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By Dayna Reyes, Reporter

EDINBURG, Texas — The DHR Health Transplant Institute has secured a major foothold among the premier medical programs in the country, earning the No. 2 ranking in Texas and the No. 16 spot nationally for its kidney transplant services.

The rankings were published on July 7, 2026, by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), a national database maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that tracks twice-yearly performance metrics for every transplant program across the United States.

For a program that launched less than a decade ago to fill a critical geographic void in South Texas, the high marks represent a massive milestone — but its medical director says they are only the beginning.

“With the work our team has been doing for the last couple of years, with the momentum that we built up with the new rebuilding of the team, it’s not surprising,” Dr. Sridhar Allam, MD, DHR Health Transplant Institute Medical Director and Nephrologist, told the Rio Grande Guardian. “I’m very confident in the next one year or so we’ll be number one in the state of Texas and within top 10 in the nation.”

Squeezing a Cure from a “Silent Killer”

The program’s rise comes at a crucial time for the Rio Grande Valley, where rates of chronic kidney disease and diabetes run notoriously high. Before DHR Health stepped in to launch its institute in 2017, Valley residents faced a stark reality: travel hundreds of miles north to San Antonio or Houston for a transplant, or remain tethered to local dialysis machines. An earlier program operated by South Texas Health System had folded after only a few years.

Dr. Allam, who joined the institute at the tail end of 2024 after spending 13 years building a top-performing transplant system at Medical City Fort Worth, emphasized that the local program is saving lives that otherwise would be lost to the grueling toll of long-term dialysis.

“Kidney failure is a silent killer, and especially for an older person on dialysis, there is a 20 to 30 percent chance of dying every year,” Allam explained. “That means it is more lethal than some of the cancers.”

He noted that standard dialysis clinics attempt to cram 48 hours of natural kidney function into intense four-hour sessions every couple of days — a process that is highly stressful to the human body.

“With a transplant, you put one kidney that’s working 24/7, so it comes as close to natural therapy for kidney failure,” Allam said. “Patients have better quality of life, more energy levels, and they live twice as long compared to dialysis. For every age group, there is clear survival advantage with transplant. It simply doubles up the lifespan.”

A Local Milestone, Multiplied

To highlight the real-world impact of the program, a recent presentation featured a moving video testimony of a Valley father and daughter. Allam’s team worked to medically optimize the father ahead of the procedure while evaluating and approving the daughter as a living donor. Nearly a year post-operation, the father is thriving.

According to Allam, that single success story is replicated nearly every time his surgeons step into the operating room.

“Transplantation is successful 99 percent of the time,” Allam said. “We see them prior to transplant. We see them after transplant. It is day and night difference between what was before and what is after. That is what keeps our team going and stay passionate.”

That round-the-clock dedication paid off in 2025, when the institute completed 101 kidney transplants — the highest annual total in its history.

Marissa Castaneda, Senior Executive Vice President for DHR Health, praised the multidisciplinary coordination required to hit such high volume while maintaining top-tier outcomes.

“Congratulations to the entire DHR Health Transplant Institute team on this remarkable achievement,” Castaneda said in a statement. “Being recognized as the No. 2 program in Texas and among the top programs in the nation is a reflection of our commitment to excellence and compassionate patient care.”

Overcoming the Wait and the Shortage

Nationally, the demand for kidneys vastly outstrips the supply. More than 100,000 Americans are currently sitting on waiting lists, while the country only manages about 25,000 transplants annually, leading to average wait times of four to five years.

Allam noted that the best way for regional patients to bypass that multi-year bottleneck is to work with an aggressive local program like DHR Health, or to seek out living donor transplants from family members, colleagues, or community members.

“Living donor kidneys work right away, and they last longer,” Allam said. “If you have a living donor transplant, that is the best modality of transplant.”

The Edinburg-based institute serves patients across a massive South Texas footprint, stretching through the Valley up to Laredo and Corpus Christi. By keeping the care local, DHR Health officials note that families avoid the severe financial and emotional burdens associated with traveling out of the region for major surgery.

For Allam, the Valley has quickly transformed into more than just a job.

“I’m not Hispanic. I’m not Spanish speaking. Even English is not my first language,” Allam shared. “But I was still welcomed and accepted as a fellow Valley resident and as a family member. I’m very humbled and very pleased that I chose the Valley as my second home, and I see myself continuing here for many years to come.”

As the program looks ahead to clinching the state’s top spot, Allam left regional residents with a final plea to help combat local shortages.

“The organ donation rates in the Valley are traditionally low, and I encourage Valley residents to be registering themselves as organ donors so that they can give life to others even after they pass.”