Affiliated: Find a Doctor | What is a Kidney Transplant? | UCLA Kidney Transplant Program
The UCLA Kidney Transplant Program is one of the largest, most successful, and highly respected programs in the country. Over 50 years ago UCLA urologists were the first to treat rejection with prednisone and this innovation continued as our surgical team performed the first transcontinental chain in July 2008, and today has the thriving UCLA Kidney Exchange Program coupled with the UCLA Kidney Voucher Program. In July 2015, the new Connie Frank Kidney Transplant Center, located in the Peter Morton Medical Building at 200 UCLA Medical Plaza, opened its doors to patients. In 2017, the UCLA Kidney Transplant Program was the busiest transplant program in the nation having performed 363 kidney transplants.
UCLA has some of the best outcomes within the United States, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a national database of organ transplant statistics.
Every year, UCLA's transplant surgeons perform approximately 300 renal transplants in both adult and pediatric patients, making it the largest program in Southern California, with a multidisciplinary team of experts from Urology, Transplantation Services, Nephrology, Cardiology, Infectious Diseases, Nursing and Psychiatry.
Department of Urology faculty member H. Albin Gritsch, MD, serves as Surgical Director of the UCLA Kidney Transplant Program and Jeffrey Veale, MD serves as the Director of the UCLA Kidney Exchange Program.
UCLA Tops the KPD Charts in 2016
UCLA #1 in United States for Kidney Exchanges - View Larger Image >
UCLA Kidney Exchange Program
"Opens Floodgates" to Transplants
for Hundreds of Patients
NBC | KTLA | CBS
Kidney Transplant Chains
Help to Keep Patients
and Hope Alive Article on uclahealth.org
Triple Kidney Transplant
Webcast
Kidney Transplant Chain
Two altruistic donors launch rare
kidney transplant chains at UCLA.
Webcast
N.Y. Times Showcases Massive
Kidney-Exchange Chain
Webcast and Article
For more than 50 years, UCLA Urology specialists have broken new ground and set the standards of care for kidney transplantation. UCLA is among the pioneers for transplantation, and in the late 1950’s performed some of the earliest kidney transplants in the Unites States and, in 1961, performed the first infant-to-infant transplant in the world. Today the UCLA Kidney Transplant Program is one of the busiest in the country, currently the third largest program in the United States with a 3-year graft survival that has been statistically better than the national average for over 20 years.
In 1951 Dr. Willard Goodwin was recruited to UCLA to establish a Division of Urology within the UCLA School of Medicine, and in 1963 he established UCLA’s Kidney Transplant Program. Dr. Goodwin pioneered the use of prednisone to combat rejection after organ transplantation. This was the first time steroids were utilized to treat rejection, and this practice is still commonly used today. About our History >
The UCLA Kidney Transplant Program’s milestones are many, and include:
UCLA is one of the first programs in the country to offer “donor exchanges” and to use the kidney voucher program. The innovative UCLA Kidney Exchange Program, led by UCLA urologist Dr. Jeffrey Veale, enables kidney transplant recipients who have willing but incompatible living donors to exchange kidneys with compatible donors. In February 2012 the New York Times ran a front-page article on the longest paired U.S. kidney exchange chain to date, involving 30 kidneys and 60 people across the country. UCLA’s kidney transplant team handled 16 of the patients, the largest number of all participating hospitals. Read more at nytimes.com >,
Learn more about the UCLA Kidney Exchange Program >
Learn more about the UCLA Kidney Voucher Program >
A kidney transplant is surgery to place a healthy kidney into a person with kidney failure. Other names for a kidney transplant are: Renal transplant, Transplant – kidney, and Kidney Transplantation. Kidney transplants are one of the most common transplant operations in the United States. More about Adult Kidney Transplantation at UCLA >, and Pediatric Kidney Transplantation at UCLA >
UCLA has one of the country’s largest kidney transplantation programs, overseen by surgeon-scientists who are leaders in the field. To 
learn more, please visit our UCLA Transplant Services website >
UCLA is dedicated to providing the best possible care to patients diagnosed with end-stage renal disease. Its expert physicians and nurses from the Department of Urology, the Division of Nephrology, and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center work closely to achieve the most successful outcomes. The UCLA Kidney Transplant Program is one of the nation's leaders in the field. The generosity of its donors has been essential to its growth. All gifts are appreciated, and your contribution will help ensure the continuation of excellent patient care and research initiatives. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
To make an appointment with a UCLA Kidney Transplant Physician, please call: (310) 267-6907 or (310) 794-2857.
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