The miracle of successful solid organ transplantation is one of the most inspiring accomplishments of modern medicine and an impressive example of multidisciplinary collaboration. Due to the frequent involvement of the skin of transplant patients by infectious, neoplastic, and systemic diseases, dermatologists have always been an important part of the medical team caring for solid organ transplant recipients. As a by-product of the success in assuring prolonged survival for most organ transplant patients, the chronic and potent systemic immunosuppression has given rise to a new set of challenges for patients and providers alike, manifest by alarming increases in skin cancer and unusual manifestations of skin disease.

Dermatologists are part of a larger community of what we refer to as “non-organ-specific transplant physicians,” composed of providers unbound by allograft-specific considerations. This non-organ-specific community includes infectious disease, endocrinology, bone, metabolism, hypertension, psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric physicians, as well as general, plastic, head and neck, ophthalmologic, and orthopedic surgical colleagues. Additionally, this community includes nephrologists, cardiologists, hepatologists, and pulmonologists who care for patients with allografts transplanted by other allograft-specific specialists. Closely and critically allied are the transplant coordinators, nurses, dieticians, appointment coordinators, and social services providers who provide and coordinate the majority of care in these complex patients. The transplant patients themselves are a critical and inspiring part of the team, upon which the most critical responsibility rests. This is the family of transplantation, a family of which dermatology is proud to be part.