In 1954, The McLaughlin Research Institute began with the arrival of Dr. Ernst Eichwald, recruited as a pathologist by the Montana Deaconess Hospital. Eichwald’s work in the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine focused on tissue transplantation and transplant rejection. Early work at the Institute by Eichwald and later by Dr. Jack Stimpfling played an important role in the eventual development of successful protocols for organ transplantation in humans.