Dr. Jerzy Kupiec-Weglinski has been appointed the inaugural Paul I. Terasaki Chair in Surgery at UCLA. Kupiec-Weglinski is a professor of surgery, pathology and laboratory medicine. He is the vice chairman of basic science research in the department of surgery and director of the Dumont-UCLA Transplantation Research Laboratories in the division of liver and pancreas transplantation.
His career in experimental organ transplantation spans more than 35 years. After graduating from medical school in Warsaw and obtaining his Ph.D. in the Polish Academy of Sciences, Kupiec-Weglinski spent 18 years at the Surgical Research Laboratories, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and was an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Since coming to the division of liver and pancreas transplantation in 1997, he has been leading research efforts and remains at the forefront of cutting-edge research and advances in transplantation.
Dr. Kupiec-Weglinski is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Warsaw Medical Academy; A foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences; and foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Paul Terasaki, who died Jan. 25, 2016, was one of the giants in organ transplantation. A great UCLA philanthropist, innovator and a visionary, he spent most of his professional life at UCLA and made enormous contributions to the field of modern medicine and society in general. His seminal research focused on the study of transplant rejection.
