Dignity Health Norton Thoracic Institute Earns High Ratings

(Phoenix, AZ – Sept. 22, 2026) – The lung, kidney and liver transplant programs at Norton Thoracic Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center have earned high marks in the latest national data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), demonstrating strong performance in helping patients receive lifesaving transplants faster and achieve high-quality outcomes, with several measures outperforming national averages.

“This recognition is a reflection of the extraordinary transplant team we have built at Norton,” said Ross Bremner, MD, Executive Director of Norton Thoracic Institute. “A successful transplant requires so many people working together.  From the teams caring for patients while they wait, to our surgeons and physicians, nurses, coordinators and specialists who guide them through transplant and recovery. Every person plays a role in helping our patients get to transplant sooner and giving them the best opportunity to thrive afterward.”

Norton’s lung transplant program is the top-performing program in the Southwest for helping patients receive a transplant faster and for one-year survival. In 2025, the Norton team performed 80 lung transplants, with patients waiting a median of approximately two weeks. That is less than half the national median wait time of approximately six weeks.

“These results are especially meaningful because our team cares for some of the sickest and most complex transplant patients, including people who may have been told they are not candidates for transplant at other centers,” said Rajat Walia, Director of Lung Transplantation at Norton Thoracic Institute. “Achieving this level of quality while taking on incredibly challenging cases speaks to the depth of expertise across our entire transplant team. For our patients and their families, that expertise can mean another chance when they may have felt they were running out of options.”

The kidney transplant program also earned SRTR’s highest rating for getting patients transplanted faster and one-year survival. Norton patients waited a median of 1.2 years for a kidney transplant, nearly 70% less time than the median wait of 3.7 years at other programs across the Southwest.

Norton’s liver transplant program demonstrated strong performance across all key areas measured by SRTR, with results similar to or better than national rates for survival while awaiting transplant, getting patients transplanted faster and one-year survival.

Learn more about transplant care options at programs at Norton Thoracic Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center or call (602) 406-8000.

About Dignity Health

Dignity Health is a multi-state nonprofit network encompassing 39 acute care hospitals and over 400 care centers, including urgent care, surgery and imaging facilities, home health, and primary care clinics. With a dedicated team of 10,000 physicians and 60,000 employees across Arizona, California, and Nevada, we are committed to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care, with a special focus on the poor and underserved. 

Dignity Health is part of CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit health system dedicated to advancing health for all and serving the common good. For more information, please visit our website at commonspirit.org/dignity-health.