In December, Duke transplant surgeons performed the state’s and region’s first organ transplant from a deceased HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient. This type of transplant had been illegal until just a few years ago, but the federal law was changed after clinical evidence demonstrated it was safe.
North Carolina had a separate law, and Duke physicians were instrumental in getting that law changed, enabling this first N.C. transplant between a donor and recipient who are both HIV positive. Duke Department of Medicine faculty Cameron Wolfe, MBBS, associate professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases), and Carl Berg, MD, professor of medicine (Gastroenterology) and director of the Liver Transplant program, were part of the team providing care.