If you have end-stage liver disease, a liver transplant can bring hope. Thousands of patients have trusted their care to the experienced team at University of Florida Health Shands Transplant Center. Our center has over 30 years of experience providing excellent care to patients with complex liver diseases.

Our multidisciplinary care team draws on the expertise of many specialties working to provide you with the best care possible. While other centers may follow a liver transplant patient for several months after surgery, at UF Health, we follow our patients for life.

Our commitment is reflected in outstanding outcomes. The most recent data released in July 2025 by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, or SRTR, placed us No. 1 among liver transplant programs in the country. We maintain the best one-year patient survival rate of 99.6%.

Liver transplant services

Delivering UF Health’s nationally recognized liver transplant care are board-certified surgeons. Each one also serves as a faculty member at UF, expertly trained in both general surgery and liver transplant surgery. A transplant surgeon will schedule you for a visit at our outpatient practice to determine if you or a loved one is a good candidate for a liver transplant.

Our team works closely with you to understand your liver condition and your treatment goals, enabling us to develop a personalized treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. We follow you every step of the way — as you await transplant surgery and following your organ transplant — which helps to improve your outcomes.

First, our expert team schedules a thorough evaluation to see how advanced your liver disease is and to ensure that the rest of your body is healthy enough to manage a liver transplant. Once you are determined to be a good candidate, you will be placed on the liver transplant waiting list. Your score based on the MELD scale, or Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, will determine how long you wait for a new liver.

While waiting for an organ, you will receive a comprehensive yearly examination. This is because livers can become available quickly, and you need to be physically ready for liver transplantation at short notice.

When a suitable donor becomes available, a donor transplant coordinator will call you.

Liver transplant surgery

The operation will last approximately 4-8 hours. Following surgery, each liver transplant recipient will likely be in the intensive care unit, or ICU, for about two days and then spend another 8-10 days in a regular hospital room. This time allows us to provide follow-up care after the procedure to help monitor medications and ensure the transplant recipient is recovering properly with a healthy liver, decreasing the risk of liver failure.

Make a gift

Help support our liver transplant patients by making a gift as a living donor.

• Shands Liver Transplant Program
• UF Health Patient and Family Transplant Housing
• UF Health Adult Liver Transplant Program Support Fund

Become a living liver donor today.

A member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Medical Network

Living Donor Program

Usually, a deceased donor’s liver is used for liver transplants. However, it is possible to receive a liver from a living donor. This procedure is called a live-donor liver transplantation surgery. These donations usually come from a family member or a friend who is in good health. After a portion of the donor’s liver is removed, the liver regrows to a similar size within four weeks of the operation. The donated liver also grows to support the recipient’s body by providing sufficient liver function.

Liver transplants are a significant medical decision. Before donors are approved, our transplant care team must screen them. Living liver donors are evaluated for surgery through:

• Health and wellness questionnaire
• Blood tests
• Interviews and exams with transplant team members
• Radiologic evaluation of potential donor anatomy

If you choose living liver donation, the transplant team will discuss the liver transplant process and all the risks associated with this procedure with you and your donor.

Clinical trials: liver transplant

• Current trial is NP-101