University Medical Center's Cardio-Thoracic Transplant Program performed its 900th transplant on March 22, 2006.

David Phillips, 49, of Glendale, Arizona, who was suffering from interstitial lung disease, received a double-lung transplant during a procedure led by cardiothoracic surgeon Kimberly Gandy, MD, PhD.

"Mr. Phillips is a wonderful man who has devoted more than twenty years of his life to the armed services," said Dr. Gandy. "Previously fit and healthy, he became severely debilitated by his disease. We anticipate that this transplant will give him a new lease on life."

To date, Cardio-Thoracic Transplant Program surgeons have performed 754 heart transplants, 54 heart-lung transplants, 50 single-lung transplants and 44 double-lung transplants.

Jack G. Copeland, MD, chief of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at UMC, started the cardiothoracic transplant program in 1979, then one of the first six heart transplant centers in the United States.

Dr. Copeland, who is also the co-director of the Sarver Heart Center at The University of Arizona, made Arizona medical history when he performed the state's first heart transplant on March 27, 1979. The patient, Norman "Dutch" Tarr of Tucson, lived for more than four years with his new heart.

Recently, Dr. Copeland's team opened a new chapter in pediatric heart surgery with the successful use of the Berlin Heart assist device in two baby girls suffering from life-threatening heart failure.

15-month old Tiana Lopez and 8-month old Itxair Rodriguez received the assist device, which is not readily available in the United States, after Dr. Copeland and Rich Smith, technical director of the Artificial Heart Program, filed an emergency use request with the FDA.

Following a spectacular recovery with the help of the assist device, both girls have since left the hospital and are no longer in need of a heart transplant.