UW 40th anniversary WABR was founded a decade ago to educate the public on the value of biomedical research for the health of both humans and animals. The past ten years have been a magnificent implementation of that goal.
Biomedical research is a commitment to life.
Much remains to be done. In a commemorative booklet profiling patients whose lives were renewed through UWMC's world-class care, several medical milestones were highlighted. In 1960, the first patient in the world was treated with long-term artificial kidney dialysis when Belding Scribner and his team developed the arteriovenous shunt. UW physicians performed the Northwest's first heart transplant in 1985, followed in 1990 by the first liver, kidney and pancreas transplants, and yet another first in 1993 with the first lung transplant for cystic fibrosis. The Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center was opened in 1973.