University Medical Center held its 25th annual picnic for heart and lung transplant recipients, candidates and their families and friends on Saturday, March 12, at University of Arizona Mall.
This year’s gathering brought patients together with physicians and staff to celebrate two milestones for the program: federal approval of the CardioWest Temporary Total Artificial Heart and the completion of more than 700 heart transplants.
Jack Copeland, MD, chief of cardiothoracic surgery and a co-director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, was presented with an award in honor of his leadership in transplant medicine. Dr. Copeland performed UMC’s first heart transplant on March 27, 1979, and performed the world’s first use of a total artificial heart as a bridge to transplant.
Former Arizona legislator Leo Corbett, who was kept alive on the CardioWest before receiving a heart transplant, was master of ceremonies.
UMC’s heart transplant recipients have among the highest survival rates in the world — 92 percent at one year and 76 percent at five years, compared with 87 percent and 72 percent nationally (national statistics from the United Network for Organ Sharing).
