Philadelphia, PA — Gift of Life Donor Program Advanced Practice Coordinator Brittany Lyons, BS, CPTC, has been named president-elect of the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization (NATCO), the organization for donation and transplant professionals.
Lyons, who has been active with NATCO for more than four years, will serve as president-elect for 2025 and assume the role of president at the organization’s annual meeting in 2026. She has served as treasurer of NATCO for more than two years and joined its board of directors as a councilor-at-large in 2020.
John Clarke, director of Gift of Life’s Transplant Information Center, also serves on the NATCO board as a councilor-at-large.
“Brittany will bring strong leadership and valuable expertise to her new role with NATCO, as a powerful advocate and leader for organ donation,” said Richard D. Hasz, Jr., MFS, CPTC, president and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program. “Throughout Gift of Life’s 50 years of service, members of our world-class team have made outstanding contributions to the premier professional organizations in our field including NATCO. Brittany and John continue that proud tradition as we collaborate with our colleagues across the country to save more lives.”
Lyons began her career in organ procurement as a transplant coordinator with Gift of Life Donor Program in 2010. She was promoted to advanced practice coordinator in 2018. She previously worked more than 13 years as a paramedic/EMT and holds a Bachelor of Health Science degree focused on end-of-life care from Excelsior University.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to help advance the professional development of donation and transplant professionals nationwide,” said Lyons. “Our field is rapidly evolving and NATCO will support our members as we share best practices, promote clinical excellence and embrace innovation to help end the transplant waitlist.”
Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. It works with 126 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as hundreds of transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 14,196 donors and 39,469 organs for transplant, the most of any OPO in the country since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Overall, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 59,000 organs and more than two million tissue transplants since its founding. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of 100 others. In honor of its 50 years of service, Gift of Life is rallying the community to sign up 50,000 more organ donors and provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Learn more and sign up at donors1.org.