# Russell Strong > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Russell_Strong > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Russell_Strong.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Strong > Source revision: 1336851865 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Australian transplant surgeon (born 1938)}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} '''Russell Walker Strong''', {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|AC}} (born April 1938){{cite news|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-surgeon-suffered-fierce-vilification-over-liver-transplant-unit-that-has-saved-thousands-of-lives/news-story/7a07e59f756ebf33da57daf3d0109ac9|title=Brisbane surgeon suffered fierce vilification over liver transplant unit that has saved thousands of lives|date=24 February 2017|first=Janelle|last=Miles|work=[The Courier-Mail](/source/The_Courier-Mail)|accessdate=29 July 2022|archive-date=22 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822030920/https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-surgeon-suffered-fierce-vilification-over-liver-transplant-unit-that-has-saved-thousands-of-lives/news-story/7a07e59f756ebf33da57daf3d0109ac9|url-status=live}} is an Australian [transplant surgeon](/source/transplant_surgeon). He pioneered several techniques for [liver transplantation](/source/liver_transplantation), including reduced-size liver transplantation, split-liver transplantation, and living donor liver transplantation. ==Early life== Strong was born in [Coraki, New South Wales](/source/Coraki%2C_New_South_Wales), and raised in [Alstonville](/source/Alstonville%2C_New_South_Wales), where his father worked in a butter factory.{{cite web|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lismore/malaysia-knights-pioneer-surgeon/news-story/c5f8aeeab44cd387e05d4bd1fc7a9c76|work=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph_(Sydney))|title=Malaysia knights pioneer surgeon|first=Mel|last=Mcmillan|date=19 October 2010|accessdate=29 July 2022}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Garcea G, Nabi H, Maddern GJ |title=Russell Strong and the history of reduced-size liver transplantation |journal=[World Journal of Surgery](/source/World_Journal_of_Surgery) |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=1575–80 |date=August 2009 |pmid=19572168 |doi=10.1007/s00268-009-0139-7|s2cid=27522288 }} He attended [Lismore High School](/source/Lismore_High_School) and then the [University of Sydney](/source/University_of_Sydney). He graduated with a degree in dentistry, but he was unable to practise outside the [Sydney Dental Hospital](/source/Sydney_Dental_Hospital) as he was still legally a minor at the age of 20. He developed an interest in [maxillofacial surgery](/source/maxillofacial_surgery) – especially facial reconstruction after traumatic injuries – and so he decided to study medicine. He moved to the United Kingdom to attend medical school, funding his studies through part-time dentistry work and his wife's work as a pharmacist. After graduating from the [University of London](/source/University_of_London) in 1960, he held a series of surgical training positions in England, during which time his interest shifted from maxillofacial surgery to [general surgery](/source/general_surgery). ==Surgical career== Strong and his wife Judith returned to Australia in 1973, and he took up a post as Director of Surgery at the [Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane](/source/Princess_Alexandra_Hospital%2C_Brisbane). He became focused on [hepatobiliary surgery](/source/hepatobiliary_surgery) due to the seriousness of liver injuries caused by road accidents. He spent three months studying under the organ transplantation expert [Thomas Starzl](/source/Thomas_Starzl) at the [University of Pittsburgh Medical Center](/source/University_of_Pittsburgh_Medical_Center) in the early 1980s, and proposed the creation of an Australian [liver transplantation](/source/liver_transplantation) program in 1983. He went on to perform Australia's first [orthotopic](/source/orthotopic) liver transplants (wherein the full donor liver is transplanted into its usual place in the body) in an adult and in a child in 1985. These procedures were controversial in Australia at the time, and his paediatric liver transplant efforts were derided in a ''[Medical Journal of Australia](/source/Medical_Journal_of_Australia)'' editorial titled "Surgery runs amok". In 1987, Strong performed one of the world's first reduced-size liver transplantations – wherein a full-sized liver from an adult donor is cut down to be transplanted into a child or infant – in a six-month-old child dying from liver failure. The method he used has since been termed the "Brisbane Technique", and became commonplace in paediatric liver transplantation. Beginning in 1989, he pioneered split-liver transplantation – where a single donor liver is split between multiple recipients – and his unit in Brisbane were the only surgeons in Australia to use the technique until 2000. In 1989, Strong carried out the world's first liver transplant from a living donor, which took place from a mother to her son and was reported in ''[The New England Journal of Medicine](/source/The_New_England_Journal_of_Medicine)'' and the international press.{{cite journal |title=Russell W. Strong, FRCS (Eng), FRACS, FRACDS: Pioneering Live Donor Liver Transplantation |journal=[Transplantation](/source/Transplantation_(journal)) |volume=100 |issue=6 |pages=1177–9 |date=June 2016 |pmid=27203589 |doi=10.1097/TP.0000000000001235|s2cid=7568108 }} Strong lived in [Kuala Lumpur](/source/Kuala_Lumpur) in 2004–2005, where he helped to establish a national liver transplantation program. After his retirement from surgery, he became the medical director of Queenslanders Donate, an [organ donation](/source/organ_donation) service.{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/02/05/1840608.htm|title=Russell Strong pioneers transplant surgery in Australia|date=5 February 2007|publisher=[Australian Broadcasting Corporation](/source/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation)|accessdate=29 July 2022|archive-date=29 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220729103226/https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/02/05/1840608.htm|url-status=live}} ==Honours== Strong was appointed a [Companion of the Order of Australia](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_Australia) in 2001 "for service to medicine as a pioneer in the development of new techniques and improved clinical performance in the field of liver transplant surgery and to advancing world knowledge in this area".{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/883301|title=Professor Russell Walker STRONG, CMG, RFD|publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|accessdate=29 July 2022|archive-date=29 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220729103227/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/883301|url-status=live}} He was awarded the [International Society of Surgery](/source/International_Society_of_Surgery)'s prize in 2001 for his contributions to liver transplantation and was conferred a Malaysian Datukship by King [Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu](/source/Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_of_Terengganu) in 2010. ==References== {{reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Russell}} Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:Australian transplant surgeons Category:People from Alstonville, New South Wales Category:Medical doctors from Brisbane Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:Companions of the Order of Australia Category:21st-century Australian medical doctors Category:21st-century surgeons Category:20th-century Australian surgeons --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Russell Strong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Strong) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Strong?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.