Scaife Hall - Pittsburgh, Transplant Capital

Stop on University of Pittsburgh Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Scaife Hall is home base for Pitt's School of Medicine, which works hand in hand with the UPMC hospitals around you. If you're thinking about pre-med, this hillside is where Pitt's medical research happens.

Its most famous chapter began in 1981, when surgeon Thomas Starzl came to Pitt. Starzl had performed the first successful liver transplant in 1967, and in Pittsburgh he launched what was then the only liver transplant program in the country. Within a few years the city was home to the busiest transplant center in the world, and Starzl became known as the father of transplantation.

You can meet him back where you started. A life-size bronze of Starzl, smiling with his legs crossed, sits on a bench outside the Cathedral of Learning, unveiled in 2018. There's room next to him, so take a seat when you get back. The medical buildings here are for patients and students, so this is an outside-only stop.

Did you know?: Starzl's statue was made by sculptor Susan Wagner, who also created the statues of Pirates greats Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.

Photo op: From the sidewalk, frame the medical buildings stepping down the hillside toward Fifth Avenue.

Accessibility: Sidewalks here are busy with hospital traffic and slope down toward Fifth Avenue. Exterior-only stop.