Events on Heart and Vascular Diseases

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) hosted a two-day hybrid workshop on “Heart and Lung Transplantation: Science and Ethics of DCDD and Xenotransplants” on March 20-21, 2023. Experts in transplantation science and bioethics gathered to discuss the state of the science of organ donation after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) and related ethical issues, and the science and ethics of xenotransplantation. The objectives of the workshop were to discuss methods to address the shortage of hearts and lungs for transplantation by identifying knowledge gaps and opportunities for research. The first day consisted of a keynote lecture, followed by two sessions of presentations from groups of external experts who had been working together on specific, related topics for several months prior to the workshop. The focus was on DCDD science and ethics in the morning and on xenotransplantation science and ethics in the afternoon. On the second day, participants divided into six groups to address specific topics and questions raised during the first day and to identify research opportunities; they reconvened at the end of the morning to report on their work. More than four hundred participants attended the workshop virtually and in-person over the two days.