A pancreas transplant for Illinois resident Rachael Lund was performed in December 2025, but it marked the 2,000th pancreas transplant performed at UW Health since the transplant program began in 1982.
UW Health acknowledged the milestone this week as news from Washington, D.C. brought more hope for pancreatic cancer patients.
Dr. Jon Odorico, director of the UW Health Pancreas and Islet Cell Transplantation Programs, led the surgical team that performed her transplant on Lund, a diabetic whose risk for severe hypoglycemia made her a strong candidate for a pancreas transplant,
Odorico, who is also a professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said in a press release that reaching 2,000 pancreas transplants “reflects more than four decades of innovation, expertise and teamwork.”
“Very few centers in the world have achieved this milestone,” he said.
It’s possible that fewer people will need pancreas transplants in the future, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Aug. 26 approval of Revolution Medicines’s novel drug, Daraxonrasib.
Taken in pill form, Daraxonrasib fights cancer by shutting down the mutant proteins that drive tumor growth.
