The world’s first lung transplant from an HIV-positive person to an HIV-positive person was performed at New York University Langone Health.
The procedure offers new hope for HIV-positive patients in need of lung transplants because it opens up a pool of previously ineligible donor candidates.
“This is a watershed moment for the HIV-positive community and represents real progress in creating equity in organ transplantation,” said Sapna Mehta, M.D., clinical director of New York University’s Langone Transplant Institute and co-investigator of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved research protocol that made the complex surgery possible. “While these transplants are still only allowed under specific research protocols, this means expanded options for people in need of life-saving organs.”
Approximately 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States. People living with HIV can now live long, healthy lives thanks to advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART). Most people on ART cannot transmit the virus and their life expectancy is about normal.
a breath of fresh air
Bertrand Nelson, 56, has been infected with HIV for nearly 26 years. In 2000, he was diagnosed with HIV and sarcoidosis, which affects the lungs and can spread to the liver. The disease had not yet spread through his lungs, and shortly after his diagnosis, doctors told him he was in remission.
Then, in 2021, he contracted Legionnaires’ disease and was hospitalized for several weeks with severe pneumonia. The disease caused sarcoidosis to flare up and attack his liver. In 2024, as his condition worsened and the amount of oxygen he needed to breathe increased, doctors referred him to NYU Langone Transplant Institute for evaluation for both a lung and liver transplant. A lung transplant research program under the HIV Organ Policy and Equity Act of 2013 (HOPE Act) was initiated and he was evaluated for HOPE dual organ transplant in 2025.
Heart and abdominal organ transplants have been performed on HOPE, but not lung transplants. It takes a special kind of patient to be willing to do something that hasn’t been done before. ”
Mark A. Sonic, MD, a transplant pulmonologist at NYU Langone Transplant Institute and co-author of the study protocol with Dr. Mehta
NYU Langone Transplant Institute is one of the only transplant centers in the United States equipped and approved under research protocols to perform HOPE lung transplants. Nelson received the world’s first transplant surgery on March 21, 2026, from Stephanie H. Chan, M.D., director of lung transplant surgery at New York University Langone. He received a new liver transplant the same day by Dr. Karim J. Harazun, director of liver transplant surgery at New York University Langone.
Nelson is currently off oxygen for the first time in four years and is recovering his health after years of limited exercise.
He credits his mother, who will turn 82 in August, with supporting and helping him throughout his journey.
“I want to be good for her,” he said. “I want her to see me grow.”
He hopes his story of perseverance will inspire others and help raise awareness of those in the HIV community who are in need of help.
“There are many other people who need this level of care, and the more organs we have available, the better our chances of finding the right one and living a long life,” he said.
