Penn Medicine Transplantation Pioneer Receives Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology

Dr. Ali Naji

PHILADELPHIA—Ali Naji, MD, PhD, the J. William White Professor of Surgical Research Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an internationally recognized kidney and pancreas transplant surgeon, immunologist, and researcher, has been awarded the Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology, one of the highest honors for a transplant surgeon-scientist. As part of the Starzl Prize process and in joining national and international biomedical leaders who have made significant contributions these fields, Naji presented a lecture at the University of Pittsburgh on advances in islet transplantation in April.

Naji is one of the pioneers of islet cell transplantation in the United Stated, having led some of the country’s earliest attempts to perform this procedure using the world’s first surgical framework, the Edmonton Protocol. Naji’s research efforts focus on the immunobiology of transplantation and the development of islet cell transplantation for type 1 diabetes.

“Ali is an outstanding transplant surgeon and immunologist, who has led a team here at Penn to perfect the system of purifying islet cells from the pancreas and infusing the cells using minimally invasive procedure,” said Abraham Shaked, MD, PhD, director of the Penn Transplant Institute and the Eldridge L. Eliason Professor of Surgery. “With his approach, type 1 diabetes cure rates are high, and many would argue that islet cell therapy is superior to pancreas transplant for restoring normal glucose metabolism, and preventing long term complication of diabetes. There is no question that Ali’s pioneering efforts are some of the most significant contributions to advancing transplantation, which will undoubtedly benefit many patients.”

Islets cells, which reside in the pancreas, are responsible for maintenance of glucose metabolism, and are destroyed by the patient’s own immune system in those with type I diabetes. For most patients, insulin therapy and glucose monitoring are sufficient for maintaining glycemic control; however, low blood sugar is a potentially lethal side effect of insulin treatment in certain people. The traditional approach of treating this patient population with whole pancreas transplantation requires major surgery and is fraught with many potential complications. But Naji and the team in his lab have found a way to treat this population using their minimally invasive purified islet cell transplantation procedure, which has already proven to be successful. 

“This is a true and well-deserved honor for Ali, who is a quintessential surgeon-scientist,” said Kim Olthoff, MD, chief of the division of Transplant Surgery. “He is always putting the patient first, and using his scientific explorations to find solutions to some of our most difficult clinical problems. We are so fortunate to have Ali as our colleague, and we are incredibly proud of his work, passion and continued dedication to saving lives through research and clinical care.”

Naji’s laboratory at Penn was among the first to demonstrate the role of B lymphocytes—a type of white blood cell—in the immune system’s attack against the body’s own islet cells in the development of type 1 diabetes, which serves as a basis for the failure of islet transplantation for its treatment. Translation of his research in islet transplantation has demonstrated the effectiveness of B lymphocyte-directed immunotherapy in achieving islet-transplant tolerance in diabetic primates. This is paving the way for interventions designed to preserve beta cell mass and promote transplantation effectiveness, as Naji and his lab plan to determine the clinical efficacy of this immunotherapy as part of the NIH-sponsored islet transplantation consortium.

In addition to his research-based and surgical advances, Naji has published over 300 articles in the fields of transplantation, immunology, and diabetes, and has trained over 20 students and post-doctoral fellows who have helped advance scientific research of diabetes and transplantation. He has served on several NIH study sections and is an associate editor for the journals Transplantation, Diabetes, and Transplantation Immunology. Naji has recived numerous other honors including the University of Pennsylvania’s 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 at the Harvard Medical School, and the Paul Lacey Memorial Award Lecture at the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association. Naji received his medical degree from Shiraz University in Iran and his doctorate in immunology from Penn. He completed his clinical residency and fellowship training in general, vascular, and transplantation surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Starzl Prize was established in 1996 by the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to honor the clinical and scientific contributions of Dr. Thomas E. Starzl.