Author Archives: jarvisjo

Twenty years ago, on July 25–26, 2006, a 16-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis underwent a second lung transplant at UNC. Dana Sharpe’s first transplant, performed at Duke five years earlier, was no longer providing the future she needed. When Duke stopped performing pediatric lung transplants, the team reached out to...

Chapel Hill, N.C. – As the Democratic Republic of the Congo grapples with its fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, Dr. Rachel Niehuus, MD, PhD, a trauma surgeon and medical anthropologist at the UNC School of Medicine, has joined the global conversation as a featured guest on the prestigious Africa Aware podcast from...

The UNC ECMO Program has been awarded the Platinum Level Center of Excellence designation by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), the highest distinction granted through the ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support. The designation recognizes programs that demonstrate exceptional performance in evidence-based care, quality improvement, staff education, patient-centered care...

The UNC Department of Surgery, in collaboration with Radiation Oncology, Anesthesiology and Interventional Radiology, is proud to announce the successful completion of its first histotripsy treatment. This unique operation was performed on a patient with metastatic gastric cancer without interruption of his systemic therapy, marking a significant milestone for the...

When Cristy Brewer needed a liver transplant, coworker Ana Cooke made the selfless decision to become a living donor. UNC surgeons Chirag Desai and Sorabh Kapoor led the complex transplant procedure that gave Brewer a second chance at life while ensuring Cooke’s safety as a donor. Their work highlights the...

After surviving devastating burns at just 6 years old, Elena Castro Rivera is now helping other children heal through advocacy and support. Her inspiring journey was made possible in part by the compassionate care and expertise of UNC’s Jaycee Burn Center and Dr. Felicia Williams, whose dedication helped guide her recovery during...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — UNC Health now offers kidney transplants from donors with HIV to recipients with HIV, dramatically shortening wait times for carefully selected patients living with HIV. This progress builds on more than a decade of experience under the federal HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act and UNC’s integrated expertise...