John Najarian
John S. Najarian is an American transplant surgeon and is clinical professor of transplant surgery at the University of Minnesota. Najarian was a pioneer in thoracic transplant surgery.Achievements in academic surgery
Najarian was chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School from 1967 until 1993. He is the author of nearly a thousand articles in the medical literature. He is a founding member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and served as its fourth president. His transplant surgery fellowship program trained many prominent transplant surgeons and included minority surgeons including Clive O. Callender, who founded the transplant program at Howard University College of Medicine. He did pioneering work in developing the anti-rejection drug anti-lymphocyte globulin, in pediatric liver transplantation and in xenotransplantation of porcine Islets for Type I diabetes.
In 1995, Najarian was indicted by the FDA for illegally and improperly marketing and selling anti-lymphocyte globulin, an anti rejection drug. Najarian was later acquitted of these charges with the presiding judge and legal and medical experts questioning the motives and purposes of FDA prosecutors and regulators. Najarian is also the father of the former NFL football player and CNBC market analyst Pete Najarian and options trader Jon Najarian.
