Rate My Professor Richard Allen

Professor Richard Allen is Professor Emeritus of Transplantation Surgery in the Discipline of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. A Melbourne-trained surgeon, he specialized in transplantation during post-fellowship training in Oxford with Sir Peter Morris. In 1986, he established the kidney transplant unit at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, and in 1987, launched a successful kidney-pancreas transplant program. Appointed to the Chair of Transplantation Surgery at the University of Sydney in 2003 and based at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, he served as Director of Transplantation Services there until recently and maintained a longstanding affiliation with Westmead Hospital. As one of the architects of Australia's paired kidney exchange program, he has been passionate about enhancing access to transplantation. Conferred Professor Emeritus around 2017 and recognized among notable university members in 2018, his career spans pioneering transplant units and leadership in multi-organ programs.

Richard Allen has profoundly influenced transplantation surgery through advocacy for multi-disciplinary teams, development of surgeon training programs and credentialing guidelines in Australia, and mentorship of national and international surgeons. He received the TTS-Roche Award for Worldwide Impact in Transplantation for advancing deceased donor strategies in resource-limited settings, particularly Asia. Since 2009, he has made 18 visits to Vietnam, providing transplant education, aiding the formation of the Vietnamese Society of Organ Transplantation (VSOT), and promoting deceased donor organ sharing. His research focuses on pancreas transplantation, kidney transplantation, organ donation, surgery, and dialysis, yielding over 260 publications and more than 7,800 citations. Notable works include 'Inferior Early Posttransplant Outcomes for Recipients of Right Versus Left Deceased Donor Kidneys: An ANZDATA Registry Analysis' (2012), 'Excellent Outcomes of Simultaneous Pancreas Kidney Transplantation in Patients From Rural and Urban Australia: A National Service Experience' (2012), 'Hypothermic machine perfusion in deceased donor kidney transplantation: a systematic review' (2012), 'Factors that influence the decision to be an organ donor: A systematic review of the qualitative literature' (2011), and 'Community Preferences for the Allocation of Solid Organs for Transplantation: A Systematic Review' (2010). He stresses surgical excellence to optimize donor organs and broaden transplantation access for Australians.