Message from the Director

Vanderbilt has a storied history of innovation in the practice of solid organ transplantation and transplant research. The Vanderbilt Center for Transplant Science (VCTS) was founded in 2024 by VUMC’s leaders as a visionary investment to improve the lives of patients with end-stage organ disease. 

Vanderbilt’s transplant leaders were convinced that the next major advances in transplant research will emerge through programs that leverage insights from a range of clinical and scientific disciplines, including immunology, genetics, data science, behavioral health, economics, epidemiology and bioengineering. Moreover, many solutions to the long-standing problems of transplantation, such as better vaccines or immunosuppression monitoring strategies or tools to promote medication adherence, will have applications across more than one organ. 

As a result, VCTS has an interdisciplinary structure and focus. The VCTS supports the full spectrum of transplant science, spanning basic science to health services research. The Center seeks to promote scientific collaboration across organ-specific transplant teams and to integrate efforts between adult and pediatric transplant researchers. Notably, the Center’s creation emerged through direct investments from the Departments of surgery, medicine, pediatrics, biostatistics as well as psychiatry and behavioral health. 

Additionally, the vision for the Center was refined through advice and support from the leadership of many other centers on Vanderbilt’s campus. I am thrilled at the opportunity to assemble a leadership team that has already brought new cohesion to VUMC’s incredible campus of scientists. The process of realizing the mission of the VCTS - catalyzing new opportunities to advance transplant science at VUMC – is well underway. 

Peter Reese, MD, PhD
Director
Professor of Surgery, Medicine,
and Biostatistics
Section of Surgical Sciences