The Uterine Transplantation UK HQ is at the Lister Hospital (Chelsea, London) and the research team also has a base at Imperial College London.
Our research is carried out at three campuses: Hammersmith Hospital Campus (Institute of Reproductive Development and Biology), Imperial College South Kensington Campus (Institute of Biomedical Engineering) and The Lister Hospital.
The UK team has been ready to undertake transplant operations for several years but the search or suitable donors was paused for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Academic research has continued however, adding to the clinical advances that have helped tens of thousands of women with a number of serious gynaecological and fertility problems, over the past 20 years.
The team returned to active standby for a suitable donor uterus in August 2022. So far, the wait for a suitable deceased donor uterus continues.
Two series of operations are planned:
- 10 operations transplanting a womb from a brain dead donor
- 5 operations transplanting a womb from a living relative of the recipient
- Each of these operations is planned to take place at The Churchill Hospital, part of Oxford University NHS Trust in Oxford
- Preliminary assessment, and post-operative care takes place at Queen Charing Cross and Queen Charlotte’s Hospitals in London and the Churchill Transplant Centre in Oxford, with obstetric care at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital. Charing Cross and Queen Charlotte’s Hospitals are part of Imperial College Healthcare.
- The embryo transfer procedures are carried out at The Lister Fertility Clinic in Chelsea, London
- The surgical and medical team has members from five different hospitals in London and Oxford and is led by Professor Richard Smith and Consultant Transplant Surgeon Miss Isabel Quiroga.