20th Anniversary of First Successful Living-Donor Liver Transplant

Alyssa Smith is the first person in the world to undergo a successful living-donor liver transplant. The 1989 surgery was performed at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Twenty years ago, University of Chicago Medical Center physicians performed the first successful living-donor liver transplant. Two-year-old Alyssa Smith received a portion of her mother’s liver. Today, Alyssa is a healthy college student.

Since 1989, thousands of children and adults afflicted by end stage liver disease have begun a new life thanks to living-donor liver transplantation.

Celebrating a Milestone in the History of Medicine

A featured speaker at the symposium, Alyssa Smith is majoring in social work and living a normal, healthy life.

On Friday, October 16, the Medical Center hosted a symposium that brought together liver transplant experts from around the world to celebrate this important milestone and to examine the evolution of living-donor liver transplant. It was also an occasion to recognize the pioneering work of Christoph Broelsch, MD, and the transplant team that performed Alyssa's surgery, as well as the many people who have contributed to making living-donor liver transplant an established and successful treatment option.

• The Medical Center's Science Life blog covered the event. You can also replay live blog commentary from the event.

Several local news outlets featured the story:

• View the ABC 7 Chicago video and story
• View the CBS 2 Chicago video and story
• Read the Chicago Sun-Times story
• Read the Chicago Tribune story

Learn More

• Read a detailed account of Alyssa's transplant story and learn more about how the experience changed the Smith family, the Medical Center and transplant science.
• Follow Raquel Allen's transplant journey and view video interviews with her parents, her donor, and Medical Center transplant surgeons. Raquel's surgery was performed in August 2009, just a few days shy of her first birthday.