Irene Kim, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, partially credits the increase in liver transplants to the use of machine perfusion, a technology that circulates oxygen-rich, nutrient-rich, blood-based solution through donor organs until transplantation. Machine perfusion reduces graft dysfunction, allowing organs to be viable longer and improving physicians’ assessments of the organs ahead of transplantation—all of which has served to increase donor organ availability, Kim said.

A willingness to take on the most complex cases also helped drive the increase in lung transplants, according to Kim, as Cedars-Sinai is known for accepting high-risk cases that had been previously turned away by other institutions.

“We are committed to staying on the leading edge of transplant technology to ensure the best results for our patients, with survival outcomes that continue to meet or exceed the national average,” Kim said. “The more organs we can transplant, the more patients can receive a second chance at life. It’s a privilege to not only help these patients, but also to honor the donors who gave the ultimate gift of life.”

According to published data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), 49,065 transplants occurred in the U.S. in 2025—more than in any other year. With records continuing to be set year over year, the OPTN has set an ambitious nationwide goal of 60,000 deceased donor transplants annually by the end of 2026.

New Records in Liver and Lung Transplants, Living Kidney Donors

The Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute is the largest heart transplant center by volume in California, with clinical and surgical teams performing 114 adult heart transplants in 2025. The team, led by Joanna Chikwe, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Fardad Esmailian, MD, surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program, and Jon Kobashigawa, MD, director of the Heart Transplant Program in the Department of Cardiology, has maintained an average of more than 100 heart transplants each year for the last 13 years, a current record in the U.S.

Surgical Director Dominick Megna, MD, and Medical Director Reinaldo Rampolla, MD, led the lung transplant team to perform 93 lung transplants in 2025—the most ever at Cedars-Sinai—surpassing its previous record of 88 in 2024. The Lung Transplant Program in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai continues to be the largest by volume in California and, in 2025, earned a place as a top 10 center by volume in the U.S.

The Liver Transplant Program also reached new milestones. The team, led by Kim, as surgical director, and Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, performed 145 liver transplants in 2025, exceeding the 2024 record of 136 transplants.

The Kidney Transplant Program team, led by Stanley Jordan, MD, medical director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory, and Tsuyoshi Todo, MD, surgical director, completed 324 transplants in 2025, including one pancreas-kidney transplant.

Notably, the team performed 80 living donor kidney transplants in 2025, setting a record for the number of living donor kidney transplants performed at Cedars-Sinai, with a more than 15% increase over the previously held record volume of 69 in 2013. This program, led by Steven Wisel, MD, and Reiad Najjar, MD, has transformed into a completely robotic surgical program.

“These achievements are a testament to the hardworking team at the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center,” said Kim, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine. “But none of these lifesaving procedures would be possible without the altruism of organ donors and their families. We are tremendously grateful to those who give the gift of life through organ donation.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: After Lung Transplant, a Return to Running

Hepatology Experts Available

Shelly Lu, MD, the Women's Guild Chair in Gastroenterology and director of the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, is presenting research related to alcohol-associated liver injury and colorectal-liver metastasis.

Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of Liver Transplantation, is presenting results of a California Liver Network study exploring factors associated with being “too early” for liver transplantation.

Walid Ayoub, MD, professor of Medicine and associate medical director of Liver Transplantation, is available to explain cholestatic and autoimmune liver diseases and related research.

Ju Dong Yang, MD, associate professor of Medicine and director of the Liver Cancer Program, can address questions regarding liver cancer and immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Ekihiro Seki, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, is moderating a session about therapies for treating alcohol-associated liver disease.

Paul Martin, MD, director of Clinical Hepatology Education and Research, is presenting updated practice guidelines on long-term care of liver transplant recipients.

Maria Lauda Tomasi, PhD, associate professor of Medicine, is available for interviews about alcohol-associated liver disease and related clinical research.

Hyunseok Kim, MD, MPH, PhD, hepatologist and assistant professor of Medicine, is presenting research on the impact of coffee intake on liver health, including coffee’s association with cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Media Contact

To arrange interviews, contact Laura Coverson at 310-562-1112 or Laura.Coverson@cshs.org.

Cedars-Sinai is among the top 10 transplant centers in the U.S. by volume, according to published data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), and is known for accepting complex, high-risk cases.

“Behind every transplant is a patient who desperately waited for a chance at life,” said Irene Kim, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center. “It is the remarkable generosity of organ donors and their families that allowed our transplant teams to give 682 patients the chance to have longer and healthier lives.”

Cedars-Sinai’s organ transplant program has experienced a 64% year-over-year increase since 2017, when 415 transplants were performed. Over the last decade, its transplant volume has increased by 84%, from 371 in 2014 to 682 in 2024.

Multiple drivers are behind the upward trend in organ transplants at Cedars-Sinai and nationwide, said Kim, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine.

“Machine perfusion techniques are allowing us to use donor organs that may previously have been less ideal for transplant,” Kim said. “The technology helps preserve organs before transplantation, lengthening viability, improving assessment of organ function and contributing to improved patient outcomes.”

According to the OPTN, 48,149 transplants occurred in the U.S. in 2024—more than in any other year.

But the need for more organs remains significant: More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are on the organ transplant waiting list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that manages the U.S. organ transplant system.

Multiple collaborations among various sectors are underway to increase organ donations in an effort to reach a new national goal: 60,000 deceased donor transplants annually in the U.S. by the end of 2026.  

New Records in Heart, Liver and Lung Transplants

The Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai is home to the largest thoracic organ transplant program by volume in California and the second-largest heart transplant center by volume in the U.S. 

The team, including Joanna Chikwe, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Fardad Esmailian, MD, surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program, and Jon Kobashigawa, MD, director of the Heart Transplant Program in the Department of Cardiology, led the clinical and surgical teams that performed 137 adult heart transplants, including three heart-lung transplants, surpassing the 2023 record of 132. 

The lung transplant team, led by surgical director Dominick Megna, MD, and medical director Reinaldo Rampolla, MD, also reached a new milestone in 2024 with 88 lungs transplanted (including three heart-lung transplants), up from 82 in 2023. More than a quarter were completed using minimally invasive procedures—2- to 3-inch incisions that lead to reduced pain, recovery times and complications after surgery. Nine percent of minimally invasive lung transplant surgeries at Cedars-Sinai—more than that of any other program in the world—were robotic-assisted.

The liver transplant team, led by Kim, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program, and Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, performed 136 liver transplants in 2024, exceeding the 2021 record of 113 transplants.

The Kidney Transplant Program team, led by Stanley Jordan, MD, medical director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory, and Tsuyoshi Todo, MD, surgical director, completed 324 transplants in 2024, including five pancreas-kidney transplants. In 2023, the program set a record with 336 kidney transplants performed.

Kim emphasized that the expertise and dedication of Cedars-Sinai’s multidisciplinary transplant teams—physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, physician assistants, dietitians, technicians, perfusionists, researchers, administrative professionals and others—are what enable transplants for so many patients.

“They are the ultimate caregivers,” Kim said. “And it is the organ donors and their families who represent ultimate altruism. They are the foundation that gives others an opportunity at life.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: The Wait for a New Heart

Known for leading-edge therapies and taking on the most complex patients, Cedars-Sinai transplant teams also completed a triple organ transplant in 2023, performing a successful heart, liver and kidney transplant during a 20-hour surgery.

“Genuine compassion, commitment and teamwork enable us to perform these lifesaving operations,” said Irene Kim, MD, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine and director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center. “We are so fortunate to be able to offer our patients lifesaving treatments through donors’ gifts of life.”

There currently are more than 100,000 people in the U.S. on the organ transplant waiting list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that manages the U.S. organ transplant system. About 20,000 of those are in California.

In 2023, Cedars-Sinai was the ninth-largest transplant center by volume in the U.S., according to current published data from the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network.

The Comprehensive Transplant Center and Smidt Heart Institute reported excellent patient outcomes, with one-year survival after transplantation at 91% or greater and lung, liver and kidney survival exceeding the national average.

The Kidney Transplant Program team, led by Stanley Jordan, MD, medical director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory, demonstrated the largest leap. The team performed 336 kidney transplants in 2023, including 15 pediatric transplants. The previous record was 298.

The liver transplant team, led by Nicholas Nissen, MD, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program and director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, performed 104 liver transplants in 2023. The 2022 figure was 102.

The Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute is home to one of the largest thoracic organ transplant programs in the U.S. Led by Jon Kobashigawa, MD, director of Advanced Heart Disease and the Heart Transplant Program in the Smidt Heart Institute, and Fardad Esmailian, MD, surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program, the team performed 130 adult heart transplants and two heart-lung transplants in 2023.

The lung transplant team, led by surgical director Dominick Megna, MD, and medical director Reinaldo Rampolla, MD, also reached a new milestone in 2023 with 80 lungs transplanted, placing the program among the top 10 of U.S. lung transplant programs.

The Cedars-Sinai multidisciplinary transplant teams include physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, physician assistants, dietitians, technicians, perfusionists, researchers, administrative professionals and others committed to successful organ transplants.

“So many people work together to create these lifesaving programs, and the contributions of our donors, family and friends who support our transplant team are profound,” Kim said. “They step in to help our patients and their caregivers make it through a transplant, help each other when things get busy and offer our patients and team members emotional and physical support when needed. That is truly inspiring.” 

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: 7 Myths About Organ Donation

Sams’ note is for the family of the 21-year-old man whose heart, liver and kidney are living on in his body, the result of a 20-hour triple transplant he underwent at Cedars-Sinai in May.

How do you adequately thank a family for a gift borne of such generosity and sadness? Sams is still processing his good fortune to receive three organs at once and wonders how the donor’s family is managing their own feelings.

“It makes me emotional when I think about how these three organs have changed my life,” Sams said. “I prayed every day for a miracle when I was waiting for a transplant. I knew what I was up against, and that the wait would be tough.

“I got my miracle. But I feel sad that this young man’s family had to go through what they went through in order for that to happen.”

Sams became only the 46th person in the U.S. to receive a heart, liver and kidney transplant since the United Network for Organ Sharing, the government agency that tracks organ transplants, started tracking in 1987.

His transplant was Cedars-Sinai’s first successful triple transplantation. The hospital is among the top centers in the U.S. for multi-organ transplants. Cedars-Sinai has completed more than 600 transplants in 2023—the most ever in its history.

For 10 years, Sams had been living with sarcoidosis, a rare inflammatory disease that caused a buildup of scar tissue on his heart and left him unable to work or even walk. Over time, he required multiple visits every week to his doctors to monitor his condition, drain built-up fluids from his body and administer dialysis treatments.

But his health took a turn for the worse early this year when his heart, liver and kidneys began to fail.

“If the heart's not working, it can cause something called congestive hepatopathy in the liver, where the liver just starts not to work very well and can cause chronic and permanent damage of the liver, and then it can also cause stress on the kidneys as well,” said Irene Kim, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine.

Sams was in the hospital for two months before a matching heart, liver and kidney were available for transplantation.

Sams’ surgeons—Tyler Gunn, MD, director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program; Nicholas Nissen, MD, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program; and kidney surgeon Justin Steggerda, MD—worked together with their teams of up to 15 other providers at a time to transplant the organs. The highly orchestrated procedure required close alignment among the teams and detailed planning.

“The coordination started long before we even got to the operating room,” Steggerda said. “It started with our program coordinators and our respected nursing staff, who made sure that a donated organ was acceptable, identified the best time to do the procurement and organized the logistics of getting all the teams there to get the organs and bring them back safely.”

During multi-organ transplants, surgeons operate based on allowable “ischemic” time—the amount of time each organ can tolerate being outside the body. Based on this, Sams’ heart transplant happened first, followed by the liver and, finally, the kidney.

Nissen said that multi-organ transplants like this exemplify transplant teams’ ability to work together under pressure.

“It’s the ultimate example of medical teamwork,” he said. “Literally every team member has to work with every other team member for this to go right. There are three different teams that are making this happen, so for this to be successful, it takes an absolutely coordinated effort.”

Fast-forward six months, and today, Sams is feeling “wonderful.”

He’s keeping in mind his physicians’ advice: The more he moves, the better and faster his recovery. And so, he walks more than a mile three times a week and makes sure to get in cardio exercise and plenty of stretching. There’s no huffing and puffing as he climbs the stairs at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where he’s taking classes with the goal of earning a degree in sports psychology.

“I thank the Cedars-Sinai transplant team for having everything down to a science,” Sams said. “I have so much to be thankful for, from all my doctors and nurses to everybody who helped me along the way. And I’m thankful for life—to be as sick as I was and then to come out of it 10 years later with no health problems—it’s the miracle that I prayed for.”

He is also eager to get back into coaching youth baseball and giving back to the community. He’s even hoping to start his own nonprofit to help dialysis patients.

But first, he wants to finish the most important thank-you note he’s ever written, for the most meaningful gift he’s ever received.

“I’m hoping and praying that the donor’s family would like to meet me one day,” Sams said. “It can be hard for people who need an organ to get one, let alone three—and it would mean the world to me to know more about the person who made that possible.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Being Patient | The Delicate Timing of Organ Transplantation

In that time, she’s earned a finisher’s medal from the New York City Marathon, which she ran to raise funds and awareness for organ donation; kept busy with a full-time job and volunteer work; moved to a new state; and continued to thrive.

“I’m very lucky—I’m doing amazingly well,” Galan said. “No issues, no problems—just living life to the fullest. I am so grateful.”

She credits her Cedars-Sinai care team for her good outcome.

“They took such good care of me,” she said. “I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else.”

In October 1998, at 36 years old, Galan was ready to give up on life. She had battled lupus since her teen years, and complications from the autoimmune disease had left her with congestive heart failure, multiple liver stones and narrowing of her liver. Barely able to move, she was living with her parents and had been in the intensive care unit for nearly three months before the family got the news they had been waiting on for years: A heart and liver were available for Galan.

Less than two weeks after her combined transplant surgery, Galan was home from the hospital—and for the next 20 years, she thrived.

But by 2017, Galan was in kidney failure—which can occur as a side effect of longterm immunosuppression. She had been on dialysis for nearly two years when she learned she had been matched with a living donor for a new kidney.

“The new kidney went in, I was working from my hospital room the very next day, and I’ve never looked back,” Galan said. “My attitude has always been, just let me live.”

Every year, she sends the kidney donor, whom she has met in person, a thank-you note.

“She saved my life,” Galan said. “Because of her, I’m still here.”

Today, there are more than 100,000 people in the U.S. on the organ transplant waiting list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that manages the U.S. organ transplant system. About 23,000 of those waiting are in California.

This past year was the busiest yet for the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Smidt Heart Institute. In 2023, Cedars-Sinai has completed more than 600 transplants—the most ever in its history.

The medical center also is among the top centers in the U.S. for multi-organ transplants. In July, the transplant team performed the hospital’s first successful triple transplantation during a 20-hour surgery.

It’s also known for state-of-the-art care and advanced therapies when it comes to complex transplantation cases.

“Cedars-Sinai is an extremely specialized medical center where other hospitals send their most complex patients with end-organ disease,” said Irene Kim, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine, and the surgeon who performed Galan’s kidney transplant. “Through the generous gift of life from organ donors, our transplant programs offer patients hope for an opportunity at recovery.”

Galan is outspoken about the need for more organ donors. And to patients on the organ waitlist, her message is that there is no better medicine than optimism.

“People should know there is success in organ transplant and that we are living longer,” Galan said. “Look at how long I’ve lasted, thanks to my Cedars-Sinai team and the generosity of donors. If I can encourage even one person to check that little organ donor box on their driver’s license, I will know I’ve done a good thing with my life.”

During the holiday season of giving and receiving, Galan is especially reflective.

“Donating an organ is the greatest gift you can give.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Being Patient: The Delicate Timing of Organ Transplantation

But today, Sams walks side by side with his son, Valance “Vee” Sams Jr. He’s exercising again, eating healthy, and focused on rebuilding his strength, thanks to a triple organ transplant at Cedars-Sinai.

“I’m feeling good, great, awesome,” he said. “It’s night and day.”

After a successful 20-hour surgery this spring, Sams is one of just 46 people in the U.S. to receive a heart, liver and kidney transplant since the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the government agency that tracks organ transplants, started tracking in 1987.

“Going through the UNOS database, I can see that prior to Mr. Sams, there were only 45 of these triple organ transplants,” said Tyler Gunn, MD, director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program and Sams’ heart surgeon. “Since then, the average has been only about 1.5 of these surgeries per year in the U.S., more frequently within the last five years as providers and surgeons get more comfortable with the operations and technology.”

Sams’ journey began when the sarcoidosis diagnosis necessitated multiple visits each week to his doctors to monitor his condition, drain built-up fluids from his body, and administer dialysis treatments.

“If the heart's not working, it can cause something called congestive hepatopathy in the liver, where the liver just starts not to work very well, and can cause chronic and permanent damage of the liver, and then it can also cause stress on the kidneys as well,” said Irene Kim, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine.

In order to make it to all of his medical appointments and keep up with his health, Sams was forced to quit film school, a deeply devastating decision.

His son, Vee, then a teenager, took on the role of nurse, counting out medications and helping his father prepare meals that would keep his health on track.

“I was basically his personal nurse,” Sams Jr. said. “I made sure everything was OK, he wasn’t missing appointments. I made sure his medicines [were] OK, you know, changing his bags for dialysis at the house.”

Sams Sr. gets emotional when talking about how much of a help his son was.

“Since the beginning, he’s been like my nurse, my best friend, my brother,” Sams Sr. said.

Early this year, Sams Sr.’s health took a turn for the worse–he was hospitalized because, despite keeping up with his treatments, his heart, liver and kidneys were failing.

After a two-month hospital stay, Sams received news of a new hope–a matching heart, liver and kidney were available for transplantation.

Sams’ surgeons, Gunn, Nicholas Nissen, MD, and Justin Steggerda, MD, worked together with their teams of up to 15 other providers at a time, in a 20-hour-long operation to transplant the organs. The highly orchestrated procedure required close coordination.

“The coordination starts long before we even get to the operating room,” said Steggerda, Sams’ kidney surgeon. “It starts with our program coordinators and our respected nursing staff, who make sure that a donated organ is acceptable, identify the best time to do the procurement, and organize the logistics of getting all the teams there to get the organs and bring them back safely.”

During multi-organ transplants, surgeons operate based on allowable ischemic time–the amount of time each organ can tolerate being outside the body. Based on this, the heart transplant must happen first, followed by the liver and finally the kidney.

“The first step is the heart transplant, which is actually done in the same technical fashion that a single heart transplant is done: median sternotomy, cardiopulmonary bypass, removal of the old heart, suturing in the new donor heart, then coming off the bypass circuit,” said Gunn. “At that point, it changes. We leave the heart and the chest open, allowing the liver team to do their anastomosis [making connections] as well. And then ultimately the kidney is transplanted, followed by the closure of the chest.”

Nissen, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program and Sams’ liver surgeon, said that multi-organ transplants like this exemplify transplant teams’ ability to work together under pressure.

“There's probably no better case in surgery or in medicine that exemplifies the concept of teamwork like a multi-organ transplant, because literally every team member has to work with every other team member for this to go right,” Nissen said. “The anesthesiologists work with the surgeons, the surgeons work with the technicians, and there are three different teams that are making this happen, so for this to be successful, it takes an absolutely coordinated effort. And it's the ultimate example of medical teamwork.”

According to transplant center Director Kim, not all medical centers in the U.S. offer organ transplants, and even among those that do, not many offer even dual organ transplants, let alone triple organ transplants.

“At Cedars-Sinai, we are one of the world’s leaders in dual organ transplants,” she said. “While no transplant center is doing triple organ transplants very routinely, our expertise in dual organ transplant management gives us an advantage when performing these complex, multi-organ procedures.”

His doctors say that, with Sams’ careful adherence to his medications and determination to rebuild strength, he should make a full recovery. He’s already back to doing some of the things he loves most–like coaching youth baseball. And much to Sams Sr.’s delight, son Vee is enrolled in film school, inspired by his father.

“The little things are so important,” Sams said. “We take advantage of a lot of little things, but now I know that those little things are where it’s at.”

Sams said he hasn’t yet met the family of the organ donor who saved his life, but if he does get the chance, he’ll tell them how grateful he is.

“I want them to know that I’m very appreciative, and that I’m going to do the best that I can to do a lot of good things,” Sams said. “His memory is still going, through me, and I’m going to do my best to honor it.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: 7 Myths About Organ Donation

The kidney/pancreas transplant team completed 317 transplant surgeries (316 kidney and one dual kidney-pancreas), topping its previous record of 290 transplant surgeries (279 kidney, 10 kidney-pancreas and one pancreas) in fiscal year 2021, according to statistics compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit organization that manages the U.S. organ transplant system. Fifteen of the 2023 transplants were pediatric kidney transplants, the most the center ever has completed in one year.  

“Organ transplantation requires close coordination and trust from a large team of professionals who truly care about patients,” said Irene Kim, MD, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and surgical director of the Kidney Transplant Program. “Physicians, nurses and coordinators, social workers, dietitians, administrative professionals and so many more all work together to make it happen. Most importantly, organ transplantation would not be possible without the lifesaving gifts of organ donors.”

Surgeons in the Department of Cardiac Surgery performed 202 thoracic organ transplants during fiscal year 2023. The team's 126 heart transplants during fiscal year 2023 is a significant increase over the previous year’s total of 105. Surgeons also performed more lung transplants during fiscal year 2023, with 76 transplants compared to 72 during fiscal year 2022.

“We are proud to offer state-of-the-art care to all our heart and lung transplant patients, who are often referred by other transplant centers for advanced therapies, such as innovative, minimally invasive lung transplants that help our patients get back to a better quality of life sooner," said Joanna Chikwe, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery.

Liver transplant surgeons, led by Nicholas Nissen, MD, director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, performed 97 transplants, nearly as many as the prior fiscal year.

Although Cedars-Sinai’s transplant volumes are impressive, they don’t tell the complete story, Kim said.

“Cedars-Sinai is a national leader in performing complicated transplant surgeries,” she said. “We take on some of the most complex cases, often referred to us from other medical centers.”

These include highly sensitized patients, who have high levels of antibodies in their blood, making their bodies more likely to reject organs.

Cedars-Sinai’s Stanley Jordan, MD, director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory and professor of Medicine, is a pioneer in the development of desensitization therapies, which remove prohibitive anti-HLA antibodies from the blood and enable those patients with these antibodies to receive a lifesaving transplant.

Read more in Discoveries: Meet Transplant Surgery Trailblazer Irene Kim, MD