University of Michigan Health liver transplant program breaks state record for most liver transplants done in a year and opens new clinic in Grand Rapids

ANN ARBOR, MI – In 2024, the University of Michigan Health Transplant Center’s liver transplant program broke the state of Michigan record for the most liver transplants performed by an institution in a single year.

The program closed out the year with 131 liver transplants completed across adult and pediatric patients. Since the program began in 1985, over 3,000 liver transplants have been performed at U-M Health.

The U-M Health Transplant Center liver transplant program is currently the fastest in the state when it comes to transplanting patients off the waiting list – the metric with the largest impact on survival after listing. This is in addition to the transplant center providing over 400 heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants per year to both adults and children.

In addition to the record-breaking number of liver transplants done in 2024, U-M Health’s Transplant Center has opened a liver transplant evaluation clinic in Grand Rapids. This clinic will allow patients on the west side of the state to be evaluated for a liver transplant without needing to come to Ann Arbor. The clinic began seeing patients on March 21, 2025.

The referral process remains unchanged, and physicians can refer patients to the U-M Health Transplant Center Liver Transplant Program by sending their referrals to Ann Arbor. The Transplant Center team will screen referred patients and offer the new Grand Rapids liver transplant clinic as an option that is close to home.

“Expanding our ability to evaluate patients on the west side of the state closer to their homes is a critical step in increasing access to transplant to more residents of Michigan,” said Christopher Sonnenday, M.D., a U-M liver transplant surgeon and current Transplant Center Director for U-M Health.

“This expansion furthers our mission to make the transplant process smoother for all of our patients while they navigate the complexity of transplant care.”

For more information or media inquiries, please contact Valerie Goodwin at [email protected].