The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center yesterday announced that Dr. Yoshiya Toyoda has been named section head of UPMC's cardiopulmonary transplant services.

Dr. Toyoda replaces Dr. Kenneth R. McCurry, who, according to spokesman Paul Wood, "is stepping aside as section chief of CT transplant services to allow junior faculty members to gain administrative experience." Dr. McCurry will remain on the surgical staff.

Although the move coincides with the resignation of Dr. Amadeo Marcos as UPMC's head of organ transplantation following an investigation of a possible code-of-conduct violation, Mr. Wood said the change in the cardiopulmonary transplant program "is completely separate and unrelated to Dr. Marcos' resignation."

Dr. Toyoda is a graduate of Kobe University School of Medicine in Japan. Dr. McCurry, a graduate of the University of Florida College of Medicine, has been director of the lung and heart-lung transplant program since 2000.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, UPMC performed 123 lung transplants in 2007, the first time the center exceeded 100 transplants in a year. Surgeons there also did four heart-lung transplants. Nationally, 1,469 lung transplants and 30 heart-lung transplants were done.

In another shakeup elsewhere, UPMC confirmed that Dr. Kenton Zehr, chief of the division of cardiac surgery, has been placed on administrative leave. UPMC spokeswoman Maureen McGaffin declined to comment in detail, but said that Dr. James Luketich, who heads the division of thoracic and foregut surgery, will be acting chief. Dr. Zehr formerly was a cardiovascular surgeon at the Mayo Clinic.