UC Davis performs its first HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant
UC Davis Transplant Center gave William Anderson, who has HIV, a kidney from a deceased donor who also had HIV. After years of dialysis he now walks more than 16,000 steps a day.
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William Anderson is the first patient at UC Davis Health to receive a kidney from a deceased donor who also had HIV, the health system reported. He had been on dialysis for about five years. Within weeks of being activated on the transplant list, a matching kidney was offered. After surgery he had the energy to walk more than 16,000 steps a day and to trade step counts with his niece.
The 2013 HOPE Act let researchers study HIV-to-HIV kidney transplants. Years of that research found the operations safe and effective. In 2024, federal rules dropped the requirement that every case stay inside a research study. UC Davis then built a program, the only one of its kind in the Sacramento region. The change adds donor kidneys that patients with HIV can use, which can shorten a wait. It is not a cure for HIV, and it does not replace the medicines that come with a transplant.
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