Watch Burden of Genius Documentary Film & attend Saving More Lives Seminar

SAVING MORE LIVES

This seminar was inspired by the film, Burden of Genius. It will combine an overview of Dr. Thomas Starz’s accomplishments and legacy with an up-to-the minute report from the front lines of organ transplantation. Current challenges will be explored, including how to increase organ donation and how to bolster the pipeline for transplant surgeons.

To attend in-person, please register here, on Eventbrite. 

Attend virtually by registering here.

Please watch the film before attending the seminar.

BURDEN OF GENIUS

A documentary film about Dr. Thomas Starzl’s journey into organ transplantation. An online screening of the film is exclusively available to the Stanford University community from October 29 to November 4.

To watch the film BURDEN OF GENIUS, register .

BURDEN OF GENIUS captures the remarkable story of Dr. Thomas Starzl, “the father of organ transplantation.” Taking what was once considered science fiction, he overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to make transplantation an everyday miracle which has saved countless lives. This inspirational documentary shows the vision, relentlessness, and sacrifice it took for Dr. Starzl and his colleagues to change modern medicine.

"Burden of Genius extends beyond medicine; it taps into the human drive to excel, to do what has never been done before, to make history.” -The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"This honest reflection on the price of scientific progress is an effective reminder that the more than 100 000 people living today with transplanted organs have reason to be grateful to Starzl, and serves as an epitaph to this driven, unconventional, revered “genius” who died in 2017 aged 90." -The Lancet

View trailer below.

Seminar Speakers include:

Carlos O. Esquivel, MD, PhD is the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor of Surgery & Chief of the Division of Abdominal Transplantation in the Department of Surgery. Esquivel is the Surgical Director of the Liver Transplant Programs at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. He was a pioneering member of Dr. Starzl’s team at the beginning of what was a medical revolution. He is the current President of the International Pediatric Transplant Association.

Amy Gallo, MD is Director, Pediatric Kidney Transplant at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, where she works with Dr. Esquivel. She is also an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Carl Kurlander is a producer (Saved by the Bell) and screenwriter (St. Elmo’s Fire), who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh where he has produced a number of award-winning documentaries. His role as one of the producers of BURDEN OF GENIUS began by persuading a reluctant Dr. Starzl to collaborate in the making of the film.

Janice Whaley, MPH, CPTC, CTBS serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Donor Network West, the second largest organ procurement organization (OPO) in the U.S. Whaley served as Chief Operating Officer of LifeShare of Oklahoma, essentially doubling the number of organ donors early on in her five-year tenure.

Jonathan S. Berek, MD, MMSc is the Laurie Kraus Lacob Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the Founding Director of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center and Executive Director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative. A documentary film maker, he is Director and Executive Producer for MedArts Films, and the Director of Film for Stanford Medicine & the Muse.

Sponsored by the Stanford School of Medicine Program in Medical Humanities & the Arts (Medicine & the Muse) in the Center for Biomedical Ethics

Photo credits: Dr. Thomas Starzl portrait in the OR, late 1980s. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio University Libraries/Lynn Johnson, photographer. (bottom) Minutes count in transplantation surgery, April 1985. Credit: Courtesy of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/John Kaplan, photographer. (top)

Host or Publisher Medicine & the Muse, Center for Biomedical Ethics at the Stanford SOM