The end of an era: Wayne Streilein and his impact on transplantation immunology.

Passing of a Giant On March 15, 2004, the field of transplantation immunology lost a giant, with the passing of J. Wayne Streilein, M.D. Wayne served as President and CEO of Schepens Eye Research Institute and was the Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Professor of Ophthalmology and Dermatology at Harvard University at the time of his death. He leaves behind his beloved wife Joan; three children, Laura Streilein Berend, William W. Streilein, and Robert D. Streilein; eleven grandchildren; and brother, David Streilein. Wayne Streilein was born on June 19, 1935 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Gettysburg College, where he was voted outstanding alumnus. He completed his medical training in 1960 at the University of Pennsylvania, and began his academic career as a member of the Department of Medical Genetics at the same institution. It was at the University of Pennsylvania where he would be profoundly influenced by the world-renowned immunologist, Rupert Billingham, who introduced him to the phenomenon of immune privilege. In 1971, Wayne moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he began his groundbreaking research on ocular immune privilege. In 1984, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Microbiology/Immunology at the University of Miami. After nine years of productive research at the University of Miami, he moved to Boston to become the Director of Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute (SERI) and Professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. He was subsequently appointed the President and CEO of SERI and was immersed in an ambitious and highly successful campaign to expand the research facilities at SERI at the time of his death. The breadth and depth of Wayne’s accomplishments are extraordinary. He was a teacher, mentor, colleague, renowned scientist, and most of all, a dear friend to hundreds who were privileged to make his acquaintance. He was a magnetic teacher, giving spellbinding lectures that clarified even the most complicated topics. As a mentor, he trained over 100 fellows and graduate students, who have ascended to prominent positions in academia, research, and industry. His accomplishments as a researcher are prodigious. He authored well over 400 papers in peer-review journals and almost 200 book chapters and review papers. Wayne was a pioneer in the field of corneal transplantation and the immune privilege of the eye. He was the first to recognize that the cornea did not constitutively express MHC class II molecules and, in a landmark paper, demonstrated that MHC class II mismatched corneal allografts did not undergo immune rejection (Nature 282:326, 1979). He was among the first to demonstrate that, unlike skin, the central corneal epithelium was uniquely devoid of MHC class II positive Langerhans cells. He recognized the impact of this condition in reducing the immunogenicity of corneal allografts and the importance of the indirect pathway of alloantigen presentation in the immune rejection of corneal transplants. At the time of his death, he was actively involved in unraveling the mysteries of the “vasculogenic privilege” of the cornea; that is, the paucity of patent lymphatic drainage of the cornea and the well-recognized absence of blood vessels in the cornea. Wayne was also immersed in studies exploring the immunogenicity of corneal xenografts and the curious finding that unlike other xenografts, which undergo hyperacute rejection, corneal xenografts behaved like allografts, both in terms of the tempo and mechanisms of rejection. Wayne’s mentor, Rupert Billingham, introduced him to the concept of immune privilege during his tenure at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. This curious phenomenon fascinated Wayne, and he spent the next