Cape Town doctor Elmi Muller and her team have pioneered a technique to transplant kidneys between HIV-positive donors and recipients. Between September and November 2008 the team performed four pioneering procedures, which are now described in the 17 June 2010 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

Muller, a surgeon at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences, performed the first such kidney transplant in September 2008 at the world-famous Groote Schuur hospital, where she is permanently based.

In the 1960s Groote Schuur was the setting for the first human heart transplant, performed by UCT medical graduate, Dr Christiaan Barnard.

The team has performed nine procedures in total, a world first according to Muller, and has earned global attention and acclaim for its innovation.

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