HealthLab

10/10/2025

Our cameras captured the moment this woman heard clearly again and … cue the tears.⁣

10/08/2025

Whether directly providing patient care or supporting those who do, every member of our team contributes to the world-class environment patients expect from Northwestern Medicine. Behind the scenes, we are all working toward one goal: making people better by making medicine better.

Our donors are a vital part of our team, too. Join our team and support front-line clinicians and their behind-the-scenes colleagues with a gift today: https://bit.ly/4gB0VTD.

10/08/2025

A vascular and interventional radiology physician goes deep on everything you need to know about varicose veins.

Know when to seek medical attention.

10/07/2025

Jessica Lopez was diagnosed with leukemia and retinoblastoma (a rare type of eye cancer) as a child, which left her blind. Years of chemotherapy treated the cancers but caused lasting health complications.

In November 2023, while newly engaged to be married, Jessica learned she needed both a heart and a liver transplant. She was in heart failure due to cardiomyopathy, a disease that weakens the heart muscle, and the damage had impacted her liver.

She waited a year on the transplant list, but during that time, her condition worsened and began to affect her kidneys. Jessica now needed three organs: a heart, a liver and a kidney.

Triple-organ transplants are extremely rare — only 59 heart-liver-kidney transplants have ever been recorded in the United States. One of those had been performed by the teams at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and the Northwestern Medicine Organ Transplant Center, and they were determined to do it again to help give 32-year-old Jessica a second chance at life.

Because all organs need to come from the same donor for triple-organ transplants, the wait time can be long, but on February 24, 2025, three organs became available. Jessica’s heart and liver were transplanted together, and then a separate team of surgeons performed her kidney transplant.

Today, Jessica, who has been in remission from cancer for 20 years, is now thriving with her new heart, liver and kidney. “I feel like I was reborn,” says Jessica. “I’m grateful for my organ donor and their family. I’ve been given a second chance at life and can start planning for my future.”

Jessica and her fiancé are now looking ahead to their 2026 wedding in California.

10/06/2025

What is a “Z-Pak,” and when should you take one?

10/05/2025

Watch what happens when this Northwestern Medicine surgeon hears he has a 6-year-old superfan in Tennessee.

10/04/2025

Days before its grand opening, our cameras tagged along for a tour of our brand new facility in Bronzeville.

10/03/2025

Small changes can lead to healthier blood pressure.

Start with these seven tips.

10/02/2025

Ira rang the gong 12 years ago after finishing treatment for anaplastic astrocytoma grade 3. This year, after gamma knife radiosurgery for a meningioma tumor, he rang it again — and a follow-up scan showed he’s stable, continuing with six-month check-ins. We’re always here for you, Ira!

10/01/2025

In 2020, Leo Castillo became the fourth known person in the U.S. to receive a double-lung transplant after COVID-19 destroyed his lungs. Northwestern Medicine Thoracic Surgeon Ankit Bharat, MD, pioneered and performed this innovative procedure.

Leo spent a year in Chicago recovering with his wife Lesly and their two daughters.

This summer, he and his family returned to Chicago from Washington, D.C. — not only for vacation, but also to reconnect with Dr. Bharat and the team who gave him a second chance at life.

“Thank you so much for saving my life,” says Leo. “I’m alive today because of this amazing place.”

09/30/2025

His first open heart surgery at just 2 weeks old set the stage for a complex procedure Nick would need more than 30 years later. Hear why he flew across the country for care from the Northwestern Medicine Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program.