John Dark, FRCS

Professor John Dark was the president of the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) from 2010-2011. He is professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Freeman Hospital and Newcastle University, where he has worked since 1987.

1987 was a special year in Newcastle as the first single-lung transplant in Europe was performed, and 3 years later, the first European double-lung transplant. Professor Dark is the head of the transplant program at Freeman Hospital, which has performed over 680 lung transplants—Professor Dark has personally performed more than 100 of these transplants.

Professor Dark has an active research program on reperfusion injury and lung rejection and has over 200 publications.

In this interview Professor Dark discusses his criteria for acceptance of a donor lung, non-heart beating donation, ex vivo lung perfusion, his techniques for implantation, and his vision of the future of lung transplantation.