Transplant

A standard heart transplant requires surgical instruments spread across multiple sterile tables — from tiny vascular clamps to hefty retractors to keep the surgical field open.

He helped build one of the leading kidney transplant programs in the country, both in terms of the number of transplants performed annually, and in long-term organ function and patient survival rates.

Vanderbilt transplanted 36% more hearts in 2024 than 2023. In 2024, 10 of the lifesaving procedures were performed on pediatric patients.

Reginald Porter of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, received the procedure in September after being diagnosed at an area hospital in February with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer that develops in the bile ducts.

The Vanderbilt Center for Transplant Science was created in 2024 to save the lives of patients waiting for a transplant and improve outcomes for patients after they receive a transplant.

The recipient of the 2,000th transplant was Wes Carter, 37, a real estate agent from Pensacola, Florida, who first noticed an irregular heart rhythm in his mid-20s.

The center was created earlier this year to save the lives of patients waiting for a transplant and improve outcomes for patients after they receive a transplant.