Sep 23, 2019 2 min read

Joy Krumenacker, a Brackenridge resident and the mother of organ donor Eli Bussotti, will speak at the Carnegie Science Center’s Rangos Giant Cinema at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday.

Krumenacker will speak at screenings of the documentary “Burden of Genius: Dr. Thomas Starzl’s Journey Into Organ Transplantation.” Her son was killed in a car crash last year, but his donated organs have allowed others to live. One recipient, Chad Ravotti, who lived near Bussotti, will also speak at the screenings, as will film producer Carl Kurlander.

“Burden of Genius” sheds new light on how Starzl took what was once considered science fiction and overcame many obstacles to turn transplantation into an operation that has changed medicine. For “Burden of Genius,” the filmmakers sat down with Starzl for a week of interviews and had full access to the Thomas E. Starzl Institute archives. They interviewed numerous Starzl surgical fellows who have gone on to run transplant centers around the world, as well as transplant recipients like musician David Crosby, and Larry Kramer, the playwright and activist who was part of a pilot program Starzl ran in the 1980s on AIDS patients.

Pittsburgh’s own David McCullough also speaks in the film on Starzl and his place in history.

For information call 412-237-3400 or go online to www.carnegiesciencecenter.org.