NYU Langone Transplant Institute

Specialists at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute provide our patients with exceptional care that incorporates the latest technological advancements in heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplantation. We are also among the few hospitals that perform heart–lung, heart–kidney, liver–kidney, kidney–pancreas, and liver–lung transplants. Our facilities include modern testing sites and dedicated inpatient surgical and intensive care units, as well as a multidisciplinary outpatient transplant clinic.

We provide kidney transplants, liver transplants, lung transplants, and heart transplants for children through Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone.

In 2023, we performed 576 organ transplants. Our heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplant programs are approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which means they have met the stringent volume, process, quality, and survival outcome requirements of CMS regulation.

Leader in Organ Transplantation

Under the leadership of Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, director of the Transplant Institute, we are are the nation’s premier program for heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant, as evidenced by data published by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), which tracks epidemiological data and statistics related to solid-organ transplant in the United States.

According to SRTR data, our institute has achieved the following milestones:

• Heart transplant: We are one of the top heart transplant centers in the country, with the fastest transplant rate in the Northeast and highest one-year survival rate in New York State.
• Kidney transplant: We are the number one program in the country. Our exceptional survival rates, fast transplant rates, and high volume—the three most important SRTR calculations—make us a top transplant center in the country. In addition, we are the only program in the country performing more than 250 kidney transplants each year to receive SRTR’s highest marks—a score of 5 out of 5—both for one-year organ survival and for getting a kidney from a deceased donor faster.
• Liver transplant: We are the number one program in New York State. We have  a 100 percent one-year survival rate for people who receive a liver from a living donor.
• Lung transplant: Our excellent 95.10 percent one-year survival rate after transplantation—combined with getting a transplant faster, low mortality on the transplant list, and high volume of transplants—makes us the top-ranked lung transplant center in the country, according to SRTR. We also have the shortest length of stay in the Northeast.

These achievements demonstrate our ability to provide transplant as a treatment for people with the most complex diagnoses.

Leaders in Transplant Procedures

As leaders in the field, our physicians are committed to developing new treatment strategies in transplantation medicine. We are at the forefront of clinical research. We focus on creating innovative techniques to care for people who have life-threatening heart, liver, lung, kidney, or pancreas disease.

We offer expertise in the following types of transplants:

• living donor transplant, in which an organ such as a kidney or portion of the liver is donated by a healthy person
• paired kidney transplant, in which donor and recipient pairs team up to achieve compatible kidneys for each recipient
• ABO (also known as blood type)- and HLA (human leukocyte antigen)-incompatible transplant, in which treatment before a transplant allows recipients to accept organs from incompatible donors

Additionally, NYU Langone experts are pioneers in the field of face transplant: Specialists in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery performed the most extensive face transplant to date and the first in New York State and the world’s first whole-eye and partial-face transplant. They also performed  the world’s first successful face and bilateral hand transplant.

NYU Langone is among the few institutions in the United States that offers pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, the recommended treatment for a specific type of pulmonary hypertension called chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

A Team Approach to Transplant Care

Our team includes surgeons and physicians who specialize in hepatology, nephrology, cardiology, endocrinology, infectious diseases, pulmonology, psychiatry, radiology, and rehabilitation. Our nurse coordinators receive specialized training in transplantation, and our fellows are part of a program accredited by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. We also have dedicated social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists, and financial coordinators to help guide you and your family through the complex and nuanced transplant process.

This team approach to transplant care reflects our center’s unwavering dedication to personalized and comprehensive medical care. We recognize that each patient has unique transplant needs. Our physicians and support staff collaborate to ensure that our patients get the specialized care that they deserve.

Preventing and Managing Infectious Diseases

NYU Langone infectious diseases experts provide comprehensive care for Transplant Institute patients throughout their transplant journey. In collaboration with our heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplant experts and specialists at the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, they work to reduce the risk of infection and provide the best treatment when it does occur. Services include the following:

• screening for and evaluation of preexisting infections before transplant
• administering preventive antibiotics and other measures to reduce risk of infection around the time of transplant
• diagnosing and treating infection after transplant, when necessary

Our infectious diseases team also leads NYU Langone’s participation in the HOPE in Action study, through which people who are HIV-positive and need liver or kidney transplants can safely receive organs from deceased donors who were also HIV-positive. The HOPE in Action study may help reduce the amount of time people who are HIV-positive wait for an organ transplant. NYU Langone Transplant Institute also offers a program for directed or anonymous HIV-positive living kidney donations.

Our infectious diseases team is led by Sapna Mehta, MD, who is the medical director and clinical director of the Transplant Institute; Henry J. Neumann, MD; Fainareti Zervou, MD; Virginie S. Halpern-Cohen, MD; and Matthew C. Ringer, MD. Our pediatric transplant infectious disease team is led by Rebecca Pellet Madan, MD, who is the medical director for the pediatric transplant program and Stephanie P. Ungar, MD.

Become an Organ or Tissue Donor

The need for donated organs and tissue far outstrips the available supply. The NYU Langone Transplant Institute team is working to increase the number of available organs and tissue and save lives. If you live in New York State, register to become an organ and tissue donor.