Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently performed its first pediatric dual heart/kidney transplant on a 13-year-old girl from Chattanooga.

As the largest heart transplant program in the Southeast, the Vanderbilt Transplant Center is ranked No. 1 in volume for the combined adult and pediatric heart transplant program, according to the latest Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) data.

Because donor organs are scarce, understanding the mortality risk associated with heart transplantation is an important consideration when evaluating patients for transplant.

Ashish Shah, M.D., has joined Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) as director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support.

In April 1986 Bonnie Davis of Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee, became the first female patient to receive a heart transplant at Vanderbilt University Hospital. On Oct. 3, she will return to campus to participate in the Greater Nashville Heart Walk.

Pediatric cardiac surgeons at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt have performed the state’s first ABO incompatible heart transplant in a 2-month-old patient.