James Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC
Professor, Department of Surgery
University of Alberta
Edmonton, CANADA
James Shapiro was born in Leeds, England, son of a family doctor. He studied Medicine in Newcastle and trained in Surgery in Bristol. He developed a longstanding interest in islet transplantation as a medical student. He has been on Faculty at the University of Alberta since 1998, where he now holds the Canada Research Chair in Transplantation Surgery and Regenerative Medicine. He directs the living donor liver transplant and the islet transplant programs in Edmonton. He was the lead investigator on the famous “Edmonton Protocol” cell transplant treatment for diabetes.
He is the Project 1 lead for the CNTRP, which is actively researching ex vivo organ transplant repair. In 2016, James and his team began first in human trials with embryonic stem cell derived insulin producing cells transplanted in an immunoisolation device, in partnership with ViaCyte Inc. James is the recipient of a Hunterian Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Gold Medal in Surgery, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.