Donald Dafoe. Source: https://www.ucihealth.org/blog/2021/04/need-for-kidney-transplants-grows-dramatically
University of Michigan. Photo: AndrewHorne, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AngellHall2010.JPG)
Stanford University Medical Center. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stanford_School_of_Medicine_Li_Ka_Shing_Center.jpg)
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Photo: Jorobeq at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cedars-Sinai_West.jpg)
University of Michigan. Photo: AndrewHorne, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AngellHall2010.JPG)
Stanford University Medical Center. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stanford_School_of_Medicine_Li_Ka_Shing_Center.jpg)
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Photo: Jorobeq at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cedars-Sinai_West.jpg)
Donald Cameron Dafoe was born on November 22, 1949, in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States. He grew up in Wisconsin and pursued undergraduate and medical education at the University of Wisconsin, entering medicine during a period when transplantation was developing from an experimental specialty into an increasingly established field of surgery.
Dafoe studied zoology at the University of Wisconsin and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1971. He then completed the Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Wisconsin in 1975. The university, founded in 1848 as Wisconsin's public land-grant institution, combined scientific education with professional training and research.
Dafoe began postgraduate surgical training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He served as an intern from 1975 to 1976, a resident from 1976 to 1980, a Measey research fellow from 1978 to 1980, chief resident from 1980 to 1981, and a clinical fellow and Culpeper Foundation fellow from 1981 to 1982. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is the teaching hospital of the Perelman School of Medicine and has long been associated with academic medicine and surgical training.
In 1982, Dafoe joined the University of Michigan as an assistant professor of surgery, serving there through 1987. He also directed the clinical pancreas transplantation program from 1984 to 1987 and became an associate professor of surgery in 1987. The University of Michigan Medical Center was a major academic setting for the development of modern transplantation and surgical research during this period.
Dafoe returned to Philadelphia in 1987 as associate professor of surgery and chief of the transplantation division at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, remaining there until 1991. His early research and clinical work included renal transplantation, pancreas transplantation, pancreatic and islet autotransplantation, and the management of transplant complications.
In 1991, Dafoe joined Stanford University Medical Center, where he became associated with kidney, pancreas, and liver transplantation. Stanford's transplant program was an important center for clinical transplantation on the West Coast, and Dafoe contributed to its surgical practice, research, and educational work. His research included combined kidney-pancreas transplantation and dual-kidney transplantation using organs from expanded-criteria donors.
Dafoe later held senior transplant and educational positions at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He served as director of pancreas transplantation, director of surgical education, vice-chair of education, director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center, and Eris M. Field Chair in Diabetes Research. His research extended to pancreatic organogenesis, islet transplantation, oxidative injury, and the preparation of human islet products for clinical use.
At the University of California, Irvine, Dafoe became a professor and chief of transplantation and surgical director of the kidney transplant program. He has also served as a transplant-surgery instructor and has participated in research on kidney-transplant outcomes, organ utilization, renal-allograft monitoring, and access to transplantation. UCI Health is an academic health system whose transplant services combine clinical care, medical education, and research.
Dafoe contributed to the development and clinical evaluation of kidney, pancreas, and kidney-pancreas transplantation, including research on dual-kidney transplantation for organs from expanded-criteria donors.
Dafoe conducted research on pancreas and islet transplantation, including pancreatic organogenesis, islet-cell preservation, oxidative injury, and methods for improving the safety of human islet products.
Dafoe has contributed to surgical education and to clinical research on kidney-transplant access, graft monitoring, organ utilization, and transplant outcomes.
(Co-authored review of kidney and kidney-pancreas transpla...)
1997(Co-authored study examining why deceased-donor kidneys ar...)
2023(Co-authored case-based discussion of treatment choices fo...)
1998(Co-authored study of cystographic findings and complicati...)
1987(Co-authored clinical study concerning renal transplantati...)
1991(Co-authored research evaluating antimicrobial procedures ...)
2016(Co-authored cohort study comparing kidney-transplant outc...)
2023(Co-authored long-term follow-up study of dual-kidney tran...)
2004(Co-authored feasibility study of near-infrared spectrosco...)
2021(Co-authored commentary on the clinical value of pancreas ...)
1990(Co-authored review examining pancreatic autotransplantati...)
1990(Co-authored review of endothelial signals involved in pan...)
2015(Co-authored review discussing individualized approaches t...)
2018(Co-authored review examining oxidative stress and antioxi...)
2022(Co-authored review addressing clinical management of pati...)
2019Dafoe has been associated with professional organizations serving surgery, transplantation, diabetes research, and organ donation. His memberships include major surgical and transplant societies, the American Diabetes Association, the United Network for Organ Sharing, and regional surgical organizations.
American College of Surgeons , United States
American Surgical Association , United States
American Diabetes Association , United States
American Society of Transplant Surgeons , United States
Association for Academic Surgery , United States
Society Internationale de Chirurgie
The Transplantation Society
Pacific Coast Surgical Association , United States
Central Surgical Association , United States
Frederick A. Coller Surgical Society , United States
Society of University Surgeons , United States
Surgical Biology Club II , United States
Ravdin-Rhoads Surgical Society , United States
United Network for Organ Sharing , United States
California Transplant Donor Network , United States
Western Association of Transplant Surgeons , United States
Quotes from others about the person
Dafoe has emphasized the clinical value of living-donor kidney transplantation, describing living donors as providing an especially favorable option because transplantation can occur sooner and graft outcomes are generally better.
