Donald Christian Dafoe is an American surgeon,

research scientist A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...

, and brother of

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Willem Dafoe William James "Willem" Dafoe ( ; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades including a Volpi Cup Award for ...

Biography

The eldest son of a surgeon, Dafoe graduated from Appleton West High School in Appleton,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, in 1967, where he was on the football and wrestling teams. He then attended the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, where he received his undergraduate degree in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and his

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

. He became a transplant surgeon after training in surgery at the Hospital of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and now works at University of California Irvine Medical Center in Orange, California, where he is chief of transplantation surgery. He previously worked at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

, where he was Director of the Pancreas Transplantation, Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Center; Director of Surgical Education; and held the Eris M. Field Endowed Chair in

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

Research. He was previously medical director for the California Transplant Donor Network. He has written over 160 peer-reviewed articles, and has been on the editorial board of ''Journal of Surgical Research'', ''The Chimera'', and ''Transplantation Science''. Ex-husband to vascular surgeon Dr. Rhoda Dafoe and Sahara Dafoe, he is a father of five, and is the brother of actor

. He also has five sisters and another brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dafoe, Donald American transplant surgeons Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People from Appleton, Wisconsin Physicians from Wisconsin University of California, Irvine faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health alumni American people of Swiss-French descent