The surgeon who performed a heart transplant – while trying to rejuvenate a baby boy’s immune system – is from the Springfield area.
Our bodies are predisposed to reject new organs. That was a problem – but created an opportunity – for a then six-month-old boy. Duke University’s Dr. Joe Turek , a pediatric heart surgeon, takes it from there.
“The fact that I had one foot in the research lab, doing this kind of research to try to do co-transplantation of the cultured thymus and the heart – that’s when the light bulb went off that, hey, we have an opportunity here,” said Turek. “This child needs a new heart. This child needs a new immune system. The combination could address the Holy Grail of transplants, which is developing tolerance, potentially.”
The patient is doing fine now, and Turek, from Petersburg, Ill., wonders if the technique can work with other organs – or can work on adults.