Going After Good
t started with rats, exhausted from psychology lab experiments. Hovering over them, a young biology major — Bartley Griffith ’70 — waited for the effects of his carefully dosed chlorohydrate to take over.
“The first human heart transplant had just been performed in South Africa. I couldn’t get that out of my head,” says Griffith. “That somebody can live with somebody else’s heart. It’s unbelievable.”
Griffith knows the limits of belief. On Jan. 7, he completed the first successful full organ xenotransplant in history, placing a genetically modified pig’s heart into his human patient. Xenotransplantation is any procedure that replaces tissue, live cells or organs in a human with those from an animal source. His research is a significant step in the medical community’s quest to help thousands awaiting transplants across the world.
“A pig’s heart,” he says. “It’s hard even for me to wrap my arms around that.”
Years earlier, while a student at Bucknell, he was inspired by early heart rejection research being done at the University of Pittsburgh. “They plugged [the heart] into the abdominal blood vessels in a way that the heart was perfused with blood but wasn’t working as a heart,” he explains. “It allowed them to determine if the immune suppression they gave was effective.”
A young Griffith presented the research concept he wanted to reproduce at Bucknell to Professor Hulda Magalhaes, who “just shook her head” before granting him approval to try.
“Bucknell always said, ‘Try something. It might work,’ ” he says. “It gives students an unbridled opportunity to expand their breadth of knowledge. The kind of professors that I remember, they treat you like an adult. So you might fall down, but you get a chance to get back up.”
In this first step into transplant research, tenacity and ingenuity carried him through his experimentation. He quickly recognized his ability to solve problems from a mechanical point of view — something that has sustained him in his career as a scientific surgeon.
Novel and Noble Work
Now, evidence of his willingness to try has brought him to the world stage.
As a tenured professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Griffith specializes in cardiothoracic, heart transplant, lung transplant and cardiac surgery. In addition to teaching and practice, Griffith dedicates his time to research that advances patient care.
The experimental pig heart transplantation — led in partnership with his colleague Dr. Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, with whom Griffith serves as co-director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the UM School of Medicine — was performed on patient David Bennett.
Diagnosed with advanced heart failure and ventricular fibrillation, Bennett was ineligible for a human transplant based on his medical history. When Griffith suggested the experimental surgery, Bennett knew the risks.
“There is this incredible inner faith that, ultimately, we as humans will make right decisions,” says Griffith of Bennett’s agreement to the procedure. “And he was self-sacrificing in so many ways.”
Throughout his career, Griffith has focused on treating the most acute illness and finding new avenues to bring healing. “When there were no medicines or classic surgeries that we could do, I looked for alternatives,” he says.
Griffith’s research has led to the discovery of heart and lung treatments that save lives, making him a pioneer in cardiopulmonary medicine. He finds inspiration to perfect his craft from diverse avenues — from his experience working with pediatric patients with pulmonary disease to his time on the Bucknell lacrosse team.
“I can remember one time I was playing midfield and a kid from Penn State — much bigger than I am — just whacked me and I couldn’t breathe,” he reflects. “I thought I was gonna die. I was terrified for the two minutes that it took to get over it. And I think about that when I see children who have premature lung disease.”
Those paired experiences led Griffith to invent an artificial lung that patients can take home, not unlike artificial heart pumps. “There’s no suffering like being unable to take a deep breath,” he says.
A Legacy That Lives On
Griffith’s groundbreaking transplant surgery was lauded around the world, including in a front page story in The New York Times. But then, on March 9, David Bennett died.
Griffith faced the outcome with a firm grasp on reality. “I don’t know what his future is,” he said prior to Bennett’s death. “He knows I don’t know. But his alternative was pretty small. And again, here’s this wonderful thing about humans. At the end of the line, he said, ‘I’ll try it because I love life. And if it doesn’t work, maybe you’ll learn something.’ ”
Surely, Griffith’s learning can be quantified. Thanks to his work, data now exists to move xenotransplant toward future success, and hints at the reality of providing a reliable avenue for those on transplant wait lists. “We’ll have animal organs on demand,” he predicts, “because we’re going to make animal transplants not only good for the heart, but good for the lung, the kidney and maybe other solid organs.”
At the root of this success lies Griffith’s belief in his duty to serve his patients. “This work, when you go to the operating room and somebody gives you the privilege of opening their breastbone and fixing their heart — we do all we can,” he says.
What can’t be placed on data sheets is the hope that lingers for the future of science and medicine — and the good that Griffith pursues. He sees the gift Bennett gave in his willingness to be the first man with a pig’s heart as “a bigger gift than I’ve ever made.”
“For me,” he says, “my gift may be in the area of innovation, mechanical or otherwise, to support my patients. Just to look a little bit around the bend where nobody’s been.”