Professor Philip O’Connell is a clinician scientist and an international leader in transplantation medicine. He is director of one the largest transplant centres in Australia and is a Centre Director at the Westmead Institute of Medical Research. As immediate past-president of The Transplantation Society he provided international leadership on science, education and public policy in transplantation. He performed the first trial of pancreatic islet transplantation in Australia and was responsible for its transition into the Australian healthcare system. With colleagues he changed our understanding of the pathogenesis of chronic allograft injury. His research has been funded by the NHMRC since 1996.