“I didn’t even know I was sick. I’m thankful that Vanderbilt saved my life.”

For the first time at Vanderbilt, doctors have performed a transplantation with donated lungs that were rehabilitated using a procedure called ex vivo lung perfusion.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Barbour and her late husband, Richard, created a fund to help support Vanderbilt’s lung transplant patient assistance fund.

Bridget Perez could barely walk a few steps. Now she's walking laps at the Dayani Center track and marveling at how it feels to breathe again.

Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, kicked off the Spring Faculty Meeting by providing a short update of VUSM’s academic endeavors.

In 1979, Patsy Williams and her brother, Barry Ford, made a decision that has given her many more years of life. Ford gave Williams his kidney at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They recently gathered for a luncheon to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Williams' transplant, along with dozens of their closest friends and family. She is thought to have lived longer with her transplant than anyone else who received one at Vanderbilt.

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.