Episode 23: Behind the Paper: Travel After Transplant | Robert Rolfe, MD

In this Behind the Paper episode, Macey Levan, Social Media Editor for the Transplantation journals, interviews Robert Rolfe, MD about the key insights from:

📄 **Travel After Transplant: Demographics, Travel Trends, and Vaccination Practices of US Immunocompromised Travelers** Original Clinical Science—General Published in *Transplantation* (April 2026)

This study describes the largest reported cohort of immunocompromised post-transplant travelers to date, drawing on data from **17 US clinical sites** collected between **2009 and 2023**. The conversation explores how international travel is evolving among transplant recipients and why pretravel preparation is especially important for this higher-risk population.

The episode highlights:

🔹 How travel patterns differ for immunocompromised post-transplant travelers compared with other travelers 🔹 Why visiting friends and relatives and cruise travel were more commonly reported in this group 🔹 The added complexity of pretravel counseling for transplant recipients 🔹 How immunocompromise influences vaccine decision-making before international travel 🔹 Why understanding travel trends in this population is essential to improving preparation, prevention, and outcomes

This discussion offers an important look at a growing area of transplant medicine, where individualized risk assessment, practical guidance, and preventive care can make travel safer for immunocompromised patients.

📖 Read the full article: https://journals.lww.com/transplantjournal/abstract/2026/04000/travel_after_transplant__demographics,_travel.28.aspx