Founder of UCLA’s liver transplant program reflects on 40 years of saving lives

‘It was an incredible span and an incredible career,’ says Dr. Ronald Busuttil. ‘I couldn’t be happier’

Dr. Ronald Busuttil remembers the day he performed his first liver transplant at UCLA Health as if it were yesterday. It was mid-afternoon, and he was at his accountant’s office doing his taxes when he received a phone call that a donor organ was available at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

In the early days of liver transplantation, there was a short window to recover an organ and transplant it successfully into a patient. He needed to be at St. Joseph no later than 6 p.m. Busuttil set out with two of his colleagues for the 17-mile drive. But first, they had an errand to run. Read the full story from the UCLA Newsroom.