy Calne — later Sir Roy — as one of the 20th century’s most innovative surgeons.
Calne’s patient, described by the moderator as a young adult female with a kidney transplant, remained off stage. Six months after surgery her kidney function was normal: the grafted organ had, astonishingly, not been rejected.
When the moderator invited the patient to join him, a cross-collie called Lollipop rushed on stage, licking many of the professors in the front row en route. “I don’t know if there had ever been a dog