GMKA and Leading Experts from the University of Nebraska Medical Center Partner with Lviv Physicians to Advance Liver Transplantation in Ukraine

As part of this initiative, internationally recognized transplant experts Alan N. Langnas, MD, DO, and Jacqueline Dauch, MD, visited Ukraine to begin a collaboration focused on clinical mentorship, knowledge exchange, multidisciplinary training, and the development of sustainable transplant programs capable of transforming care nationwide. 

UNMC is recognized as one of the world’s leading transplant centers, having performed more than 4,000 liver transplants, including nearly 1,000 pediatric liver transplants, and bringing decades of experience in managing some of the most complex cases in transplant medicine. Through the partnership facilitated by GMKA, the Nebraska team is helping bring world-class expertise, advanced surgical practices, and international standards of care to one of Ukraine’s fastest-growing transplant programs.

During their visit to St. Panteleimon Hospital and St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital of the First Medical Union of Lviv from May 11–13, 2026, Dr. Langnas and Dr. Dauch worked alongside Ukrainian physicians and the GMKA team to assess the transplant program, review complex clinical cases, and identify strategic priorities for future growth, including living donor and pediatric liver transplantation.

“Based on our experience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, we have become leaders in a wide range of innovative techniques, patient selection approaches, and donor procedures, allowing us to develop expertise across many areas of transplant medicine. Our program continues to grow, and we are very excited to partner with the team here in Lviv,” said Dr. Langnas, Chief of Transplant Surgery at UNMC. “They have a very passionate and talented group of physicians and surgeons, and I believe this will allow us to work very effectively together.”

The collaboration is particularly significant for Ukraine as the country works to expand access to complex transplant procedures, including living donor and pediatric liver transplantation.

“We are working hard with the goal of becoming one of the leading transplant centers not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe,” said Maksym Ovechko, MD, transplant surgeon and Head of the Transplant Center at the First Medical Union of Lviv. “One of our highest priorities is developing pediatric liver transplantation, because this area remains underdeveloped in Ukraine and urgently requires further growth.”

According to Dr. Ovechko, the partnership with UNMC provides invaluable access to practical experience that is difficult to obtain locally.

“In Ukraine, this experience is still very limited — we are talking not about hundreds, but only dozens of such operations. Learning directly from colleagues at UNMC is incredibly important because they have performed thousands of transplants. They have encountered every possible complication, anatomical variation, and postoperative scenario.”

Dr. Jacqueline Dauch, Assistant Professor in the Division of Transplant Surgery at UNMC, emphasized that building a successful transplant system requires far more than surgical expertise alone.

“A successful transplant program depends on an entire multidisciplinary team — anesthesiologists, nurses, coordinators, physicians, donor services, and donor families,” said Dr. Dauch. “You can immediately see how motivated and committed the team here is to building a strong transplant program. One year from now, success will mean increasing the number of transplants performed here while continuing to improve one-year survival outcomes. Just as importantly, this collaboration must continue not only for one year, but for many years to come so the program can continue to grow and expand.”

Beyond clinical collaboration, the initiative also focuses on strengthening the broader transplant ecosystem in Ukraine, including the development of modern systems for clinical data collection, outcomes analysis, and quality improvement.

“Ukraine already has substantial clinical experience, but this knowledge must be systematically collected, analyzed, and used to drive future progress,” said Inesa Huivaniuk, MD, MPA, surgical oncologist and Co-Executive Director of GMKA. “High-quality data and outcomes analysis allow healthcare teams to identify gaps, make informed decisions, and continuously improve patient outcomes. GMKA has the expertise to support this process.”

The long-term goal of the initiative is to establish a sustainable system of international mentorship, knowledge transfer, and local capacity-building in liver transplantation in Ukraine. This model of collaboration is particularly important in the context of war and prolonged pressure on the healthcare system, where resilient and self-sustaining medical programs are critically important.

The importance of advancing transplant medicine and strengthening international expert collaboration for Ukraine’s healthcare system was also emphasized by Oksana Dmytriieva, MD, Member of Parliament of Ukraine and Chair of the Subcommittee on Modern Medical Technologies and the Development of Transplantology, as well as by Vasyl Strilka, MD, Director of the Department of High-Tech Medical Care and Innovations at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

“The approaches and systems we develop in Lviv can later be replicated across the country to improve access to high-quality transplant care regardless of region and make this care available to every Ukrainian patient,” said W. McComb (“Mac”) Dunwoody, Co-Chairman of the Board of GMKA.

“We are currently working together on a development plan for the program,” Dunwoody added. “The partnership includes observerships and training opportunities in the United States for surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and other specialists. We will also hold virtual meetings and educational sessions. Importantly, everyone involved in this collaboration shares a commitment to passing knowledge forward to other hospitals and medical professionals across Ukraine. What is being built today in Lviv has the potential to strengthen transplant care throughout Ukraine.”