Since its inception, the lung transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian has seen more than 1,600 patients receive organs. But, as one of the oldest and most experienced centers in the world, this did not come without some challenges. In the late 1980s, access to donor lungs was extremely limited which made transplanting patients difficult. Once joining the program in 2001, Dr. Selim Arcasoy and his team had a vision to change that. Over the course of two decades, the lung transplant team has been dedicated to building a robust program that utilizes years of experience and the latest tools to ensure that even the sickest patients have the opportunity to receive lung transplants.
The field of lung transplantation is relatively new with widespread lung transplants beginning in the early 1980s. Throughout the last forty years, it is a field that has rapidly evolved with drastic changes in lung allocation, or deciding who will receive the next available lungs for transplantation. Dr. Selim Arcasoy has led the NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia Lung Transplant Program through these changes since 2001. Thanks to his dedication to improving lung allocation and foundational research, the program has been a catalyst in changing how lung allocation works in New York and beyond. These policies, in conjunction with Dr. Arcasoy's talented team, clinical research and state of the art tools, have led to greater numbers of patients receiving life-saving transplants.
