heart transplant Archive — Page 2 of 5

January 13, 2025

Vanderbilt Transplant Center sets world record for heart transplants in 2024

The Vanderbilt Transplant Center had a banner year in 2024. The number of patients whose lives were saved by Vanderbilt’s heart transplant team far surpasses any previous total by an individual transplant center. 

Vanderbilt’s 2,000th heart transplant patient, Wes Carter, with his family: wife, Ashley, daughter, Presley (4) and son, Gentry (7).
January 6, 2025

Heart transplant program reaches new landmark

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.

Transplant patient Bill Jackson. (photo by Matt Batcheldor)
November 7, 2024

Transplant patient’s indomitable spirit proves inspirational

Bill Jackson received a heart and double lung transplant, an unusual procedure performed only a handful of times each year at VUMC and one that can occur at only the most specialized transplant centers.

David Bichell, MD
October 15, 2024

David Bichell stepping down as chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Under Bichell’s leadership, the pediatric heart transplant program has consistently had among the highest transplant volumes in the United States, ranking eighth in 2023 for pediatric heart transplant center volumes with 15 transplants performed.

Melissia Boynton speaks with a visitor a few days after her heart transplant. (photo by Kylie Avery)
May 17, 2024

A Mother’s Day to remember

Melissia Boynton got the call about 3 a.m. on Mother’s Day that her new heart was available. Immediately, her plans changed from a barbecue around the family pool to a middle-of-the-night drive to Nashville to get her new heart.

Recovery team members included, from left, Will Tucker, MD, Stephen DeVries, DMSc, PA-C, and Christopher Schwartz, RN.
May 17, 2024

VUMC team travels to Alaska to recover a donor heart

The 5,704 nautical-mile trip is the farthest VUMC has traveled for an organ. The remarkable journey illustrates how new technologies make it possible to preserve organs longer, allowing Vanderbilt to look farther for a match.