The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), established in 1981, is a professional organization committed to research and education in heart and lung disease and transplantation. It holds annual scientific meetings and publishes The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. It also holds the worlds largest registry of heart and lung transplant data.
Origin The initial idea for the society came about at a meeting in November 1980 in Miami, Florida, during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, and was led by Michael L. Hess. The International Society of Heart Transplantation had formed earlier in 1973. Other founding members include Edward Stinson, Andrea Hastillo, Jacques Losman, Mark Thompson, Jack Copeland, Sir Terence English, Stuart Jamieson and Michael Kaye. The first official meeting was held in 1981.
In 1981, cardiac transplantation pioneer Norman Shumway, became the lifetime honorary president and thereafter, the society widened its membership internationally and across specialities including pathology.
Registry The ISHLT holds a record of over 120,000 heart transplants performed between 1967 and 2020.
ISHLT Awards Philip K. Caves award Since 1982, the ISHLT has awarded one of its highest awards in the name of surgeon Philip Caves, who pioneered the procedure of transvenous endomyocardial biopsy to assess for rejection following heart transplantation.
Lifetime achievement awards The ISHLT lifetime achievement award is given to those whose lifetime work has "made a significant contribution toward improving the care of patients with advanced heart or lung disease" In its thirty eight year history, only seven have been awarded.
Norman Shumway received the first award in 1996.
Keith Reemtsma received the ISHLT Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
In 2012, Sharon Hunt, who has published more than 200 papers related to particularly organ rejection, post-operative care and bridge-to-transplant, was awarded the ISHLT Lifetime achievement award.
In 2014, the award was bestowed to Sir Terence English for "outstanding achievements and tireless dedication in the field of heart and lung transplantation". He served as a Cardiothoracic Surgeon to Papworth and Addenbrooke Hospital, between 1972 and 1995.
In 2018, the seventh ISHLT lifetime achievement award was presented to O. H. Frazier for his pioneering work in the treatment of severe heart failure, and in the development and innovation of heart transplantation and artificial devices.
Michael Hess received the award in 2021.
ISHLT lifetime service award Kaye received this in 1996 and Losman in 1997.
ISHLT O.H. Frazier award Since 2014, the ISHLT "O.H. Frazier Award", a grant in Mechanical Circulatory Systems Translational Research has been awarded, initially sponsored by HeartWare and later sponsored by Medtronic.
ISHLT pioneer award The first 'pioneer award' was awarded to Vladimir Demikhov on 25 April 1989 in Munich, Germany, by Christian Cabrol. Twenty years later, in 2009, Cabrol received the 'pioneer award'.
ISHLT distinguished educator award In 2014, the first distinguished educator award was awarded to James Kirklin.
Past presidents
1981–1990 Year Image Nationality Name Notes1981–1982 Michael L. HessFirst president, credited with starting the ISHLT at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in 1981.1982–1983 Jack CopelandCo-founder of ISHLT, in 1985 he was the first to successfully bridge a patient dying from end-stage heart failure to a donor heart transplant with a total artificial heart.1984–1986 Sir Terence EnglishPerformed Britain's first successful heart transplant in August 1979 and received the ISHLT Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.1986–1988 Stuart JamiesonPioneer of pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, received the 2017 ISHLT Pioneer Award. 1988–1990 Bruno ReichartPerformed the first cardiopulmonary transplantation in Germany in 1983.
1990–2001 1990–1991Margaret BillinghamFirst female president, who, with ISHLT sponsorship in 1990, published the first internationally agreed classification for the pathalogical diagnosis of cardiac rejection."Cardiac Transplanation and the Contribution of Pathology" by Margaret Burke & Luciana Potena in Ornella Leone & Annalisa Angelini et al (Eds.) (2016) The Pathology of Cardiac Transplantation: A Clinical and Pathological Perspective. Switzerland: Springer. p. 6. 1991–1992Christian CabrolTrained at one time, alongside Norman Shumway and Christiaan Barnard under C. Walton Lillehei in Minneapolis, and subsequently performed Europe’s first heart transplantation on 27 April 1968.1992-1993John B. O'ConnellCardiologist and Vice President Medical Affairs at Thoratec Corporation.1993–1994Eric RoseIn 1984, he performed the world’s first successful paediatric heart transplant.1994–1995John WallworkWallwork performed the world's first heart-lung and liver transplant with Sir Roy Calne in 1986.1995–1996Sharon HuntPioneered work on post-operative care of heart transplant patients.1996–1997William BaumgartnerProfessor of surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Executive Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Notable for particularly the area of neurological protection in cardiac surgery.1997–1998Leslie MillerMiller has experience in numerous clinical trials studying the safety and efficacy of treatments for heart failure, heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices and on the use of adult stem cells to repair and recover heart function.1997–1998Alan MenkisRenowned for work on treatment of valvular heart disease, mechanical circulatory assist devices and robotic surgery.1999–2000Robert L. KormosInternationally recognised for cardiac transplantation and his work in the use of mechanical assist devices as temporary or permanent support for people with severe end-stage heart failure.
2000–2011 Years Name Comments2000–2001Anne Keogh2001–2002James B. Young2002–2003Stephan Schueler2003–2004Jon Kobashigawa2005–2006Mark L. Barr2006–2007Robert C. RobbinsInterests include acquired heart diseases and in the surgical treatment of congestive heart failure and heart-lung transplantation.2007–2008Paul A. Corris2008–2009Mandeep R. MehraParticular interests include coronary artery disease after transplants (cardiac allograft vasculopathy).2009–2010James K. KirklinKnown for research and work in heart transplantation, LVADs, repairs of congenital heart defects and was the first recipient of the ISHLT Distinguished Educator Award.
2010 onwards Years Name Comments2010–2011John DarkKnown for research in reperfusion injury and lung rejection.2011–2012Lori J. West2012–2013David O. Taylor2013–2014Allan R. Glanville2014–2015Hermann Reichenspurner2015–2016Duane Davis2016–2017Maryl Johnson2017–2018Andrew Fisher2018–2019Jeffrey Teuteberg2019–2020Stuart Sweet2020–2021Joseph Rogers2021-2022Lara Danziger-Isakov 2022-2023Andreas Zuckermann2023-2024Jason Christie2024-2025 Christian Benden2025-2026Josef Stehlik 2026-
References
Further reading English T. Chapter 2: the Genesis of ISHLT. In: Kirklin JK, Mehra M, West LJ, eds. ISHLT monograph series, Volume 4: The history of international heart and lung transplantation. Elsevier Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, pp 37–43.
External links ISHLT history archives The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation