History of Transplantation at UW

1968 State of Washington’s first kidney transplant performed at UWMC by Dr. Thomas Marchioro, who established the first kidney transplant program in the Pacific Northwest.

1985 Region’s first heart transplant performed at UWMC.

1989 UWMC abdominal transplant program, comprising liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation, established under Chief Dr. James D. Perkins.

1990 First pancreas transplant (with kidney) performed at UWMC.

1990 First pediatric liver transplant at performed at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center (now Seattle Children’s Hospital).

1990 Region’s first liver transplant performed at UWMC.

1991 First pancreas-only transplant performed at UWMC.

1991 Nation’s first combined living-related donor kidney and cadaveric pancreas transplant performed at UWMC.

1992 Region’s first lung transplant performed at UWMC.

1993 First “split liver” transplant performed at UWMC.

1994 First kidney transplant with living donor unrelated to recipient performed at UWMC.

1994 Region’s first pediatric heart transplant performed at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center (now Seattle Children’s Hospital).

1996 First double kidney transplant performed at UWMC.

1997 The University of Washington hosts the International Liver Transplantation Society meeting that attracts over 500 participants from 26 countries; speakers include Sir Roy Calne and Dr. Tom Starzl, pioneers in liver transplantation.

1998 Region’s first in situ split liver in a cadaveric donor performed at UWMC and CHMC (now SCH), yielding two successful liver transplants (one adult and one pediatric).

1998 Region’s first laparoscopic nephrectomy on a living kidney donor performed at UWMC.

1999 500th liver and 500th kidney transplants performed at UWMC.

1999 First living-related liver transplant performed at UWMC and CHMC (now SCH); donor for the 2½-year-old boy was his mother.

2001 First undirected / altruistic living kidney transplant performed at UWMC.

2004 Dr. Jorge Reyes becomes Chief of Transplant Surgery

2005 1000th kidney transplant performed at UWMC.

2005 1000th liver transplant performed at UWMC.

2007 First heart-lung transplant performed at UWMC.

2007 First intestinal transplant performed at CHMC (now SCH).

2007 First multivisceral transplant performed at CHMC (now SCH).

2007 UWMC begins 5-year, 8-transplant center Phase II Research Trial to Assess the Safety of Immunosuppression Withdrawal in Liver Transplant Recipients.

2009 1500th kidney transplant performed at UWMC.

2010 1500th liver transplant performed at UWMC.

2010 U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awards UWMC two silver medals and a bronze medal for outstanding transplant performance in kidney and liver transplant programs.

2012 The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration recognized UW Medicine with an award given to high performing  Liver transplant  programs nationwide. The award  recognized our high liver transplant rate and the low mortality rate among transplanted patients. In the most recent span for which the SRTR provided  data, our liver transplant patients’ post-operative survival  at one month, one year and three year intervals all  exceeded comparable national averages.

2012 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) awards UWMC three bronze medals for how quickly patients received a transplant after being placed on the waiting list; post-transplant graft survival rates; and, patient mortality rates while waiting for an organ to become available.

2015 First adult to adult living donor liver transplant in the PNW was performed by Dr. Martin Montenovo.

2016 2000th liver transplant performed at UWMC.

2018 As of Dec 20, 2018, the Kidney Transplant Program at UW Medicine reached a milestone of 200 kidney transplants performed in 2018. This unprecedented achievement is accompanied by the best national outcomes at 3 years post kidney transplantation and identify the UW Kidney Transplant Program as one of the premier kidney transplant programs in the United States.

2018 First adult multivisceral transplantation (liver, small bowel, pancreas).

2018 First liver transplant using normothermic machine perfusion.

2019 UW Medicine reaches milestone of 1000th lung-transplant recipient on July 7, 2019. UW Medical Center is the 11th U.S. hospital to achieve that volume, and the only such provider in the Pacific Northwest.