Vanderbilt Health performed more than 200 adult and pediatric heart transplants in 2025, surpassing its previous annual record and becoming the first U.S. center to reach that milestone in a single year. The Nashville-based institution completed 174 heart transplants in 2024.

The new total includes 16 pediatric and more than 185 adult transplants, with 29 of the recipients being U.S. veterans. Twenty patients underwent multiorgan procedures, including 16 heart-kidney transplants, two heart-liver, and two heart-lung transplants.

“We’re tremendously proud to surpass 200,” said Dr. Kelly Schlendorf, medical director of the adult heart transplant program and section chief of heart failure and transplantation. “While this number may sound small, it’s unheard of for a single center until now.”
Dr. Ashish Shah, chair of cardiac surgery and holder of the Alfred Blalock Directorship, noted the complexity of the final case of the year. “Consider that the 200th was from a donor whose heart was thought unusable by local teams. That the 200th was for an immunologically complex recipient. That the 200th pushed our high-performing team to make it happen in short order.”

Vanderbilt credits a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, nurses, intensivists, and organ recovery staff for sustaining the volume and quality of its transplant operations. The program also uses donor management and heart preservation techniques developed at the center to expand organ availability.

Schlendorf emphasized that the number reflects more than volume. “More important than the number, however, is what it represents: innovation, courage, incredibly hard work and, most importantly, the patients behind the number and the trust they put in Vanderbilt to care for them.”

The team’s work is supported by institutional backing and infrastructure that continue to enable high-complexity care at scale, according to both Shah and Schlendorf.

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