Penn Medicine Celebrates 60 Years Of Transplantation Milestones, Including Uterus And lung Successes
USA: Penn Medicine marked six decades of organ transplantation with a ceremony honoring patients, donors and clinicians who shaped a program that began with a kidney transplant in 1966. Since that first success, the Penn Transplant Institute has performed more than 15,000 solid organ transplant procedures, growing into a national leader in surgical innovation and patient care.
The anniversary put a spotlight on a rare and life-changing procedure: uterine transplantation. The program’s first uterus transplant was performed in 2018, and one recipient, Stephanie Collado, received a uterus via a living donor procurement on Halloween 2023. That operation enabled the birth of her son, Rome, now one year old, and positions Penn among a handful of U.S. centers offering uterus transplantation to people born without a uterus.
The day also celebrated long-term survival after lung transplantation. South Jersey former firefighter Mike Marinelli underwent his first of two lung transplants at 34 and continues to live with a transplanted lung more than three decades later. His story—walking his daughter down the aisle and watching four grandchildren grow—was presented as a testament to the life-extension and quality-of-life gains possible through lung transplantation. Clinicians noted that Penn performed its first lung transplant in 1991 and has since completed 6,683 lung transplants.
Throughout the event, clinicians and recipients emphasized both surgical progress and the human stakes of organ procurement and transplantation. The program’s achievements span kidneys, lungs, uteruses and other solid organs, reflecting years of clinical refinement, living-donor partnerships, and multidisciplinary care that aim to convert medical breakthroughs into lasting family and community outcomes.
Video originally published on 2026-02-10 18:48:41
