May 31, 2021 Print
WIMR's Professor Wayne Hawthorne has been appointed as President of the International Xenotransplantation Association (IXA).
A world-leading authority in islet cell transplantation and xenotransplantation, Professor Hawthorne is Director of WIMR’s Xenotransplantation Research Program. He is also a Professor of Transplantation at the Department of Surgery, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney; Director of the National Pancreas and Islet Transplant Laboratories at Westmead Hospital (NFC commonwealth funding) and the Australian Clinical Islet Transplant Research Consortium.
Realising the potential to transition research technologies, once proven, to the clinic, Professor
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Hawthorne and his team have led several research programs that have progressed to become nationally funded clinical programs. Professor Hawthorne and his team were the first in Australia to perform clinical allo (organ from a donor of the same species) and auto (using the patient’s own tissue, organ or cells) islet cell isolation and transplantation. To date, he has completed more than 300 clinical islet cell isolations for treatment of patients with Type 1 diabetes and a number of auto-islet transplants for patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis.
Professor Hawthorne was the first to establish a Xeno (from non-human to human) Islet and Kidney Transplant research program, using his more than 25 years of experience in the use of surgical models of immunology and transplantation, with the ability to rapidly progress projects from preclinical models, to the clinic. He has developed the infrastructure at Westmead required for these highly demanding models, being one of only a few sites globally able to do so.
In recognition of his work, Professor Hawthorne has received a number of prestigious National and International awards throughout his career. Due to his significant expertise in the field, Professor Hawthorne has been invited to several WHO consultations and contributed to the framing of international policy.
Professor Hawthorne has published more than 220 peer reviewed publications, 20 book chapters, 600 published proceedings and more than 60 publications in the past five years that are related to surgical transplant and xenotransplant models. His expertise is highly sought, particularly in the areas of induction of diabetes, isolation and transplantation in surgical models.
His international expertise as a leader in the field includes research models of allo and xeno islet transplantation, which are recognised internationally and affirmed by his peers who voted him President of the IXA.
Please join all at WIMR in congratulating Professor Hawthorne for this prestigious appointment, and recognition of his outstanding work to change and save lives.