Dr. Jayan Nagendran is the Surgical Director of Lung Transplantation and a Cardiac Surgeon at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Along with fellow cardiac surgeon at the Maz, Dr. Darren Freed, Dr. Nagendran has created a machine that keeps lungs alive outside the body so they can be repaired and used for transplantation.

Why is that a big deal? Because most donated lungs are un-useable. Instead of saving lives, they are discarded.

Being able to repair these lungs means more patients who have to fight for every breath are receiving the new lungs they need to live their lives.

12 patients at the Maz had successful lung transplants using repaired lungs during their clinical trial of EVOSS. Last February, Dr. Nagendran presented EVOSS at the NASA iTech Ignite the Night Competition event in Tampa, Florida and ended up winning that competition.

The Maz has the largest Adult and Pediatric Heart-Lung Transplant Program in Western Canada – serving an area over 6.5 million km2. There are over 95 Adult transplants (heart, heart-lung, lung) performed each year.