Liver Transplant: the Ins and Outs - University of Birmingham

In this free, three-week course, we will teach you about the fascinating field of liver transplantation. We will cover the history of liver transplantation - from early experiments in the late 1960s to exciting new technological advances in organ preservation happening today.

You will find out why there is such an increasing global need for liver transplants, and look at the science behind the operation and the drugs used to prevent organ rejection. We will discuss the intriguing and unique biology of the liver, explaining how one donor organ can help two patients in need, and how some people can eventually manage without any anti-rejection medication.

We will talk to the surgeons who perform the liver transplant operation; the clinical staff who care for the patients; the liver transplant coordinators who help to source and allocate donor organs; and patients themselves about their experiences of liver transplant.

During this course, we will explore the major issues that fascinate us:

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  How is it possible to take an organ like the liver from one person and have it survive inside another?

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  Have you ever wondered about the ethics of organ donation, and how organs should be allocated?

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  Why is there such an increasing demand for donor livers for transplantation?

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  And how can new advances increase the numbers of organs that are available for liver transplant?

You’ll learn with experts from the Centre for Liver Research at the University of Birmingham and the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This is one of Europe’s largest liver transplant centres, performing over 200 liver transplantations each year.