Contact: Jessie Geraci-Perez
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Center celebrates 60 years of caring for patients in 2026
MADISON, Wis. – The UW Health Transplant Center performed more than 520 adult and pediatric organ transplants in 2025 and set new records in both lung and liver transplantation, marking a milestone year for the program.
Care teams completed more transplants than all other transplant centers in the state combined last year, according to Melissa Roberts, executive director of the UW Health Transplant Center.
“We are proud to be Wisconsin’s transplant leader,” she said. “This achievement is a direct result of the remarkable care and dedication of our entire team as well as the generosity of organ donors and their families.”
In 2025, teams performed 273 kidney transplants, 24 heart transplants, 21 simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants, and eight pancreas transplants. The liver transplant program completed 134 liver transplants, including 12 combined liver–kidney transplants.
This marks a program record and a 23% increase from 2024, according to Dr. John Rice, medical director of the UW Health Liver Transplant Program, and associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
“It’s not just about how many transplants we perform,” he said. “It’s about choosing the right organ for the right patient, ensuring they have the best chance to recover and thrive.”
The lung transplant program performed a record 67 lung transplants, including one heart-lung transplant.
UW Health is home to one of the only programs in the country in which patients can undergo heart bypass surgery and a lung transplant in a single surgery. The team performed eight of these procedures, which benefits patients whose hearts are not healthy enough to undergo a lung transplant surgery alone, according to Dr. Dan McCarthy, surgical director of the UW Health Lung Transplant Program.
“These results reflect the teamwork and commitment required to care for our most complex patients,” said McCarthy, who is also an associate professor of surgery, UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “We take a personalized approach, developing individual care plans and supporting patients from their first visit through long-term recovery.”
The transplant center also celebrated several historic milestones, including the completion of the 1,000th heart transplant and 2,000th pancreas transplant.
Across all major organ programs, UW Health maintained strong national performance. One-year graft survival outcomes for kidney, lung and heart transplants consistently met and, in many cases, exceeded national benchmarks. Many of these outcomes were supported by the expanded use of advanced organ preservation and perfusion technologies, which help extend organ viability and improve transplant success. These innovations enabled the center to perform more organ transplants safely, including 34 multi-organ transplants, according to Dr. Dixon Kaufman, director of the UW Health Transplant Center, and professor of surgery at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
“This commitment to innovation reflects a systemwide effort to expand organ availability and improve transplant readiness,” he said. “Higher volumes lead to greater proficiency, and that proficiency saves lives.”
A faster time to transplant is a critical factor in saving lives. At the UW Health Transplant Center, waiting times for every type of organ transplant are consistently shorter than the national average. The median time kidney transplant patients wait for a transplant is 13.2 months at UW Health, less than half the national average of 27.4 months, according to Kaufman.
“When more than 90,000 people are in need of a new kidney, every month matters,” he said. “We take great pride in serving these patients and helping them return to full, healthy lives.”
As home to one of the nation’s longest-running living donor programs, UW Health continued to expand access to living donation, completing 89 living kidney donor surgeries and six living liver donor surgeries. The program also launched the Living Donor Initiative to increase education and motivate more people to say “yes” to becoming living organ donors.
This year brings a historic milestone: 60 years since the organization’s first transplant in 1966.
“For six decades, our transplant center has grown through innovation and an unwavering commitment to patients,” Roberts said. “As we celebrate this anniversary, we are focused on the future, leveraging technology and cutting-edge research, expanding access and continuing to provide hope and healing to families across Wisconsin and the nation.”
