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Liver and Kidney Transplant Service

If you have been diagnosed with advanced liver or kidney disease, choosing an experienced, multidisciplinary team of specialists with access to the latest diagnostic tools and medical and surgical treatment options, is the first step towards managing your condition and living a healthier life. Veterans can now receive this advanced care through a partnership between The Washington DC VA Medical Center and the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute.

VA has provided transplant services to Veterans since 1961. Each year, approximately 1,800 enrolled and medically eligible Veterans undergo transplant evaluation, and approximately 450 Veterans undergo solid organ or bone marrow transplantation at an approved VA Transplant Center. These numbers are expected to rise as the number of VHA Transplant Programs increase.

The Washington DC VA Medical Center has been approved to provide liver and kidney transplantation in conjunction with Medstar Georgetown Transplant Institute (MGTI). This new partnership makes Washington DC VA Medical Center the sixth VA hospital in the country to offer both liver and kidney transplant services to Veterans. 

Our Mission and Purpose

The purpose of this partnership is to increase access to life-saving transplant services for Veterans and to ensure excellent clinical outcomes. Transplant surgery and immediate post-surgical care will occur at our partnering institution, MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, in close collaboration with your VA health care team. Washington DC VA Medical Center will continue to provide care to the Veteran before, during and after a transplant. 

Our mission is to increase awareness of liver and kidney disease as well as transplant options for Veterans, to include living donation.

Safe, Quality Care Through Accreditation

MedStar Georgetown University Transplant Institute, or MGTI, has provided successful transplant services for many years in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. 

MGTI ranks among the top 5 percent of all US programs in the number of kidney transplants performed every year and is a Center of Excellence for the National Kidney Registry (NKR), increasing access to living donation. The NKR is a national registry of approved living donor candidates and kidney transplant recipients. 

MGTI provides liver transplant with the highest-rated outcomes in the region. Surgical techniques at MGTI are cutting-edge and include living donor liver transplant, laparoscopic liver resection and transplant and split-liver transplant.  MGTI patients have liver transplant wait times among the lowest in the country. 

Through this partnership, Veterans will have access to an experienced, multidisciplinary team of specialists with the latest diagnostic tools and medical and surgical treatment options at a convenient, local facility.   

 

Who Is Eligible?

Veterans with chronic kidney disease or advanced liver disease can be considered for transplant evaluation if deemed appropriate by their physician. 

 

Contact Us

You can reach out directly to the Washington DC VA Medical Center Transplant team to learn more about eligibility, transplant services available, pre- and post-surgical care and more. 

Transplant Program Physicians:

Transplant Hepatology

Jessica P. E. Davis, MD

Atoosa Rabiee, MD

Transplant Nephrology

Sharon Bennett, MD

Samir Patel, MD

Liver transplant coordinators:

Carole Daley, RN, 202-745-8000ext. 57413

Crystal Fitzhugh, RN, 202-745-8000ext. 56709

Kidney transplant coordinators:

Wendy Braxton, RN  202-745-8000, ext. 54261

Kristine Trota, RN 202-745-8000, ext. 54260

For general inquiries or to schedule an appointment, contact the medical advice line at 202-745-CARE (2273). 

Meet the Team

Photo of Washington DC VA Medical Center Chief of Transplant Service Dr. Rabiee Atoosa.

Rabiee Atoosa MD

Chief of Transplant Services

VA Washington DC health care

A photo of Washington DC VA Medical Center Liver Transplant Director, Dr. Jessica Davis.

Jessica Davis MD

Liver Transplant Director

VA Washington DC health care