<< Back

HVI doc earns transplant kudos

October 09, 2026

Donate Life Connecticut recognized Dina Al Rameni, MD, of the Hartford HealthCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Hartford Hospital, with a 2026 Transplant Hero and Community Impact award.

Dr. Al Rameni has performed 35 heart transplants and almost daily makes time-pressured decisions about whether donor hearts, sometimes hundreds of miles away, are the right match for Hartford patients.

Donate Life credited Dr. Al Rameni with inspiring the name of this year’s gala, “The Symphony of Life,” because she describes a symphony-like way of working in an operating room.

She has been at the center of milestones for Hartford Hospital. In December 2024, her team performed the first beating-heart transplant in Connecticut, using a heart that is kept gently beating during transport for better outcomes. The procedure is more complex because the heart is moving during implantation. In this case, the 62-year-old patient left the hospital six days after his transplant.