AudioCast

NEW NATCO Academy Offering

NATCO AudioCast

We are excited to announce a new member benefit now available in the NATCO Academy:

NATCO AudioCast: Courage and Character, Leaders and Legends, a special series of interviews originally published in Progress in Transplantation. These inspiring conversations were conducted and written by Linda Ohler, Editor-in-Chief of the journal from 1994 to 2016. Throughout her tenure, Linda spoke with many of the most influential leaders in organ donation and transplantation, individuals who forged new paths, broke barriers, and made extraordinary contributions to the field.

We are proud to bring you this historical collection, capturing the voices and stories of the men and women who shaped our profession, all with courage and character. 

Now available: Seven interviews, with more to be released in the coming months:

• An Interview with Velma Scantlebury, MD
• An Interview with Dr. Thomas Starzl
• An Interview with Robert Montgomery, MD
• An Interview with Dr. Hans Sollinger
• An Interview with Bud Frazier
• An Interview with Nader Moazami
• An Interview with Bud Shaw

Access this series today in the NATCO Academy and be inspired by the leaders and legends who paved the way.

NATCO AudioCast

Feature Friday

July 31, 2026 

NATCO introduces a new monthly series of AudioCasts on Feature Friday, the last Friday of every month.

Join us as we bring to life the interviews of Linda Ohler, MSN, RN, CCTC, FAAN, Editor Emeritus of Progress in Transplantation.

Our sixth interview of the series features Joel D. Cooper MD



An Interview with Dr. Joel D. Cooper

Dr. Joel D. Cooper is a thoracic surgeon known for having completed the first successful lung transplant and the first successful double lung transplant. Dr. Cooper graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1964, completed his fellowship, and then obtained his first faculty appointment in 1972 at the University of Toronto. He performed the world's first successful lung transplant on pulmonary fibrosis patient Tom Hall on November 7, 1983 at Toronto General Hospital. He performed the world's first successful double lung transplant on emphysema patient Ann Harrison in 1986 at the same hospital. In 1988 he moved to Washington University School of Medicine, and then in 2005 to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the head of thoracic surgery at Washington University. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Surgery^[1] in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He was past president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of numerous honorary degrees.