Steven C. Stain, MD

Abstract

Abstracts The Dr. Neil Lempert Professorship in Surgery serves as a tribute to the professional legacy of Neil Lempert, MD, who in 1969 became the capital region’s first transplant surgeon and led the team that performed the first kidney transplant in northeastern New York at Albany Medical Center. Lem-pert served as director of transplantation until 1992 and, in 1997, the Lempert professorship was established to honor his legacy as an exceptional medical leader. In his retirement, he continues to work closely with Albany Medical Center. At the time of his retirement as director of the transplant program at Albany Medical Center in 1992, the Organ Procurement Organization of Albany Medical College wrote: Neil Lempert, MD, has been part of one of the most exciting chapters in medicine at Albany Medical Center—organ transplantation. Dr. Lempert initiated the organ transplant program at the Medical Center in 1967, and performed the first transplant two years later. Under his leadership, the program has thrived. Since then, nearly 1,000 kidneys have been transplanted at Albany Medical Center . “Work with transplant patients provides gratification and satisfaction,” said Lempert. “We see patients whose existence surrounds their dialysis treatment. We have patients who frequently are so sick they are hardly able to walk. After surgery, they can resume normal life.” During the early years of the program, Lempert had to be on call 24 hours a day, ready to perform surgery whenever a kidney became available. “We still have a lack of suitable organs,” he said. “We need better use of available organs, better prevention and treatment of rejection.” Lempert received his MD at Albany Medical College and served as research fellow in surgery at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown from 1963–1964. There, his mentor was David Blumenstock, MD, chief of surgery, who was pioneering a program in transplantation. After a tour of duty in the army, Lempert returned to Albany Medical Center in 1967. He has been active in professional organizations, serving on the board of directors of the Kidney Foundation of Northeastern New York, the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the United Network for Organ Sharing and the State of New York Commission on Quality of Care of the Mentally Disabled.