ISMETT, in Italian, Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione translated as the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies, is a center for organ transplantation located in Palermo, Italy. ISMETT was founded in 1997 as a partnership between the Region of Sicily, the Civico and Cervello hospitals in Palermo, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). ISMETT primarily specializes in performing all types of organ transplantations, using both deceased and living donor techniques. ISMETT has 70 beds (14 ICU, 21 in semi-intensive, and 35 inpatient), 7 outpatient beds, 4 operating rooms, a hospital pharmacy and laboratory analysis, infectious diseases and pathology in a facility that covers an area of . History The idea of creation of the Institute stemmed from a group of hepatologists at a hospital in Palermo that proposed to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) the idea of a multi-organ transplant center to be realized in Sicily. Its creation was also prompted by a 1995 law passed in the United States that capped the total number of foreign patients that can be placed on a waiting list for transplants at 5%. For this reason, transplant leaders in Pittsburgh began looking toward opportunities in Europe and participated actively in the creation of a transplant center in Palermo. On May 23, 1996, the idea was presented to the Ministry of Health, who welcomed the project. The first director was Ignazio R. Marino who performed the first successful liver transplantation in Sicily on July 31, 1999. Ignazio Marino's team performed the first 100 solid organ transplantations of ISMETT. On March 20, 1997, the State-Region Conference officially approved the creation and clinical management of ISMETT in accordance with art. 9/bis of Legislative Decree no. 502/92 and proceeded with construction of the new institute. The construction began in 1999 with the laying of a foundation stone and was completed in 2004 when the new center opened its doors. As of 2007, ISMETT had revenues of €2,270,000. Its chairman was Camillo Ricordi, with Bruno Gridelli serving as its director-general and Ugo Palazzo serving as its director of health Transplant activities ISMETT began its clinical activity in 1999. On July 31, 1999, Ignazio Marino performed its first liver transplant from a cadaveric donor in Sicily. The same year Ignazio Marino started a cadaveric and living donor kidney transplantation program. The team led by Ignazio Marino performed the