Transplantologist, cardiovascular surgeon, Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health

Sofiia Chaikovska is a PhD in Medical Sciences, a transplant physician, and a cardiovascular surgeon. She is part of a new generation of Ukrainian transplant specialists advancing heart transplantation under the conditions of war and limited resources. She works at the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine under the leadership of Borys Todurov. She defended her PhD dissertation on the topic: “The Use of Marginal Donor Hearts as a Method of Expanding the Donor Organ Pool for Heart Transplantation During Wartime.” Today, the Heart Institute team, where Sofiia Chaikovska works, has one of the world’s largest experiences in the use of marginal donor organs. This approach offers a chance to patients who cannot afford to wait. Sofiia’s team also has unique experience in transporting donor hearts by car for more than eight hours while preserving organ viability. In 2025, she was invited as a keynote speaker at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting in the “Women in Transplantation” section.

Sofiia has participated in more than 70 donor heart retrieval procedures. Over the past year, her team performed 63 heart transplant surgeries. In a single year, she traveled more than 35,000 kilometers by car transporting donor hearts — nearly the circumference of the Earth at the Equator.

Together with her team, she conducted experimental research on transporting donor hearts and blood using military drones. In 2025, she received patents related to this technology, and in 2026 the team plans to perform the first human donor heart transportation by drone. Laureate of the “Power of Women: Top 100 2026” award. Nominee for the international “Women in Transplantation” award.