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31st International Congress of The Transplantation Society (TTS 2026) | Sydney, Australia | September 20-23, 2026
Innovation through Collaboration

Confirmed Plenary Speakers

Sunday, September 20
16:45 - 18:30
Plenary Session 1

Maria Grazia Roncarolo, United States

George D. Smith Professor in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine,
Professor of Pediatrics and of Medicine,
Director of the Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine
Co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Gene and cell therapy in transplantation

Monday, September 21
10:45 - 12:00
Plenary Session 2: Panel on Making Xenotransplantation Work for Humanity!

Tatsuo Kawai, United States

Professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the A. Benedict Cosimi
Chair in Transplant Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital
Director of the Legorreta Center for Clinical Transplantation Tolerance
Clinical Xenotransplantation: Experience to date

Anoma Nellore, United States

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine 
Associate Director, Translational Research, Vaccine Center
Xenozoonosis, No Worries!

Richard N. Pierson III, United States

Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital
Center for Transplantation Sciences, Cardiac Surgery
Let’s start with hearts!

Wayne J. Hawthorne, Australia

Professor of Transplantation, Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney
Leader, clinical and experimental Islet and Organ Transplant Research Group
Let’s start with islets!

Luz Padilla, United States

Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Director of Surgical Research for the Joseph S. Bruno Pediatric Heart Center of Alabama
The Ethics of New Technology in xenotransplantation

Tuesday, September 22
10:45 - 12:00
TTS President’s Plenary Session

John J. Fung, United States

TTS President 2024-2026
Professor of Surgery, University of Chicago
Co-Director, Transplant Institute
Presidential Address

Haibo Wang, People’s Republic of China

Founding Director, China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS) 
Director, Research Centre of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Medicine
First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yan-Sen University

Wednesday, September 23
10:30 - 11:45
Plenary Session 3

Ton J. Rabellink, The Netherlands

Professor of Internal Medicine and Nephrologist at the LUMC
Leiden Node Director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation for Stem Cell Medicine
Towards transplantable organs: Vascularized kidney organoids for renal regeneration

Wednesday, September 23
15:20 - 16:30
Closing Plenary

Olivia Smibert, Australia

Lead, Transplant Infectious Diseases, Austin Health
Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, The University of Melbourne
From donor to recipient: Microbiome signatures as predictors of post-transplant complications