Samuel Lee Kountz Jr. (October 30, 1930 – December 23, 1981) was an African-American kidney transplantation surgeon from Lexa, Arkansas.
He was most distinguished for his pioneering work in the field of kidney transplantations, and in research, discoveries, and inventions in Renal Science.
In 1961, while working at the Stanford University Medical Center, he performed the first successful Kidney transplant between humans who were not identical twins.
[4] He completed his early education in Lexa, then spent three years at a Baptist boarding school for young people considering the ministry.
Kountz applied but was rejected; he spent the next two years completing graduate work in chemistry at the university's Fayetteville campus.
He developed the largest kidney transplant research and training program in the country at the University of California, San Francisco.
He has been a recipient of the Young Investigator's Award, American College of Cardiology, 1964; Diplomat, American Board of Surgeons, 1966; Lederle Medical Faculty Award, 1967; Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of California, San Francisco, 1970; Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Arkansas, 1973; Honorary Doctor of Laws, Howard University, 1975, and the Fulbright Award[8] While on a lecture tour in South Africa in 1977, Kountz contracted a crippling brain disease that left him neurologically impaired and confined to his bed, unable to communicate, or care for himself, for the rest of his life.