Save lives. Provide comfort. Strengthen legacies.

Helping New Yorkers Live On

We are a team of over 200 – clinicians, educators, social workers and more – united around the life-changing power of organ and tissue donation. We work tirelessly day and night, 365 days a year, to help save the lives of those in need of a transplant. We also provide support and comfort to donors and their loved ones throughout the donation process, and for years after.

In addition, we work to educate and inspire our community about organ and tissue donation. We do this through educational events, media outreach, and work in our local schools and communities.

Everlasting Impact

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Who We Serve

LiveOnNY serves a population of 13 million people in the greater New York City area and its neighboring counties. But we don’t do it alone. We are proud to partner with 11 transplant centers and nearly 100 hospitals to ensure that an individual’s wishes to donate are honored and lives are saved. List of Transplant Centers.

Our Executive Team

With a combined 185 years of experience in their fields, our executive team brings knowledge and expertise to the organization and cause.

Helen Irving

Helen Irving, RN, MBA

President & CEO
Irving was appointed President & CEO of LiveOnNY in 2011. The former critical care nurse brings 30 years of clinical and business expertise to the transplant field, including her role as VP of Hospital Operations at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She established the LiveOnNY Foundation, and played a key role in launching New York’s first face transplant program with NYU Medical Center.
Jim Aranda Head Shot

Jim Aranda

Vice President of Administration & Chief Financial Officer
Aranda heads the organization's Finance and IT departments. He joined LiveOnNY in 2001 as Chief Financial Officer and was promoted to Vice President of Administration in 2009. Previously, he had been employed at Hazelden New York, a nonprofit substance abuse treatment facility, where he worked in various capacities including Director of Financial Operations. Aranda is a Cornell University graduate with an economics degree.
Chad Ezzell Head Shot

Chad Ezzell

Chief Clinical Officer
Ezzell joined LiveOnNY as Chief Clinical Officer in 2019. In this role he oversees the organization’s clinical operations and works to align and enhance team operations to save as many lives as possible. Prior to joining LiveOnNY, he served as Vice President of Clinical Services for the Southwest Transplant Alliance. Ezzell has nearly 20 years of OPO experience dating back to his first job as a per diem tissue recovery tech at LifeChoice in Connecticut.
Amy Friedman Headshot

Amy L. Friedman, MD

EVP & Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Friedman joined LiveOnNY as Exec. Vice President & Chief Medical Officer in 2013. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, her medical degree and general surgery training from SUNY HSC at Downstate, and her transplant surgery training from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Friedman has been published in JAMA, NEJM, the British Medical Journal, and the New York Times and was voted 2017’s Top Transplant Surgeon, CRCA.
Michelle Clayton Lucas Head Shot

Michele Clayton Lucas, Esq.

Vice President of Human Resources & Corporate Compliance Officer
Lucas oversees LiveOnNY's Human Resources Department and was appointed to the position in 2000. Additionally, she serves as the organization’s Corporate Compliance Officer. Before joining LiveOnNY, Lucas held administrative positions at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center.
Rabbi Ari Perl Head Shot

Rabbi Ari Perl, MA, MBA

Vice President of Multicultural Engagement
In addition to educating the Jewish community about organ donation and guiding Jewish families through the process, Rabbi Perl leads a new initiative to best connect the NYC-area’s diverse religious, ethnic & cultural communities with the life-saving power of organ donation. A graduate of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Perl has served as president of the Rabbinic Association of Greater Dallas, VP of the Rabbinical Council of America, Chaplain of the Atlantic Beach Rescue Squad and is a volunteer member of a Long Island-based crisis intervention team.
Safiya Raheem

Safiya Raheem

Director of Community & Government Affairs
Raheem joined LiveOnNY as Director of Community and Government Affairs in 2019. In this role she oversees the organization’s community education, marketing, public relations, and government affairs. Prior to joining LiveOnNY she lobbied New York City and State governments on behalf of nonprofit clients and served as Director of Community Outreach for an early literacy organization. Additionally, she is a former elementary school teacher with the New York City Department of Education.
Heidi Evans Head Shot

Heidi Evans

LiveOnNY Foundation, Executive Director
Evans was appointed founding executive director in 2016. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning health care reporter with extensive experience covering organ donation and transplantation during a 30-year career. Evans is also a two-time winner of the George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting at the NY Daily News. She holds an MS degree from Columbia University, was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and has worked at the Wall Street Journal and LA Times.

Our Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Board

We are honored to have input and guidance from some of the best and brightest minds in the nation. Their wisdom and support helps propel the daily mission and long-term vision of LiveOnNY. Meet the Board.

board of directors

CHAIRPERSON
Lee H. Perlman, FACHE
Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer - Greater New York Hospital Association; Former President, GNYHA Ventures
PAST CHAIRPERSON
Sander S. Florman, MD
Professor of Surgery and Director of Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at Mount Sinai
SECRETARY
Brigitte Sullivan
Executive Director of NYU Langone Health
Treasurer
Peter Hutchings
Bruce C. Vladeck, PhD
Special Advisor
Warren Berke
Advisory Board Member at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Hospital Center
Dr. Jeremy Boal, MD
Executive Vice President & CMO, Mount Sinai Health System
Dr. Frank Darras, MD
Medical Director, Transplantation Services at Stony Brook University Hospital
Dr. Jean Emond, MD
Chief of Transplantation, New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center
Bruce Flanz
President & CEO, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Dr. Laura Forese, MD
Executive Vice President & COO, NYP-Cornell
Dr. Elliot Grodstein, MD
Transplant Surgeon at Northwell Health Transplant Center
Rainer W.G. Gruessner, MD, FACS, FICS
Chairman, Department of Surgery, SUNY Downstate
Tomas Heimann, MD
Chief of Surgical Services, James J. Peters VA Medical Center
Dr. Milan Kinkhabwala, MD
Chief, Division of Transplantation at Montefiore Medical Center - Moses Campus
Leona Kim-Schluger, MD
Sydney J. Zweig Professor of Medicine and Associate Director, Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute
Dr. Paula Marcus, MD
Director of the Psychosocial Service to the Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation
Christopher Mastromano, MBA
CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals / Jacobi
Patrick O’Shaughnessy, MD
CMO, Catholic Health System Long Island, Public Member
Michael J. Pastier
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mount Sinai Hospital
Rosanne Raso, RN, MS, NEA-BC
VP and Chief Nursing Officer of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Sally Rogers
Senior VP for Communications & Development of United Hospital Fund
Dr. Edward Rogoff, PhD
Dean of LIU Brooklyn
Salvatore J. Russo, Esq.
Partner at Fox Rothschild, Public Member
Scott Salmirs, MBA
President & CEO of ABM Onsite Services
Dr. Benjamin Samstein, MD
Chief of Liver Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery; Surgical Director of Living Donor Liver Program at NYP Cornell
Dr. Lewis Teperman, MD
Vice Chairman of Surgery, Director of Solid Organ Transplantation at Northwell Health
Rev. Owen Williams
Director of Pastoral Care Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Hospital Center

medical advisory board list

CHAIRPERSON
Dr. Nabil Dagher, MD
Chief, NYU Langone Abdominal Transplant Surgery at NYU Langone Health Transplant Institute
Dr. Luis Angel, MD
Director of Lung Transplantation of NYU Langone Transplant Institute
Karen Berger, RN
Vice President, Transplant and Clinical Services at Westchester Medical Center
Dr. Henry Bodenheimer Jr., MD
Medical Director, Medicine Service Line at Northwell Health
Dr. Joseph Cooke, MD
Chairman of Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Queens
Ira Copperman
Co-President of Transplant Support Organization (TSO)
Dr. Frank D'Ovidio, MD
Surgical Director of Lung Transplantation; at NYP/Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Maryjane Farr, MD MSc FACC
Medical Director, Adult Heart Transplant Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center
Allison Fehr
Hospital Services Specialist, LiveOnNY
Dr. Bruce Gelb, MD
Director, Renal Transplant at NYU Langone Transplant Institute
Dr. Daniel Glicklich, MD
Medical Director, Kidney Transplantation at Westchester Medical Center
Dr. Marie Le
Surgical Director at James J. Peters VA Medical Center
Dr. Brian Lima
Director of Heart Transplantation Surgery at North Shore University Hospital
William Lynch, MPA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operation Officer at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
Dr. Ernesto Molmenti, MD PhD MBA
Director, Renal Transplantation at Northwell Health
Dr. Seigo Nishida, MD PhD FACS
Liver and Kidney Transplant Surgeon at Westchester Medical Center
Allen Norin, PhD D(ABHI)
Director, Transplant Immunology & Immunogenetics at SUNY Downstate Medical Center - University Hospital of Brooklyn
Dr. Sean Pinney, MD FACC
Director, Advanced Heart Failure & Cardiac Transplant Program at The Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Juan Rocca, MD
Surgical Director at Montefiore Medical Center - Moses Campus
Lorraine Ryan, Esq.
Senior Vice President Legal, Regulatory and Professional Affairs at the Greater New York Hospital Association
Dr. Pedro Sandoval, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Abdominal Organ Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Scott Scheinin, MD
Surgical Director, Advanced Pulmonary Failure and Lung Transplantation Program at Montefiore Medical Center - Moses Campus
Dr. Thomas Schiano, MD FACP
Medical Director, Adult Liver & Intestinal Transplantation at The Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Carolyn Shih, MD MBA MPH
Director of Refractive Surgery at North Shore - Long Island Jewish Hospital
Dr. Nabil Sumrani, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center - University Hospital of Brooklyn
Dr. Wayne Walzer
Professor and Chairman, Department of Urology Stony Brook University Hospital
Dr. Anthony Watkins, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Dr. James Zisfein, MD
Chief, Division of Neurology at NYC Health + Hospitals / Lincoln

The LiveOnNY Foundation

Kinsey and Nadine

The LiveOnNY Foundation is the philanthropic arm of LiveOnNY. Created in 2016 with seed funding from Donate Eight, the Foundation complements and enhances the work of LiveOnNY.

The Foundation’s core mission is to raise and deploy charitable contributions to help increase the number of lives saved in New York through public and medical education, innovative projects and to support both donor and recipient families through their transplant journey. By making a contribution to The LiveOnNY Foundation, you help us provide the greatest gift of all – the gift of life.

Pictured here are grant recipients Nadine and Kinsey. Nadine wrote a book about her daughter Kinsey's journey with transplant called "Kinsey's Kidney Adventure."

Learn more Donate

Work With Us

As one of the largest organ procurement organizations in the country, we aim to recruit, develop and retain talented and diverse staff members to help realize our mission. In addition to fulfilling and life-saving work, other benefits include tuition reimbursement, medical & dental plans and retirement savings with employer match and more. View our open positions or search for a career that meets your interests – then apply online!

Careers

Media Toolkit

LiveOnNY is a federally designated non-profit organization committed to giving New Yorkers a second chance at life through the power of organ donation. Since 1978 we have saved lives, provided comfort and strengthened legacies.

We have several experts available to speak to the media about LiveOnNY and organ donation. For media inquiries, please contact Ali McSherry at 646-291-4637 or email amcsherry@liveonny.org

See our recent press releases.

Want the quick facts? Download our fact sheet.

See media stories and coverage