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Many children dream of becoming a doctor when they grow up, but few hone in on a specialty at a young age.
In the late 1960s, Italy had two television channels – and both were in black and white. The sole newscast was at 8 p.m., recalled Cataldo Doria, a native of Taranto, Italy.
When Doria was a boy, he saw news coverage that would forever change his life.
The late Dr. Christiaan Barnard made history in 1967 when he became the first doctor to perform a heart transplant on a human being. "I remember watching the [footage and coverage of Barnard] many, many times and the only thing I wanted to be was a transplant surgeon. So I followed my dream," Doria said.
Doria, now 41, is associate director of the Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Being one of three transplant surgeons at Jeff, Doria specializes in livers, but also transplants kidneys, pancreases and small bowels. Doria also performs cancer surgeries on these organs.
In his three years at Jefferson, the doctor has transplanted about 70 livers and 100 kidneys and, throughout his career, has performed more than 400 liver and 250 kidney transplants, respectively.
The surgeon came to Jefferson from the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies – a partnership between the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Italian National Government, where he served as chief of Abdominal Organ Transplant. There, Doria performed the first liver transplant, first live-donor nephrectomy and the first live-donor hepatectomy and liver transplant ever conducted in Sicily.
In October 2005, Doria was recognized by his native Taranto for his work in transplantation. The surgeon was named honorary president of Taranto’s provincial section of the Italian Association of Organ Donors (AIDO). In its commendation, AIDO chose Doria for his dedication to improving transplant medicine, both in Italy and the United States, and for striving to ensure patients are evaluated on a case-by-case basis without bias. Taranto officials threw a celebration for the doctor and he gave a short speech. He also received an award with the AIDO symbol.
"It was a very special day," Doria said. "For me, it was the highest recognition of what I had done in my career because this recognition comes from the people in my hometown. It was a great honor."
DORIA AND WIFE Federica, who is from Sicily, live on the 100 block of Queen Street. The couple fell in love with the quaint area because it reminded Doria of Europe.
"It’s a fantastic neighborhood. I discovered it when I arrived in Philadelphia in 2003. As soon as I saw that neighborhood I said, ‘this is the place I want to live,’" he said. "The architecture of Queen Village and Society Hill is very, very close to northern European cities."
Another aspect that attracted Doria to Queen Village was he could walk to Jefferson. Now, he often walks, "when I’m not in a rush," he said with a laugh.
The doctor averages 10-hour days, five days a week, sometimes seven. He is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week – his pager is never off and patient histories of those awaiting organs are always close at hand.
When an organ becomes available, Gift of Life, the region’s organ donation foundation in Philadelphia, pages Doria, who determines if the body part is suitable for a patient "based on information [Gift of Life] gives and information I have on my patient, which is with me all the time," he said.
If Doria accepts the organ, he sends two associates to harvest it. Sometimes time and distance require the doctors to fly by medical helicopter to remove the organ. Because timing is critical, Doria begins prepping the patient before they get back. The process – from the initial phone call to transplantation – runs like a well-oiled machine.
Since Jan. 1, in eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware combined, there are 945 people waiting for livers and 3,090 waiting for kidneys, according to Gift of Life.
"To understand how important organ donation is, look at the waiting list," Doria said. "About one patient per minute dies on the waiting list because there are not enough organs. This is for all organs."
Most people do not have a clear understanding of the process of donation, the doctor said, adding if there was more awareness, more would participate. The doctor does his part by lecturing other physicians on its importance.
"We try to develop an awareness on transplantation. We have a fantastic program at Jefferson," Doria said.
The Jefferson liver program has an above 95-percent survival rate at two years. Meaning, doctors tracked patients for two years and found that percentage had survived, Doria said. "Our liver transplant program is one of the best in town. We want to make everybody aware of what we do."
THE SON OF an Italian Navy officer and a homemaker, Doria is the only doctor in his family.
"Everybody says that one is enough," he said with a laugh.
In 1990, Doria graduated magna cum laude with a doctor of medicine degree from University of Perugia School of Medicine in Perugia, Italy. He completed his internship and residency in surgery at the same college.
Before that, Doria attended F.S. Cabrini in Taranto, where he obtained a bachelor of arts degree in 1983.
He completed a research fellowship in small bowel transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute and a clinical fellowship in multi-organ transplantation at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh.
But, for Doria, it all started – courtesy of a black-and-white newscast – with a doctor by the name of Christiaan Barnard.
