Amidst a shortage of human donor organs in the US, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center last week performed a nine-hour heart transplant surgery using an altered pig heart. Doctors called the procedure a ‘watershed event’ that has the potential to save thousands of lives each year in the US alone. Not only was the surgery performed at UMMC, but the researchers who modified the pig heart to reduce the chance of rejection were University of Maryland bioengineers.
Breakthrough innovations like this being born right here at home reinforce our knowledge that genius is everywhere. The technologies that will alter the course of humanity are in the imaginations of young minds in every corner of our country, and across our brilliant, beautiful city, today.
Let’s continue to work together this year – with belief, impatience and determination – to build the Equitech vision. The talent is here, and we can do this.