In December, Duke transplant surgeons performed the state’s and region’s first organ transplant from a deceased HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient. This type of transplant had been illegal until just a few years ago, but the federal law was changed after clinical evidence demonstrated it was safe.

North Carolina had a separate law, and Duke physicians were instrumental in getting that law changed, enabling this first N.C. transplant between a donor and recipient who are both HIV positive. Stanley Boling of Knoxville, Tenn., was the perfect patient to become the first recipient for the complex procedure, which requires additional matching between the donor and recipient around the viral strains and drug regimens that complicate the procedure.