Festschrift honors transplant pioneer John J. Curtis, M.D.

On April 17, 2009, Leading physicians, scientists and researchers in nephrology, transplantation and related fields converged on Birmingham for a one-day symposium, or festschrift, to honor This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ., professor of medicine and surgery and endowed professor of transplant nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

A festschrift is a celebration of an individual's life work. The term, borrowed from the German language, can be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing. In academia a festschrift is a book or group of publications put together for the occasion of the honoree's retirement, 60th or 65th birthday or other notable career anniversary. People who have collaborated with the honoree and have used his work as a foundation for their own research, often who are former students, comment on their collaborations and on the impact of the honoree's work on the academic discipline. The festschrift, which included oral presentations of these types of publications, celebrated Curtis' retirement from UAB, which was effective April 1.

"John Curtis has made monumental contributions to transplant nephrology, education and patient care during his 30 years at UAB," said Anupam Agarwal, M.D., director of the UAB Division of Nephrology. "He has excelled as a researcher, teacher, mentor and physician in ways that few academic physicians are able to do."

In addition to instituting UAB's transplant nephrology training program in 1988, Curtis is recognized as an international leader in transplantation nephrology, and was one of the first researchers to recognize the importance of studying non-immunologic issues in clinical transplantation. His research documented the importance of the kidney in influencing blood pressure responses and remains definitive in the field. Scientists representing the University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, University of Texas, San Antonio, University of Ottawa and UAB will make presentations.