Collaboratively Growing Transplant Across the Pacific Northwest

Standing on-stage in front of a ballroom full of surgeons, hospital executives and medical professionals, Dan Christ didn’t talk about data, outcomes or growth targets. He talked about hope.

“I cannot think of a greater purpose than hope,” Dan said. “Thank you for being hope-givers.”

A few years ago, Dan spent 200 gravely ill days in the hospital on the transplant waiting list, anxiously awaiting a new heart, unsure if it would ever come. Dan clung to hope and eventually received his new heart — saving his life.

On Feb. 27 — the three-year anniversary of when Dan found out he’d be getting a new heart — he shared his powerful donation story to kick off the second annual Transplant Growth Collaboration (TGC) event in the Pacific Northwest, hosted by LifeCenter Northwest.

Representatives from Washington and Oregon transplant centers, LifeCenter staff, hospital leaders and national transplant growth leaders all gathered at the TGC event to share ideas and take action to maximize the gift of life for patients in need, like Dan, across the Pacific Northwest.

This TGC event is part of a larger movement called the National Community Partnership for Donation and Transplant Growth — a national grassroots initiative bringing together transplant centers, hospitals and organ procurement organizations like LifeCenter Northwest. This movement is making a difference.

Across the Pacific Northwest, as you can see in the table below, organ transplant volumes grew significantly from 2024 to 2025. This is a testament to the collective efforts of transplant centers, hospitals and the donation community — and the momentum has continued into 2026!

Surgeons and leaders from some of these local transplant centers — Swedish Medical Center, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, and Virginia Mason Medical Center — presented at the Feb. 27 event about how they’ve been inspired to grow “boldly, but safely” by LifeCenter’s TGC events. All these transplant centers are also donor hospitals, experiencing both sides of the system.

Providence Inland Northwest Chief Executive Susan Stacey, who oversees Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, spoke passionately about her team’s deep commitment to both donation and transplantation — not as separate missions, but as deeply connected work. As she shared, 52 Sacred Heart organ donors donated a record 170 organs in 2025, which were successfully transplanted across the country:

In addition to local transplant center highlights, three nationally recognized transplant growth leaders spoke at the TGC and shared their “secret sauce” for achieving dynamic transplant growth while maintaining excellent outcomes for their patients:

• Kidney Transplant Growth — Dr. Jonathan Berger of NYU Langone Health
• Liver Transplant Growth — Dr. Amit Mathur of Mayo Clinic in Arizona
• Heart Transplant Growth — Dr. Aaron Williams of Vanderbilt University

Their powerful presentations reinforced a shared conviction: that proven practices, when spread intentionally across programs, can produce results that once seemed impossible.

“When we unite around bold goals and commit to the organized spread of proven practices, we can achieve results that once seemed impossible,” said Dennis Wagner, a nationally recognized leader and expert in healthcare quality improvement who helped organize LifeCenter’s TGC events. “This is the right work at exactly the right time.”

The energy in the room didn’t end when the event did. Early survey responses from attendees have echoed the enthusiasm of the day, with participants highlighting the value of cross-program collaboration and the inspiration they took from the speakers and each other.

We celebrate every life saved, and we’re proud that more than 1,300 patients waitlisted in Washington and Oregon last year received their transplant. However, 92 people listed for transplant in Washington and Oregon still died on the waiting list in 2025.

That’s why this work matters. Every donor hero. Every family. Every recipient. The donation and transplant community continues to work relentlessly to honor each gift and save more lives than ever before.