In 1967, soon after joining transplantation pioneer Thomas Starzl, MD at the University of Colorado, Israel (Sol) Penn, MD recognized the high incidence of malignancies in transplant recipients and started the Denver Transplant Tumor Registry. In 1982, Dr. Penn accepted an appointment as Professor of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. With his move to Cincinnati, the Denver Transplant Tumor Registry became known as the Cincinnati Transplant Tumor Registry (CTTR).
Dr. Penn was the first person to report on the increased incidence of cancer following transplantation. Not long after establishing the CTTR, he became internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the topic of transplant-related malignancies. Over the course of three decades, he recorded data on more than 15,000 transplant-related malignancies. The information he collected has been used in over 400 presentations, more than 400 publications, and numerous chapters in medical publications.
After Dr. Penn passed away on November 18, 1999, his legacy was left in the custody of E. Steve Woodle, MD and M. Roy First, MD. Their first action was to rename the registry "The Israel Penn International Transplant Tumor Registry" (IPITTR) as a tribute to Dr. Penn. Today, the IPITTR remains the largest and most comprehensive transplant tumor registry in the world.
|
The University of Cincinnati's Department of Surgery and Division of Transplantation have made a permanent commitment to preserve the function of the IPITTR by hiring and supporting faculty whose academic careers support IPITTR-related objectives. Joseph Buell, MD, trained as a transplant surgeon and surgical oncologist, has been appointed executive director of the Registry, overseeing its day-to-day operation. Transplant surgeon Michael Hanaway, MD transplant pharmacists Jennifer Trofe, Pharm. D and Rita Alloway, Pharm. D, and hematologist/oncologist Thomas Gross, MD, Ph.D. also devote a considerable portion of their academic efforts to the Registry.
The mission of the Israel Penn International Transplant Tumor Registry remains unchanged: to provide members of the transplant community with substantive data through research and publication and to provide consultative assistance in an effort to positively impact the quality of care available to organ recipients that develop transplant-related malignancies.
|
