Ukrainian Health Professionals Visit Vanderbilt to Advance Transplant and Cancer Care

A two-week exchange concluding Oct. 2 brought 10 health care professionals from Ukraine to the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the Department of Biomedical Informatics, news.vumc.org reported. The visiting team observed procedures, met with physicians, and gathered scientific knowledge to bring back to their war-torn country. This marks the fifth year that a Ukrainian medical delegation has visited Vanderbilt Health since the Russian invasion began in 2022.

Visiting Physicians from Kyiv Shalimov Center Observe Transplant Procedures

The Shalimov National Scientific Center of Surgery and Transplantation in Kyiv sent a visiting group that consisted of surgeons, physicians, and a digital health consultant. The transplant team was headed by Pavlo Yakovlev, head of Kidney Transplantation at Shalimov, alongside colleagues Oleksii Voroniak, Dmytro Kostiuk, Oksana Maryshchak, and Tetiana Koval. From Sept. 21 to Oct. 2, the team observed all aspects of transplantation, from donor organ procurement to the surgical procedures themselves.

“We came here because we admire the best practices,” Yakovlev said, as reported by news.vumc.org.

We are honored and privileged to be here and to learn from the expertise of physicians who are working here and build on the field of transplantation and medical care.

Pavlo Yakovlev

Oncology and Precision Medicine Teams Expand Genomic Integration

Alongside the transplant specialists, the Ukrainian Oncology and Precision Medicine Team made the trip to Nashville to collaborate with American counterparts. Headed by Oleksii Zubkov, head of the Oncology Division and Head of Biobank at Shalimov, the oncology group included Nataliia Slobodianiuk, Nataliia Savchenko, Oleksandra Ladyzhets, and Vladyslav Karaiev. Ben Ho Park, Director of Vanderbilt-Ingram, praised the visitors. “The resilience and commitment demonstrated by our Ukrainian colleagues are truly inspiring,” Park said, according to news.vumc.org.

Their dedication to serving patients under extraordinary circumstances is a powerful reminder of why this collaboration matters.

Ben Ho Park

Following previous visits to Vanderbilt Health, the Ukrainian Oncology and Precision Medicine Team integrated genomic sequencing and molecular testing into their domestic clinical practice. Park and his fellow staff members imparted knowledge on clinic operations, genetic testing implementation, cellular therapies, advanced surgical techniques, and tumor board models throughout the program.

Operating in Dark Hospitals Under Missile Attacks

Transplant surgeons in Ukraine face extraordinary conditions, performing operations in dark hospitals after power grids have been shattered by war. Yakovlev noted that in Kyiv, it is common to see gas stations on fire during a commute due to missile attacks, and missiles have struck homes and a children’s hospital. Clinicians have spent months sleeping in bomb shelters with their families and pets while continuing to treat thousands of wounded soldiers and civilians.

Logistical constraints also separate Ukrainian hospitals from American centers. While U.S. facilities can deploy helicopters or planes to retrieve donor organs, Ukrainian medical teams cannot use aircraft for fear they might be shot out of the sky. All organs must travel by ground transport, which significantly constrains the reach of the national transplant program. Despite these hurdles, medical professionals performed 428 organ transplants from 2021 through 2025.

Building an In-Country Program Amid Wartime Constraints

Historically, Ukraine’s transplant programs were underdeveloped, requiring citizens who needed transplants to travel abroad to places such as India. Developing a domestic program became critical after travel became difficult following the outbreak of war in 2022. With assistance from the Vanderbilt Transplant Center and other institutions, Ukraine has steadily built its growing transplant program throughout the 2020s.

Seth Karp, Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences at Vanderbilt, emphasized the mutual value of the partnership. “I want to stress that this is as useful for us as it is for you in this exchange, and we learn so much from you and your groups every time,” Karp said. Joseph Magliocca, Director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, added that the working conditions described by the visitors are unimaginable, yet the exchange of knowledge remains bi-directional.

Expanding International Partnerships Across Thirty Institutions

The exchange program between Vanderbilt Health and Ukraine was launched in 2022 through efforts by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, founding director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center; Vanderbilt Transplant Center leadership; Vasyl Strilka from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine; and Rostyslav Semikov, founder of the Peace and Development Foundation and Audubon Bioscience. According to Semikov, the initiative has expanded beyond Vanderbilt Health to encompass 250 visits across 30 top institutions involving 130 Ukrainian physicians.