It is with great sadness that we note the news that Professor Sir Roy Calne, Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, has died aged 93.
Mary Hockaday, Master of Trinity Hall, said: “Sir Roy Calne was a truly remarkable man, surgeon and academic. Trinity Hall is proud that he was a Fellow in Medicine for more than thirty years and then an Honorary Fellow. He transformed the lives of his patients and many of his students too. Our condolences are with his family and friends.”
Reflecting on his life Professor Ian Wilkinson, Trinity Hall Fellow in Clinical Medicine said: “As a medical student at Guy’s Hospital in the 1950s, Roy was driven to a career as a transplant surgeon when he was told that there was nothing that could be done for a man dying of kidney failure.
“He set up kidney transplantation in Cambridge and went on to perform the first successful liver transplant in Europe on 2nd May 1968, and the world’s first liver, heart and lung transplant in 1986 with Professor John Wallwork.
“Roy will, however, be most remembered as a pioneer of immunosuppression, which would go on to revolutionise transplantation. Indeed, he was amongst the first to introduce cyclosporin into routine clinical care, for which he shared the prestigious Lasker Award in 2012.
“Despite retiring from the Chair of Surgery at the University of Cambridge in 1998, he continued to perform kidney transplants until well into his 70s. Roy also remained research active into his 80s, and was an inspiration for young clinicians and patients alike.
“He was delighted to be able to attend the 50th anniversary of his pioneering liver transplant surgery in Trinity Hall in 2018, and meet patients and colleagues from a career spanning six decades.
“Roy was also passionate about food, serving as High Table Steward for many years, and about art – he was accomplished both as a painter and a sculptor. He was also a keen tennis player. He will be fondly remembered by all the patients whose lives he helped to save, by his family, and by a wide circle of alumni and former colleagues.”
