Johns Hopkins is First and Only Center in the United States Approved for HIV-Positive to HIV-Positive Organ Transplants

Johns Hopkins recently received approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to be the first hospital in the U.S. to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants. The institution will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and the first in the world to execute an HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant.

“This is an unbelievably exciting day for our hospital and our team, but more importantly for patients living with HIV and end-stage organ disease. For these individuals, this means a new chance at life,” says Dorry L. Segev, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

This announcement brings to fruition the exhausting two-year effort Segev put into helping draft and push through the 2013 HOPE Act — a bill signed by President Obama that made it possible for HIV-positive individuals to donate organs, and one of only 57 bills passed in 2013 by the most unproductive Congress in the history of the United States.

More

“It’s great to see Johns Hopkins Medicine lead the nation in being the first hospital to receive approval to perform life-saving organ transplants on HIV-positive patients. As a physician for nearly 30 years who has conducted medical research, I know firsthand how medical innovation often outpaces government laws and regulations. We passed the HOPE Act knowing that hospitals across the country would move forward and provide these transplants – saving the lives of many of those living with HIV, and having a huge impact on the medical community in general,” said Congressman Andy Harris.