RAFFAELLO CORTESINI, THE ADVENTURE OF THE FIRST TRANSPLANTS IN ITALY. THE COURAGE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

A conference at the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome remembers the pioneer of transplants in Italy, one year after his death, on the occasion of the release of his book-testimony 

PRESS RELEASE 

A conference at the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome recalls Raphael Cortesini, pioneer of transplants in Italy, one year after his death on the occasion of the release of his testimony book 

The adventure of the first transplants in Italy. The courage to change everything. (Ares Editions, 2025) 

  

The event 

Monday, April 7, 2025, from 10,30: a.m. 

Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma 

Cu.Bo Auditorium, Via Regdo Scodro 42, Rome 

  

Surgeries 

Vincenzo Denaro, Scientific Director of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Head of Orthopedics and Traumatology Emeritus 

Paula Binetti, former full professor of History of Medicine and member of parliament 

Massimo Carlini, President of the Italian Society of Surgery 

Eugenio Gaudio, President of the Sapienza University of Rome Foundation 

Giuseppe Feltrin, Director General of the National Transplant Center 

Beatrice Lorenzin, former Minister of Health, Member of Parliament 

Luigi Deep sea, Galready secretary general of theUniversità Campus Bio-medico di Roma 

Nicole Suciu Foca, professor emeritus of pathology and cell biology, Columbia University, New York 

The works are being carried out by: Sara Galluzzo e Marco Caricato 

  

The protagonist 

Raffaello Cortesini (Milan 1931 - New York 2024) In 1966, together with Paride Stefanini, he performed the first kidney transplant in Italy and the second xenotransplant in the world, implanting a chimpanzee kidney. He was the first in Italy to perform a kidney transplant from a living donor (1967), a simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant (1981), a liver transplant (1982), and a multiorgan transplant including liver, pancreas, and intestine (1989). 

In 2000, he moved to Columbia University in New York as Professor of Clinical Pathology and Transplantation to continue his studies with his wife, Nicole Suciu-Foca, director of the Department of Pathology at the same university, with the aim of developing immunological therapies to promote transplant tolerance. 

  

The book 

“I will always work, as long as I am allowed to live, for a medicine that gives life back to those who are losing it.” Raphael Cortesini 

This book, written in the third person by the author and protagonist of the events narrated, is the fascinating tale of the scientific adventure of Raffaello Cortesini, known in the scientific community as the "transplant pioneer." 

Accepting the concept of a "living" death to restore hope to others has profoundly changed the concept of death. Now organs live a second life, and with them, transplant patients. These pioneers, including Professor Cortesini, have ultimately changed the concept of death, profoundly disrupting it, with a momentous cultural and social journey that has revolutionized cultural, social, and philosophical fields. So was Professor Cortesini a revolutionary? For me, yes, and this book fully demonstrates it. 

from the Preface of Marco Caricato, Vice Dean of the Departmental Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma 

  

Raffaello Cortesini, The adventure of the first transplants in Italy. The courage to change everything. (Edizioni Ares, 2025, pp. 344 - €20)