Jean-Michel Dubernard

Jean-Michel Dubernard (1941 to 2021) was a French physician specializing in transplant surgery, born in Lyon, who also served as a Deputy in the French National Assembly. He is best remembered for a series of transplant firsts. On 23 September 1998 he performed the first successful hand transplant, on Clint Hallam, and shortly afterwards the first successful double hand transplant, although that operation was not announced until January 2004. In November 2005 he assisted Professor Bernard Devauchelle in the first partial face transplant, performed on Isabelle Dinoire. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2010 and died at Istanbul Airport on 10 July 2021, aged 80.