Dr. H. Myron Kauffman, Jr., was born in Holidays Cove, West Virginia in 1933. He was a 1954 graduate of Lynchburg College, a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in 1958 and completed his surgical residency with Dr. David Hume in 1964, who performed some of the world's first organ transplants. He was Dr. Hume's first Transplantation Research Fellow at MCV, completing his training in 1965.
Dr. Kauffman founded the kidney transplant program at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky in 1966 as well as the kidney transplant program at Medical College of Wisconsin in 1967, where he served as Professor of Surgery. He performed over 900 kidney transplants during his career and earned an international reputation as a leader in transplantation surgery and research, publishing more than 150 scientific publications that advanced medical understanding of issues ranging from immunosuppression to the prevention and treatment of cancer after transplantation.
After he moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 1987, Dr. Kauffman practiced general and vascular surgery until 1998, and then served as the Medical Director and Senior Scientist of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
He was instrumental in developing a Transplant Tumor Registry for UNOS, enabling researchers and surgeons to greatly improve the screening of donated organs for possible malignancies as well as to develop strategies for better treatment of transplant recipients who develop cancer. His work as a surgeon and researcher extended and improved the lives of thousands of patients, and laid the groundwork for further life-saving advances in transplantation.
Dr. Kauffman was a member of many medical, surgical and scientific societies including the American Surgical Society, the American Transplantation Society, a charter member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the Humera Society, and the Society of University Surgeons. Dr. Kauffman was also elected a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1969.
Dr. Kauffman also passionately pursued a wide range of other interests throughout his life, including photography, oil painting, sailing, and collecting first-edition books and antique toys. He traveled widely and read voraciously and was an avid Green Bay Packers fan. He was a loving father and grandfather, and a friend and mentor to many of the younger professionals in transplantation surgery and research.
He died June 26, 2007, in Richmond at the age of 74.