Heart Failure and Transplant

Dr. Deborah Meyers, wearing a PPE facemask, providing an explanation to a female patient.
Dr. Deborah Meyers leads our heart failure and transplant program, which offers Oregon’s highest level of expertise and support for every stage of illness.

OHSU offers exceptional care for all forms of heart failure, including advanced heart failure. We also provide the region’s most complete transplant services.

Since your health is more than just your heart, our experts work with all of your providers to support you and to treat your related health concerns.

You’ll find:

  • A team that puts you and your family at the center of your care decisions.
  • Experienced providers who consider your needs and priorities, from diagnosis through treatment and recovery.
  • The region’s largest heart transplant program and most experienced transplant providers.
  • Home monitoring and patient education to help you avoid being in the hospital.
  • Support to manage heart failure through diet, lifestyle changes, medication and cardiac rehabilitation.
  • Leading-edge technology and care, such as LVAD (left ventricular assist device) therapies for advanced heart failure. 
  • Partnerships with home care agencies and mental health counselors to support patients with advanced heart failure.

Learn more

Notice about the HeartWare HVAD Device

Medtronic has stopped making the HeartWare HVAD due to safety concerns. OHSU will no longer implant the HeartWare HVAD. We will still be implanting other LVAD devices, and we will still care for patients who already have the HeartWare HVAD.

Our expertise

As a research center and Oregon’s only teaching hospital, we combine compassionate care with world-class innovation. Our program includes:

KCVI Cardio American Heart Association (AHA) Get with the Guidelines Gold Plus Badge
  • Heart failure services designated Gold Plus for quality by the American Heart Association.
  • Designation as a Cardiac Center of Excellence by DNV GL, a leading health care certification organization. We are the first institution to receive this honor, in recognition of our care for heart failure and chest pain.
  • The region’s largest and longest-running heart transplant program.
  • Approval by the United Network for Organ Sharing, the organization that manages the U.S. system for organ transplants.
  • Research into innovative treatments and prevention techniques, including clinical trials for new ways to combat heart failure.

Complete care

When you get care for heart failure at OHSU, you join a team dedicated to your well-being. One main doctor may lead your treatment, but your team will include many other experts — and you are the captain.

Specialists working together: Our team includes skilled cardiologists, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and others to support you at all stages of treatment. As Oregon’s public academic health center, we draw on a network of experts in conditions that play a role in heart failure. This gives you the best possible short- and long-term care.

Expertise: Our providers have decades of experience and are board-certified. This means they have additional training in heart failure and  transplant, so they bring patients the highest-quality care. We have performed more than 700 transplants and implanted 200 mechanical support devices.

Advanced technology: We invest in the latest tools. We have precise imaging systems to diagnose heart failure. We also have monitoring devices to gather information about your heart while you stay home. In addition, we offer sophisticated techniques to clear blocked arteries, address rhythm disorders or relieve stress on your heart.

Coordinated care: Our program has two teams — one for heart failure and one for advanced heart failure. We care for patients with any form of the disease. Our patient service representatives will help you prepare for treatment, and connect you with resources to support you and your family.

Ongoing support: Our team will educate you and your family about managing heart failure through diet, lifestyle and medication. We keep providing resources and education after you go home. We offer a doctor-supervised cardiac rehab program in the Portland area, or we can help you find a program closer to home. We work with a network of home care agencies to help you find caregivers for later stages of heart failure.

For patients

Call 503-494-1775 to:

  • Request an appointment
  • Seek a second opinion
  • Ask questions

Location

Center for Health & Healing Building 1
3303 S. Bond Ave.
Portland, OR 97239

Map and directions

Refer a patient

Ask the experts

Have a heart care question? Submit it here. Our experts will respond to you within a week.

You can also explore our frequently asked questions. Our heart and vascular team may have already posted an answer to your question.

For the love of Jake

A photo of a young man taking a selfie with a river behind him, spliced next to a photo of a female nurse listening to an older man's heart rate with a stethoscope.

A young man’s transplanted heart brings two families together in gratitude and grief. Learn how Jake Ash saved lives, including through a heart transplant at OHSU.

Heart failure and COVID-19

Dr. Deborah Meyers offers tips on managing heart failure during COVID-19, including how to take care of your heart, brain and body.

Center of Excellence

A graphic of a badge that reads "Healthcare Accreditation Services," "Certified Cardiac Center of Excellence," "Quality & Patient Safety."

See why accrediting organization DNV GL Healthcare gives OHSU top marks for its leadership, safety and quality of care for heart failure.

Resources

Stay informed

News: Read about research breakthroughs, patient care and many other topics on the OHSU news site.