Columbia University Medical Center
In Vivo - The Newsletter of Columbia University Medical Center
Home
Back Issues
Contact Us
Calendar
Contents
In Vivo
 
At the Transplantation Forefront

Columbia’s pre-eminent transplant physician-researchers have propelled CUMC and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia into a national leadership position in clinical care and research in transplantation.
      In 2006, physicians at CUMC and NYPH/Columbia performed 106 heart transplants; 51 lung transplants; 250 kidney transplants and 154 liver transplants. Patient survival rates for these surgeries were among the highest in the country.
      In transplantation research, breakthroughs by Mark Hardy, M.D., the Auchincloss Professor of Surgery, Nicole Suciu-Foca, Ph.D., professor of clinical surgery, and Sylviu Itescu, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine have led to clinical advances in the management of advanced heart failure and transplantation, renal transplantation and living donor liver transplantation. Yoshifumi Naka, M.D., Ph.D., is associate professor of surgery and director of both the Cardiac Transplant Program and Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs (LVAD) at NYPH/Columbia. He is an expert in left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs. He continues to study ways to transform the LVAD into a safer, more widely accepted and cost effective therapy for heart failure.
      Major recruitments of renowned clinical leaders have spurred the transplant capabilities of CUMC and NYPH/Columbia. Dominique Jan, M.D., Ph.D., professor of clinical surgery, has created an interdisciplinary rehabilitation and transplant service for children with liver and small bowel diseases. The renal and pancreas transplant program, led by Lloyd Ratner, M.D., professor of surgery, now leads in “donor swaps” – a method of maximizing the best use of scarce donor organs. Joshua Sonett, M.D., professor of clinical surgery and surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program, has helped pioneer efforts to better understand and treat major post-transplantation complications. These efforts have led to improvements in surgical techniques, and genetic screening and monitoring for organ rejection.


Top