To find out more, you can read Three Decades of Transplantation, which provides an historical overview, as well as our most recent MOTP booklet that highlights our innovative clinical and research work.
Transplant Milestones
- late 1950s first kidney transplants in London are done at St. Joseph's Hospital using living-related donors
- 1972 official opening of University Hospital (UH)
- 1973 UH transplant program begins with its first kidney transplant
- 1975 first living-related kidney transplant at UH
- 1977 first liver transplant at UH
- 1979 University Hospital is chosen as one of five North American centres to conduct a patient study on the benefits and side effects of the new anti-rejection drug, cyclosporine
- 1981 first heart transplant at UH
- 1983 first heart-lung transplant in Canada is done at UH
- 1983 first pediatric heart transplant in Ontario is done at UH
- 1984 first pediatric liver transplant in Ontario is done at UH
- 1987 the Multi-Organ Transplant Unit opens, August 31
- 1988 our centre performs its first bowel transplant; that same year, we successfully perform a combined liver and bowel transplant, which is the first in the world
- 1989 our first lung transplant
- 1989 London's first bone marrow transplant
- 1990 first multi-organ transplant (liver, small bowel, stomach, and pancreas) in Canada is done at UH
- 1993 our centre performs a living-related liver transplant (mother to child), the first time that this is done in Canada
- 1994 our liver transplant program develops a clinical pathway, reducing the average length of hospital stay, the number of medical tests, and the amount of medication without affecting patient care
- 1995 University Hospital and Victoria Hospital merge as the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC)
- 1997 domino heart-lung transplant
- 1997 our team transplants the liver, bowel, stomach, and pancreas into a 5-month-old infant, the world's youngest recipient of a multi-organ transplant
- 1997 our transplant team performs its first split-liver transplant (one liver was divided into two parts so two patients could be transplanted)
- 2000 the first adult-to-adult living liver transplant in Canada is done at our centre
- 2001 London performs its 1000th liver transplant
- 2001 en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant
- 2004 we perform our first kidney-pancreas transplant
- 2006 DCD (donation after circulatory death) liver & kidney donors successfully used for transplants
- 2008 DCD kidney-pancreas donor and transplant
- 2008 pediatric DCD kidney transplant
- 2010 DCD en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant
- 2010 VAD used to support a patient until donated heart becomes available
- 2011 one donated pancreas is split into two, allowing two patients to each receive a kidney-pancreas transplant
- 2011 Matthew Mailing Centre for Translational Transplant Studies officially opens
- 2012 600th heart transplant done, the most of any Canadian centre
- 2013 robotic-assisted, single-incision living donor kidney nephrectomy
- 2019 the Multi-Organ Transplant Program performs its 6,000 transplant
Canadian firsts
- 1956 heart valves are transplanted for the first time worldwide (Toronto, Ontario)
- 1958 living-related kidney transplant between identical twins (Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec)
- 1963 Canada's first successful kidney transplants using deceased donors are done in Montreal (Royal Victoria Hospital), London (St. Joseph's Hospital), and Saskatoon (St. Paul's Hospital)
- 1968 heart transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
- 1970 liver transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
- 1974 bone marrow transplant (Toronto, Ontario)
- 1983 lung transplant (Toronto, Ontario), which was the first successful lung transplant in the world
- 1983 first heart-lung transplant in Canada is done at our centre (London, Ontario)
- 1986 double lung transplant (Toronto, Ontario), the world's first successful double lung transplant
- 1990 Canada's first multi-organ transplant (liver, small bowel, stomach and pancreas) is done (London, Ontario)
- 1993 living-related liver transplant (London, Ontario) is done for the first time in Canada when a parent donates a portion of her liver to her son
- 1995 pig liver tissue is used temporarily to keep a patient alive until a human liver became available for transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
- 1999 first double lung transplant using living donors (two people each donated part of a lung to the recipient) (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
- 2000 first adult-to-adult living liver transplant done in Canada (London, Ontario)
- 2006 DCD (donation after circulatory death) liver donor successfully used for transplant (London, Ontario)
- 2008 DCD kidney-pancreas donor and transplant (London, Ontario)
- 2008 pediatric DCD kidney transplant (London, Ontario)
- 2010 DCD en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant (London, Ontario)
- 2011 split pancreas, transplanted with a kidney (London, Ontario)
- 2011 Matthew Mailing Centre for Translational Transplant Studies opens, a national and international leader in microsurgery and translational research (London, Ontario)
- 2012 600th heart transplant done, the most of any Canadian centre (London, Ontario)
- 2013 robotic-assisted, single-incision living donor kidney nephrectomy (London, Ontario)
- 2024 first A-NRP abdominal retrieval performed – expanding the donor pool (London, Ontario)
