Dr. Joel Cooper, St. Louis, MO, (L) , Sue Bell, Head Nurse Operating Room, Toronto General Hospital (TGH), Sadie Miller, Head Nurse, Thoracic Operating Room, and Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Director of the Lung Transplant Program at TGH. This was a very special encounter for me. I've talked about Dr. Cooper many times in my speeches about the advancements in transplant research that have taken place at Toronto General Hospital. In 1983 Dr. Cooper was head of the Lung Transplant Program at TGH and performed the very first successful lung transplant in the world. He was a pioneer in lung transplant research and if it wasn't for him and those who have carried on this research such as Dr. Keshavjee, I wouldn't be alive today. Dr. Keshavjee performed a life-saving single lung transplant on me in April of 2002 and is one of my all-time heroes. Merv.