With patient outcomes in the nation’s top 10%, the UF Health Shands Transplant Center is once again Florida’s foremost destination for transplants. As of July 2023, five organ transplant types demonstrate exceptional results as evaluated by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, or SRTR.

SRTR’s five-tier outcome assessment looks at three main metrics: survival on the waiting list, getting a transplant faster and one-year organ survival.

Currently, around 100,000 people are awaiting lifesaving organ transplants in the United States. According to the data, anyone who comes to UF Health Shands Hospital for a transplant can rest assured they’ll be cared for by experts in the field.

The patient, who is in his 50s and has asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, tested positive for COVID-19 in April. The virus’s progression left his lungs severely damaged and unable to function properly. Once physicians deemed it safe, he was transported from Texas, his home state, to Florida to await a transplant.

But before the procedure could take place, the advanced lung disease multidisciplinary team at UF Health, focused their efforts on physically rehabilitating him while determining whether a transplant was his best choice.

“When he came to us, he was 100% dependent on ECMO, a form of life support, for more than two months,” said Tiago Machuca, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the division of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the lung transplant program. “Our goal was to use the initial time he was under our care to not only optimize his transplant candidacy but also investigate if his lung condition was truly end-stage.”

The $967,957 award from the Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program will be used to acquire an array of monitoring and diagnostic equipment, including tablet and laptop computers as well as Wi-Fi access points. It will also be used for specialized home monitoring equipment such as internet-connected stethoscopes, electrocardiogram equipment for heart monitoring, blood pressure cuffs, continuous blood-glucose monitors, and otoscopes for ear, nose and throat evaluation.

“This will enable all pediatric specialties to reach patients who cannot visit our practices and who have not had access to our providers previously through telemedicine,” said Desmond Schatz, M.D., interim chair of the UF College of Medicine’s department of pediatrics — part of UF Health, the university’s academic health center — and interim physician-in-chief of UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital.

The cardiology and heart surgery program was ranked at No. 12 in the nation, while diabetes and endocrinology program earned the No. 22 spot. The pulmonology program was ranked at No. 27.

The U.S. News Best Children’s Hospital rankings are compiled from clinical data at nearly 200 medical centers and an annual survey of pediatric specialists across the country.

The hospital was ranked in five medical specialties: pediatric cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, neurology and neurosurgery and pulmonology and lung surgery.

UF Health Shands’ pediatric cancer program rose to No. 25 (up 24 spots from last year). The pediatric cardiology and heart surgery program moved up eight places to 11th in the nation, according to a press release from UF Health Shands. Diabetes and endocrinology program rose to No. 19 (up from 27th). Neurology and neurosurgery ranked 42nd (up from 50th) and pulmonology 22nd (same as last year).