Top-rated facilities for organ transplant treatment in North America: A Data-Driven Institutional Guide

When evaluating top-rated facilities for organ transplant treatment in North America, the primary reference point is risk-adjusted outcome data published by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), the federally administered body that collects and reports performance metrics for every UNOS-designated transplant program in the United States. 1 Understanding which centers consistently meet or exceed national survival benchmarks across multiple organ types requires parsing this data carefully, since performance on one organ program does not imply equivalent performance on another. 2

How Transplant Centers Are Evaluated and Regulated

All transplant centers operating in the United States must hold designation from UNOS and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) under federal oversight. 3 The SRTR publishes program-specific reports on a rolling basis, evaluating each organ program independently using risk-adjusted survival estimates that account for patient complexity. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also provides publicly available quality information through its hospital comparison tools, supplementing SRTR data as an additional evaluative layer. 4

Organ allocation within this system is governed by OPTN policy based on blood type, medical urgency, geography, and organ-specific criteria rather than simple waitlist position. 2 National median wait times vary substantially by organ type and patient profile. For kidney recipients, the national median wait from listing to transplant averages approximately 1,825 days, while liver candidates typically wait around 180 days and heart candidates approximately 135 days under current allocation frameworks. 2

Vanderbilt Transplant Center: Largest by Volume in the United States

The Vanderbilt Transplant Center (VTC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, performed 960 solid organ transplants in 2025, the highest volume ever recorded by a single center in a single calendar year in the United States, according to data from UNOS. 5 This total included a world-record 210 adult and pediatric heart transplants, a milestone the VTC achieved for the second consecutive year. The lung transplant program also set an institutional record with 149 adult transplants, ranking it second in the country for lung transplant volume. 5

The VTC was founded in 1989 by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, MD, with the stated mission of consolidating multiple organ programs under a unified patient-centered structure. 6 The center saved 85 additional critically ill patients in 2025 compared to 2024, a year-over-year improvement that underscores the capacity growth achieved through coordinated multidisciplinary expansion. Pediatric transplantation is conducted at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, which handles complex cases including paired kidney exchange procedures. 7

Mayo Clinic Network: Multi-Campus Performance and Record Volume

The Mayo Clinic system operates high-performing transplant programs across multiple campuses. The Transplant Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona achieved its highest-ever annual transplant volume in 2025 by completing 917 solid organ transplants, according to OPTN data. 8 Over five consecutive years, the Arizona campus has performed more adult solid organ transplants than any other center in the United States, and it previously received international recognition for performing the world's first total larynx transplant on a patient with active cancer. 8

Rochester Methodist Hospital (Mayo Clinic) in Minnesota operates 6 organ programs covering kidney, liver, heart, lung, kidney-pancreas, and pancreas. According to SRTR Program-Specific Reports from November 2025, the Minnesota campus reported approximately 1,727 transplant procedures in the most recent cohort, with a heart transplant one-year graft survival rate of 100.0%, compared to a risk-adjusted national benchmark of 85.5%. 9 Mayo Clinic Florida similarly operates 6 organ programs and reported approximately 1,900 procedures in the same reporting period, also achieving a 100.0% one-year heart graft survival rate against the same 85.5% national benchmark. 10

Leading Academic Medical Centers: Penn Medicine, NYU Langone, and Montefiore Einstein

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Transplant Institute) operates 6 organ programs and reported approximately 2,142 transplant procedures in the most recent SRTR cohort. The strongest one-year graft survival rate at this center is 100.0% for kidney-pancreas transplants, versus a risk-adjusted national benchmark of 94.9%, and 4 of its 6 programs meet or exceed national benchmarks. 11 Penn Medicine has performed over 15,000 solid organ transplant procedures in total across more than six decades, making it the largest transplant center in its region, with active programs spanning heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, islet, uterus, and hand transplantation. 12

NYU Langone's kidney transplant program holds the highest quality outcomes and largest volume in New York State and ranks second in the United States according to SRTR data. Surgeons performed 242 deceased donor and 96 living donor kidney transplants in 2024, and both the living donor kidney and liver programs achieved 100 percent organ and patient survival after one year. 13 NYU Langone is notably the only program in the nation to perform over 70 living donor kidney transplants while achieving 100 percent organ and patient survival. 13 The Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation in New York holds rankings in the top 1% of all hospitals nationally for complex specialty transplant care, according to U.S. News and World Report, and performed the first lung-liver transplant in New York State. 14

Additional High-Volume Centers: Cedars-Sinai, UCHealth, Northwestern, and CHI St. Luke's

The Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Smidt Heart Institute completed 677 solid organ transplants in 2025, setting institutional records in liver and lung transplant volume. 15 The liver program's growth was partially attributed to the expanded use of machine perfusion technology, which circulates oxygen-rich solution through donor organs to extend viability and improve pre-transplant assessment. 15 UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital reached multiple cumulative milestones in 2025, completing its 1,000th lung transplant, 1,000th heart transplant, 5,000th kidney transplant, and 3,000th liver transplant, contributing to more than 10,000 total transplant surgeries since the program's founding in 1962. 16

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago performed the first known quadruple-organ transplant involving retransplanted lungs in the United States in March 2026, according to SRTR records. The patient received two donor lungs for a second time alongside a liver and a kidney, making Northwestern only the sixth program in the country to perform a quadruple-organ transplant and the first to perform one with retransplanted lungs. 17 CHI St. Luke's Health Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center in Texas operates 4 organ programs and reported approximately 1,408 transplant procedures in the SRTR November 2025 cohort, achieving a 100.0% one-year heart graft survival rate against the 85.5% national benchmark, with 3 of 4 programs meeting or exceeding national standards. 18

Institutional Comparison: Key Metrics Across Top-Rated Centers

Eligibility, Waitlist Realities, and Risks to Understand

Transplant candidacy is determined through a comprehensive multi-disciplinary evaluation that assesses medical suitability, psychosocial stability, financial planning capacity, and infectious disease status. Patients who are listed may experience prolonged waiting periods that vary by organ type, geographic allocation region, and blood type compatibility. Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital, for instance, achieved a one-year liver graft survival rate of 98.42% against a national rate of 92.37%, yet as of January 2026 had completed 638 total liver transplants, illustrating that experience accumulates over years rather than a single high-volume period. 19

Post-transplant outcomes depend heavily on adherence to lifelong immunosuppression regimens, regular follow-up monitoring, and management of rejection episodes or infections. SRTR data specifically excludes programs below statistical volume thresholds, meaning some organ-specific programs at otherwise large centers may show limited comparative data in any given reporting window. 9 Patients evaluating centers are advised by regulatory bodies including SRTR and UNOS to consult directly with a transplant team, as published metrics are risk-adjusted estimates rather than guarantees of individual outcomes. All data in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. 1

Sources

1. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) - srtr.org
2. PlainTransplant - plaintransplant.com (SRTR Program-Specific Reports, November 2025)
3. United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) - unos.org
4. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare - medicare.gov/care-compare
5. Vanderbilt Health News - news.vumc.org (January 14, 2026: Vanderbilt Transplant Center nation's largest after performing record number of solid organ transplants in 2025)
6. Vanderbilt Health News - news.vumc.org (July 8, 2026: Gala celebrates Vanderbilt Transplant Center as No. 1 in the nation)
7. Vanderbilt Health News - news.vumc.org (Pediatric solid organ transplant program transforms young lives)
8. Mayo Clinic News Network - newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org (February 19, 2026: Transplant Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona sets a five-year national record)
9. PlainTransplant - plaintransplant.com/center/rochester-methodist-hospital-mayo-clinic-mn
10. PlainTransplant - plaintransplant.com/center/mayo-clinic-florida-fl
11. PlainTransplant - plaintransplant.com/center/hospital-of-the-university-of-pennsylvania-pa
12. Penn Medicine - pennmedicine.org/specialties/transplant
13. PR Newswire / News-Medical.net (October 16, 2025: NYU Langone Health Rated Top-Quality Kidney, Liver and Lung Transplant Programs in New York)
14. Montefiore Einstein Advanced Care - montefioreeinsteinadvancedcare.org/services/transplant-care
15. Cedars-Sinai Newsroom - cedars-sinai.org (February 26, 2026: Cedars-Sinai Achieves Record Liver, Lung Transplants in 2025)
16. Daily Transplant News - dailytransplantnews.com (February 19, 2026: UCHealth marks 10,000 transplants and 60 years of innovation)
17. Northwestern Medicine News - news.nm.org (July 14, 2026: Northwestern Medicine performs first known quadruple-organ transplant involving retransplanted lungs)
18. PlainTransplant - plaintransplant.com/center/chi-st-lukes-health-baylor-college-of-medicine-medical-center-tx
19. Cleveland Clinic Newsroom - newsroom.clevelandclinic.org (February 17, 2026: Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital Recognized by SRTR for Liver Transplant Program Excellence)