Temple Health Honors Legacy of Lung Transplant Patient with Dedication of the Robert O. Witty Advanced Pulmonary Procedure Suite

Our Temple Lung Center is world-renowned for its extraordinary clinicians and leading-edge care—and the Robert O. Witty Advanced Pulmonary Procedure Suite, with its state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, is its crown jewel. The three-room suite is equipped with the latest advanced interventional technology, including cone beam CT and augmented fluoroscopy and robotic systems, which provides the highest-quality care for patients with a range of advanced lung diseases. It’s where our team performs advanced interventional therapies and diagnose and treat multiple lung conditions, including suspicious lung nodules, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and pleural effusions.

None of this would be possible without the donor for which the suite is named: former Temple Lung Center patient Robert O. Witty, who we honored at our official ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 26, 2024. Robert underwent a left lung transplant at Temple Health-Main Campus on October 2017, and visited our Bronchoscopy Suite twice a month for his follow-up treatment. Robert and his wife, Nancy, were particularly impressed with our care teams, and after Robert passed away, Nancy decided to make a donation to Temple in his memory.

“When I thought about honoring my husband’s legacy, the Temple Lung Center was always in the back of my mind,” Nancy Witty told attendees at the dedication ceremony. She had traveled from her home in upstate New York with her daughter and two granddaughters, and she grew teary-eyed as she spoke about how much she valued our Bronchoscopy team and thanked her husband’s organ donor.

Her oldest granddaughter, Madison, also expressed her appreciation to our Temple team for all they had done for her grandfather. “Papa always said everyone deserves a second chance,” she recalled. “And Temple gave that to him.”

Hernan Alvarado, MBA, RRT, RPFT, Associate Vice President of Respiratory Care, Bronchoscopy, Pulmonary & Sleep Diagnostics Services, Nathaniel Marchetti, DO, Medical Director of the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit, and Patrick Schmincke, MBA, Chief Operating Officer for Temple University Hospital, thanked the Witty family profusely for their donation.

“We have the top doctors, we have the top program, but the one thing that was missing was the top facility,” Schmincke told Nancy Witty. “You’ve made that possible.”

Alvarado agreed. “Your generosity, kindness, and devotion to advancing lung health have been truly inspiring, and we’re profoundly grateful for the impact you continue to make,” he said. “This suite represents our collective dedication to excellence in lung care and our commitment to providing state-of-the-art facilities and technologies to our patients. This suite will serve as a beacon of hope to those battling lung diseases, offering them advanced treatment options and personalized care that reflects Mr. and Mrs. Witty’s vision of compassionate healing.”

Our Lung Center team then presented the Witty family with flowers and a plaque commemorating their gift, and Patricia Evans, BS, RRT, Manager of the Pulmonary Function Lab and the Bronchoscopy/Pulmonary Rehab Program, took them on a tour of the suite. The tour concluded at the signage with Robert Witty’s name, where Nancy Witty performed the ribbon-cutting. As the Witty family members gathered together for a hug, a team of clinicians came through the door to prepare for another procedure: a sign of how the Wittys’ gift is already saving lives, and ushering in a new era for the Temple Lung Center.