Seth Karp

Kascey Malone, CST; Brandon Petree, MD; Aaron Williams, MD; Yatrik Patel, MD; and Sean Bunch, RN; work around a patient during a heart transplant surgery. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
January 14, 2026

Vanderbilt Transplant Center nation’s largest after performing record number of solid organ transplants in 2025

Through dramatic growth, the VTC is now the largest transplant center in the country by volume, according to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing.

By Matt Batcheldor
Vanderbilt’s Seth Karp, MD, testifies before a U.S. Senate committee Dec. 11.
December 15, 2025

Vanderbilt’s Seth Karp testifies about continuing need to increase organs available for transplant

More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, and about 13 people die each day waiting.

By Matt Batcheldor
September 12, 2024

Advocating for organ donation

The hearing was a one-year check-in on the implementation of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act to maintain a national registry for organ matching.

June 13, 2024

Study shows transplant volumes decreased, costs rose following federal policy change

The new policy changed liver allocations from a regional service area to an “acuity circles” system that assigns donor livers as far as 500 nautical miles away based on the acuity of recipients.

By Matt Batcheldor
February 5, 2024

Reception for Seth Karp recognizes leadership and commitment to Transplant Center

Transplant patient Connie Rankin was cleared to return home to Memphis just in time for the holidays. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
December 14, 2023

VUMC performs its first combined lung and liver transplant

Connie Rankin of Memphis, Tennessee, received Vanderbilt’s first combined lung and liver transplant, which involved dozens of specialists, including transplant teams for both organs.

By Matt Batcheldor
February 8, 2023

Study finds underperforming organ procurement organizations contribute to nationwide shortage

The number of potential organ donors in the United States could solve the shortage for most organs, but many organs are not recovered due to performance variations in the opaque organ procurement organization process, according to a just-published study with first and corresponding authors from Vanderbilt.
By Matt Batcheldor
December 8, 2022

Ukrainian surgeons visit VUMC to observe transplant protocols

A group of doctors from Ukraine recently visited Vanderbilt to observe transplants and protocols as part of an initiative to establish a lung transplant program and improve heart transplantation in the war-torn country.
By Matt Batcheldor
June 2, 2022

Event honors VUMC donors for their loyal support

By Nancy Humphrey
May 4, 2022

Liver transplant program marks 30th anniversary

This May, the Vanderbilt Transplant Center is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first liver transplant.
By Matt Batcheldor
April 21, 2022

Shumway Lecture

Ashish Shah, MD, chair of Cardiac Surgery, Carmen Solórzano, MD, chair of Surgery, and Seth Karp, MD, chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, welcome Sara Shumway, MD, (second from left), prior to her delivering the 2022 Shumway Lecture in Transplantation at Vanderbilt.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 9, 2022

VUMC a national leader in organ, tissue donations

A total of 109 people gave the gift of life as deceased organ donors at Vanderbilt in 2021, resulting in saving 280 lives, more than any other year, and more patients generously gave their gift of organs at Vanderbilt last year than any other single hospital in the United States.
By Matt Batcheldor
November 2, 2021

VUMC debuts two new state-of-the-art hybrid operating rooms

Vanderbilt is opening two of the newest generation of hybrid operating rooms, which each combine a traditional operating room with the latest advanced imaging equipment.
By Matt Batcheldor
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