Dr. Clive O. Callender is a native of New York and was educated in their public schools and colleges.  1)  P.S. 113, 2)  P.S. 68,  3)  Edward W. Stitt Jr. H.S., 4)  Commerce H.S., and 5)  Hunter College.   After completing Meharry Medical College in 1963 as the top ranking medical student and his surgical training at Freedmen's Hospital in 1969, he received his transplant surgical training at the University of Minnesota, under Dr. John S. Najarian (Kidney) 1971-1973 and at the University of Pittsburgh under Dr. Thomas E. Starzl (Liver) 1986-1987.  These are two of the premier transplant training programs in the U.S.  Since returning to HUH in 1973, Dr. Callender  helped develop the first minority directed dialysis and transplant center and histocompatibility and immunogenetic laboratory in this country.

On August 8, 1991, the New England Journal of Medicine, this country's premier medical journal, chronicled the 10 year experience of the first National Organ/Tissue Donor Program in America.  (Originated by HUH, the National Kidney Foundation of the National Capital Area (NKF/NCA), and the DOW Chemical Company (DOW)).  This article referred to National Gallup Polls which were conducted in 1985 and 1990 and demonstrated a tripling of both the number of Blacks signing donor cards and the number of Blacks aware of the highly successful nature of transplantation.  These successful joint HUH, and Dow Chemical Company efforts targeted the Black community and were the models used in 1991 to conceptualize and develop the National Minority Organ/Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP) for the purpose of increasing minority donation rates nationally.  National MOTTEP has been awarded total funding in the amount of $16 million for the period 1993- 2008 from the Office of Research on Minority Health (now known as the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) for program expansion to 15 cities and implementation of a disease prevention component. It’s most recent funding 2004-2008 established a MOTTEP-Export Research Center of Excellence which will attempt to eliminate minority renal health disparities.  This funding unites MOTTEP with the disciplines of telemedicine and psychology. National MOTTEP is the first national organization to identify a two-fold solution to the donor shortage.  The solution includes increasing the number of minority donors and decreasing the number of persons who need transplants through a health promotion campaign aimed to prevent the need for transplantation.

In January 1996, Dr. Callender was appointed as Chairman of the Department of Surgery. and in February 1996, appointed the first LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. Professor of Surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine.