Samuel Kountz Jr. (abt. 1930 - 1981)

Born about 20 Oct 1930 in Lexa, Phillips, Arkansas, United States

Died 23 Dec 1981 at about age 51 in New York, United States

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Biography

Samuel Kountz Jr. is Notable.

Dr. Samuel Lee Kountz was a transplant surgeon who performed more than 500 kidney transplants. The discovery of using high doses of a steroid hormone, methylprednisolone, which arrested the rejection of transplanted kidneys, and his advocacy of earlier re-implantation—that is, the implantation of a second kidney at the earliest signs of rejection—were his two greatest contributions to the field.^[1]

Born to Judge Samuel Kountz Sr. and Susy (Emma?) Montague^[2] 20 Oct 1930.^[3]

Census

Samuel is listed with his family on the 1940 census in Cleburne Township, Phillips County, Arkansas. Samuel is 9-years-old.^[4]

Marriage

Samuel Kountz married Grace Yvonne Atkin, a teacher, on June 9, 1958, one day after his graduation from medical school. They had three children.^[1]

School

Samuel graduated from Morris Booker College High School in Dermott, Chicot County, Arkansas.^[2]

• In 1948 Samuel applied to Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (AM&N). This is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). It is said that he he failed the entrance examination. However he applied directly to Lawrence A. Davis Sr., president of Arkansas AM&N who was so impressed by Kountz’s ambition, his inquiring mind, and his determination to become a physician that he admitted him despite his scores. Kountz earned a BS in chemistry in 1952, and graduated third in his class.^[1]
• 1956 earned a masters degree in biochemistry from the University of Arkansas
• 1958 Samuel earned a medical degree from the University of Arkansas Medical Center’s School of Medicine in Little Rock ( this is now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences)
• Medical residency at Stanford Service, a San Francisco hospital where he studied with Roy Cohn, one of the world’s pioneers in organ transplantation.
• 1961 As a resident physician at Stanford Dr. Kountz performed the first kidney transplant between a recipient and a donor who were not identical twins. This single achievement guaranteed his status as a pioneer in transplant surgery.
• 1962-1963 Continued his postgraduate medical studies at Hammersmith Hospital in London, England, continuing his surgical training.
• 1965 completed medical residency

Surgeon

• 1966 Dr. Kountz was made assistant professor of surgery at Stanford University.^[1]
• He was also director of the transplant service of the University of California at San Francisco until 1972. ^[1]
• Dr. Kountz made the breakthrough observation that high doses of a steroid hormone, methylprednisolone, arrested the rejection of transplanted kidneys. This discovery led directly to the current drug regimens that make organ transplants using donations from unrelated donors routine. The years between 1967 and 1972 were his most productive.^[1]
• 1972 Dr. Kountz became chief of surgery at New York City’s Kings County Hospital Medical Center^[1]

Honors

In April 1985, the First International Symposium on Renal Failure and Transplantation in Blacks was held and dedicated to his memory.^[1]

Death

Samuel Kountz went to South Africa in 1977 and contracted an undisclosed disease that left him with neurological impairment. His obituary states he was disabled for the rest of his life. Samuel Kountz died in 1981.^[3][5]

Dr. Samuel Kountz is buried in Nassau County, New York.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/samuel-lee-kountz-jr-18/
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_L._Kountz#Early_life_and_career
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V3H1-F6P : 10 January 2021), Samuel Kountz, Dec 1981; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
4. ↑ United States Census, 1940: "United States Census, 1940"
   Catalog: Arkansas, 1940 population census : population schedules Arkansas (Perry County, Phillips County)
   Image path: United States Census, 1940 > Arkansas > Phillips > Cleburne Township > 54-2 Cleburne Township > image 16 of 32; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
   FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-89M1-F3YM (accessed 30 October 2022)
   • 1940 census
5. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112293731/1981-dr-samuel-kountz-obit/
6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/160519835/samuel-lee-kountz: accessed 30 October 2022), memorial page for Dr Samuel Lee Kountz (30 Oct 1930–23 Dec 1981), Find a Grave Memorial ID 160519835, citing All Saints Cemetery, Great Neck, Nassau County, New York, USA; Maintained by Michael Kountz (contributor 47646907).