Carl-Gustav Groth

Carl-Gustav Groth (15 October 1933 – 16 February 2014) was a Swedish transplant surgeon. He studied in Colorado under the supervision of transplantation pioneer Thomas Starzl, and returned to Sweden to work at the Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital, where he performed the first pancreas, liver and islet cell transplantation surgeries in Sweden.

Early life Groth was born in 1933 in Helsinki to Carl-Johan Groth, a businessman, and Margareta Groth (née Sonkin). He and his parents moved to Stockholm during the Second World War, when he was aged 11. He studied medicine at the Karolinska Institute, receiving an MD in 1961. While in Colorado, Groth researched liver and lymphoid tissue transplantation in dogs, and made several important contributions to transplantation medicine, including the use of anti-lymphocyte globulin (ATG) use in acute organ rejection and the "triple-drug" immunosuppression regimen for post-transplantation patients including ATG, azathioprine and prednisone.

Groth returned to Stockholm in 1972, when he was chosen by Curt Franksson to head the transplantation program at the newly founded Huddinge Hospital (now Karolinska University Hospital).

Personal life and death Groth married Birgit Hammargren, a teacher, in 1959 and had three children. He enjoyed sailing and won the Baltic Race in his yacht Supernova. He had numerous health issues after undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery in 2008, including haemorrhages related to anticoagulant medication, a pelvic fracture, and worsening frailty. He died on 16 February 2014.