Saint Barnabas Medical Center Names Living Donor Institute for Dennis R. Filippone, M.D.

Recently, Saint Barnabas Medical Center named the Living Donor Institute, part of the Saint Barnabas Renal and Pancreas Transplant Program, in honor of the late Dennis R. Filippone, M.D.  Dr. Filippone, an attending physician in surgery at Saint Barnabas for 44 years, was considered a visionary in the field of kidney transplantation. 

 “The Living Donor Institute is being named for one of New Jersey’s true pioneers in transplantation,” explained Shamkant Mulgaonkar, M.D., Chief of the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division of Saint Barnabas Health Care System. “New Jersey’s early history with kidney transplantation surgery and the development of the way institutions share organs was largely shaped by the work of Dennis Filippone.”

 It was Dr. Filippone who in 1967 performed New Jersey’s first kidney transplant at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.  He was also a founding member of New Jersey’s first organ recovery organization, now The New Jersey Sharing Network that serves transplant programs throughout the nation.

 Dr. Filippone devoted his entire career to Saint Barnabas Medical Center. All during those years, Saint Barnabas experienced growth in volume and in the introduction of new state-of-the-art surgical procedures. He had the utmost respect for the physicians and staff and great compassion for patients and family members.  He was an exceptional physician and an exceptional teacher.