Patricia A. Sheiner, MD
Director, Transplantation Program

Transplanting an organ from one living person to another requires a level of expertise few hospitals possess. Hartford Hospital has been performing transplants since 1971, performing Connecticut’s first successful kidney and heart transplants. Today, we still perform more heart transplants than any hospital in the state. 

  • Leads the North East for the past 2 years in number of heart transplants
  • Outcomes are at or above national standards

Hartford Hospital opened its new transplant center in 2013. The center provides a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, utilizing the talents and resources of a broad team with many years of experience in the transplant field.

The Hartford Hospital Transplant Program began in 1971 with the first kidney transplant in Connecticut. In the early 1980’s, the cardiac program evolved and in November 1984, the first successful heart transplant operation was performed in Connecticut at Hartford Hospital.

The Heart Transplant program was founded and developed by Dr. Henry Low. The center is under the direction of Dr. Patricia Sheiner, Director of Transplant Services; Dr. Detlef Wencker, Director the Heart Failure and Transplant Center; Dr. Jonathan A. Hammond, Surgical Director; and Dr. James E. Dougherty, Medical Director.

The program has grown tremendously over the years. It is Medicare certified and continues to have results at or above national standards. In addition, the Heart Transplant Program has a full left ventricular assist device capability and implantable heart mate capability as a bridge to transplantation.

Our goal at the Hartford Hospital Transplant Program is to provide the highest quality patient-centered care in a community setting. Our multidisciplinary approach to patient care utilizes the enormous talents and resources of a broad team. Our physicians, coordinators and nursing staff are all highly trained individuals with many years of experience in the transplant field providing pre-operative, peri-operative and post-transplant care.
 
The Transplant Program is certified by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). In addition, Hartford Hospital is a JCAHO accredited institution and associated with the UCONN Medical School Training Program.
 
The Transplant Program also has an on-site Histocompatibility Laboratory. Our Organ Procurement Organization (LifeChoice Donor Services) is located in Windsor, CT. Finally, all organ programs (kidney, heart and liver) are Medicare certified for transplantation.
 
New initiatives are constantly underway. Some of these include expanding the living donor pool, cryosurgery and associated technologies for liver cancer, increased public presence for our center, centers of excellence designation with third party payors and our laparoscopic and hand-assisted laparoscopic live kidney donation.