12 Facts About Jim Dempster

William James Dempster was a British surgeon and researcher in organ transplantation at St Mary's Hospital, London.

Jim Dempster published more than 100 scientific reviews and papers on kidney transplant rejection in dogs, confirming that rejection was an example of immune response, mediated by serum antibodies.

Jim Dempster was born on the island of Ibo, Portuguese Mozambique, to Jessie and James Jim Dempster, who raised cattle in Portuguese East Africa until the tsetse fly caused the business to collapse.

Jim Dempster's birth was registered on 28 April 1918 and his birth certificate was issued on 9 August of the same year.

Jim Dempster gained admission to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, where he was a contemporary of Sheila Sherlock, with whom he played tennis.

Jim Dempster met Cherry Clark, a nurse in the radiotherapy department at the Hammersmith Hospital who had once been a ballet dancer.

Jim Dempster worked at the Royal College of Surgeon's Buckston Browne Farm, with Sir Arthur Keith, an anatomist and anthropologist, and jokingly referred to the job as one of the hospital's worst roles.

Jim Dempster's detailed observations on a macroscopic and microscopic scale, established that organ rejection was a type of immune response, facilitated by serum antibodies.

Subsequently, Jim Dempster became acquainted with international organ transplantation peers including Georges Mathe of Paris, who believed that immunological reactions explained graft rejection.

In 1956, Jim Dempster joined Charles Rob's surgical team at St Mary's Hospital, in performing a renal transplant on a person with acute renal failure.

Jim Dempster retired to his home in Twickenham and dedicated his remaining time to painting and gardening.

Jim Dempster had a particular interest in the work of John Hunter and promoted the cause of evolutionary theorist Patrick Matthew of whom he published a biography in 1983.