In 2024, UCSF Health will celebrate 35 years of performing heart transplants. Since completing their first heart transplant in March 1989, UCSF surgeons have performed nearly 600 and, along the way, the health system has become a recognized leader in treating heart failure and the sixth largest program for transplants in the nation. In the past few years, heart transplants have increased substantially – from 17 in 2020 to nearly 80 in 2023.