Ashish Shah

January 16, 2020

VUMC tops in nation for number of heart transplants performed last year

Vanderbilt University Medical Center tied for first place as the busiest heart transplant program by volume in the United States in 2019.

By Matt Batcheldor
VUMC’s ECMO program has expanded to areas outside of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit.
September 12, 2019

ECMO program expanding to more intensive care units

VUMC is expanding its ECMO program from its longtime home in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) to the Medical (MICU) and Trauma Intensive Care units.

By Matt Batcheldor
May 2, 2019

More congenital heart patients becoming transplant candidates

Patients with a form of congenital heart disease — having only one ventricle (pumping chamber) — are now living longer lives due to the successful surgical and medical treatments they receive as children.

By Matt Batcheldor
Tim Lowell, here with his wife, Ginger, was Tennessee’s first total artificial heart transplant patient. He recently received a permanent donor heart.
March 28, 2019

First artificial heart patient gets permanent replacement

Tim Lowell of Hernando, Mississippi, received the first total artificial heart in the state of Tennessee when the cardiac surgery team at Vanderbilt Health placed the device in his chest on Sept. 26, 2018. The mechanical heart kept him alive for nearly three months until a matching human donor heart became available and he was transplanted on Dec. 16, 2018, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Matt Batcheldor
September 27, 2018

Vanderbilt implants Tennessee’s first artificial heart

By Craig Boerner
March 8, 2018

First heart patients transplanted using novel transport device

The heart transplant team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center successfully transplanted two hearts using a novel preservation and transport technology allowing the heart to beat outside of the body for an extended amount of time.

By Jessica Pasley
January 25, 2018

Heart transplant program reaches new record

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) performed a record number of heart transplants in 2017, surpassing the 2016 milestone and securing its place as the second-busiest heart transplant program in the country.
By Jessica Pasley
November 2, 2017

Tenacity, teamwork, love, drive heart patient’s treatment journey

Sixty-six year-old Frank Donatelli knew the $39 he spent to join eHarmony was worth it.
By Jessica Pasley
August 31, 2017

Novel approach expanded transplant patient’s options

South Carolina resident Amy Binkley is used to making tough decisions for her daughter, Savannah Parks.
By Jessica Pasley
August 3, 2017

VUMC testing new system to keep donor hearts viable longer

For decades the miracle of organ donation has relied on an ice cooler. Until now.
By Jessica Pasley
July 20, 2017

Shah named to lead Department of Cardiac Surgery

Ashish Shah, M.D., director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Vanderbilt, has been named chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery.
By Jessica Pasley
July 7, 2017

Veteran receives rare dual transplant of heart and liver at Vanderbilt

A veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard recently received a new heart and liver at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), one of only a handful of hospitals that have performed the dual transplant surgery this year.
By Tom Wilemon
June 22, 2017

Event celebrates Vanderbilt heart transplant program’s achievements

Patients, faculty and staff gathered in Langford Auditorium on June 12 to celebrate Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) milestone 1,000th heart transplant.
By Jessica Pasley