During his career, Dr. Samuel L. Kountz performed more than 500 kidney transplants, the most any one doctor had done at that point in time and revolutionized kidney transplantation.
Image Credit: www.kidneyfund.org
Samuel Lee Kountz was born on October 20, 1930, in Lexa, Arkansas to the Reverend Judge Sanders Kountz, a Baptist minister, and his wife, Emma. When Kountz was eight years old, he became interested in medicine after accompanying an injured friend to the hospital for emergency treatment. Captivated by the physician’s ability to relieve his friend’s pain, Kountz decided to become a doctor that day. During his early years, Kountz attended a one-room schoolhouse. At fourteen, he transferred to a Baptist boarding school for young people considering a career in ministry. He later graduated from Morris Booker College High School in Dermott, Arkansas.
In 1948, Kountz applied to Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (AM&N), now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), but he failed the entrance examination. Nonetheless, he applied directly to the president of Arkansas AM&N Lawrence A. Davis Sr. Davis was so impressed by Kountz’s determination to become a physician that he admitted him to the university despite his scores. Though initially forced to take remedial classes, Kountz’s grades improved so much that he eventually graduated third in his class. In 1952, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
During his senior year, Kountz gave former University of Arkansas president, Senator J. William Fulbright a campus tour. Impressed by Kountz’s energy and demeanor, Fulbright encouraged him to attend the all-white University of Arkansas. Kountz instead applied and was rejected from the two black medical schools in the country. He spent the next two years completing graduate work in chemistry at the University of Arkansas' Fayetteville campus. In 1954, Kountz was awarded a full medical scholarship to the University of Arkansas Medical School based on his accomplishments, becoming the first black student.
In 1956, he earned his master’s degree in biochemistry. In 1958, he received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) in Little Rock. On June 9, 1958, one day after graduating, he married Grace Atkins, a school teacher. They had three children.
For the next two years, Kountz interned at the prestigious and highly competitive Stanford Service of the San Francisco General Hospital. In 1959, he began his surgical training at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
During those years, he underwent two career-defining experiences. He studied with Roy Cohn, a pioneer in organ transplantation, and decided to make organ transplantation his life's work. Secondly, he received the Giannini Fellowship in surgery, supporting both his postdoctoral training at the San Francisco County Hospital and his postgraduate surgical training at Hammersmith Hospital in London, England from 1962 to 1963.
In 1961, while he was still a resident, Kountz became a pioneer in surgery, performing the first kidney transplant between a recipient and donor who were not identical twins, opening up the possibilities of who could receive a kidney transplant. Previously, transplants had only been done between twins because they share almost completely identical genes.
In 1965, he completed his rigorous surgical residency. That year, he also performed the first renal transplant in Egypt as a visiting Fulbright professor in the United Arab Republic. In 1966, Kountz became an assistant professor of surgery at Stanford University. In 1967, he became associate professor. He was also the director of transplant services at the University of California at San Francisco until 1972.
In 1967, Dr. Kountz worked with Dr. Folkert O. Belzer at the university to develop the Belzer kidney perfusion machine, which preserves kidneys for up to 50 hours after they are removed from the body which is still used in hospitals globally.
In 1972, Dr. Kountz made the breakthrough observation that along with monitoring blood flow post-transplant, injecting high doses of the steroid hormone methylprednisolone helped prevent rejection of transplanted kidneys. The drug regimens were so revolutionary that recipients of unrelated donor kidney transplants take them today as a direct result of Dr. Kountz's discovery.
Dr. Kountz also helped advance tissue typing tests that help to identify possible matches between kidney donors and recipients, which greatly reduces the risk of the recipient’s body rejecting the new organ. He also advocated for re-implantation, the implantation of a second donor kidney at the earliest indication of organ rejection, which meant the difference between death and survival for many transplant patients.
In 1972, Kountz moved to the East Coast to become the chief of general surgery at Kings County Hospital and the chairman of the department of surgery at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He accepted the positions because he wanted to improve the healthcare conditions for the Black community in that area. In 1973, the University of Arkansas awarded him the honorary Juris Doctor. In 1976, as an advocate for organ donation, he performed a kidney transplant live on The Today Show, inspiring 20,000 viewers to offer to donate a kidney to patients in need.
In 1977, while on a temporary teaching visit to South Africa, Kountz contracted an unknown neurological disease that led to permanent brain damage and mental and physical impairments. In February 1978, he was transferred to the Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains, New York. Kountz never recovered from his illness, remaining chronically ill for the rest of his life. On December 23, 1981, at the age of 51, he died at home in Kings Point, New York.
A memorial service was held on December 29, 1981, at the Downstate Medical Center in New York. On January 19, 1982, another memorial was held at the Fine Arts Building at Arkansas AM&N College. He was buried near his home in Great Neck, New York.
During his career, Dr. Kountz performed more than 500 kidney transplants, the most any doctor had performed at that point in time. He also completely revolutionized kidney transplantation.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard
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