Transplant Center

Treating Cardiovascular Diseases in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois

Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center Transplant Services has provided state of the art medical and surgical care to the transplant community for over 40 years. Our care begins before the transplant procedure and continues during surgery, throughout recovery and afterward.

Our mission is to help patients with end-stage organ failure live well through advanced medical and surgical therapies.

In carrying out our mission, we adhere to the following goals:

  • To communicate the results of our assessment and plan to the referring physician, our patient and his or her family members in a timely manner and in ways they understand
  • To meet each patient’s physical, and psychosocial, and spiritual needs in all phases of evaluation and treatment
  • To offer each patient and family the benefit of our full multidisciplinary team approach to care
  • To provide a comprehensive assessment of each patient’s condition and a thorough review of his or her medical and surgical treatment alternatives
  • To provide superior patient outcomes as measured by national transplant statistics and criteria for excellence in the transplant industry
  • To utilize a comprehensive and dynamic Transplant Quality Plan to guide our care and services

We offer our patients access to the latest technological tools, including:

  • Specialized transplant electronic medical records (EMR) (Epic/Phoenix) to maintain a transplant database, meet reporting requirements and deliver care that is seamless and well coordinated among the many providers caring for transplant patients
  • Ventricular assist devices, which often are used as a bridge to a heart transplant

In short, our patient care is multidisciplinary, well coordinated, patient focused and quality driven, which leads to better outcomes and high patient loyalty.

Proven Leadership

Aurora St. Luke’s has a long and well-respected history of providing transplant care to patients with end-stage organ failure. To demonstrate our leadership, Aurora St. Luke’s:

  • Has performed more than 750 heart transplants, which makes us a leader in the nation
  • Was the first hospital in Wisconsin to implant a ventricular assist device as a bridge transplant
  • Is a national leader in the volume of Ventricular Assist Devices implanted as destinatino therapy or bridge to transplant
  • Was the first hospital in Wisconsin to perform a heart transplant

In both our thoracic (chest) and abdominal transplant programs, our medical and surgical teams are second to none when it comes to expertise, training and commitment to patient-centered care.

Andrew Boyle, MD and Frank Downey, MD lead our thoracic team and bring many decades of experience and outstanding reputations to our program.

Providing Medical and Social Services 

Our multidisciplinary teams enable us to provide patients with extensive medical and social services before, during and after transplantation. Our specialized RN transplant coordinators help patients through all phases of their care and work collaboratively with other specialists and providers.

Members of our multi-disciplinary transplant teams include:

  • Transplant cardiologists
  • Critical care experts
  • Dieticians
  • Infectious disease experts
  • Nephrologists (kidney specialists)
  • Nurses
  • Pharmacists
  • Physicians
  • Social workers
  • Cardiac Surgeons
  • 24/7 clinical engineer support

Along with our medical expertise, we provide the following multidisciplinary services:

  • Designated transplant financial coordinators
  • Nutrition services
  • Psychological assessment and treatment
  • Specialized transplant pharmacy

To meet our patients’ needs, our nurses and physicians are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Location and Contact Information

Main Office

Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center Transplant Services
Ardyce Peters, Director
2900 W. Oklahoma Ave. 5th Floor Galleria
Milwaukee, WI 53215

For more information or to schedule an appointment with transplant services, please call:

Thoracic Transplant Program (heart): 414-646-5410
Abdominal Transplant Program (liver, kidney and pancreas): 414-646-2550