Janice Whaley, PhD, MPH

Dr. Janice F. Whaley is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Donor Network West and Donor Network West Foundation, the third-largest Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) in the United States. She joined the organization in January 2019, bringing with her a wealth of experience and a proven track record in organ recovery performance. Under her leadership, the organization has substantially increased organ recovery across multiple metrics, saving hundreds more lives. Her dedication to advocacy, operational excellence, and leadership in northern California, northern Nevada, and nationwide is a testament to her passion for the field.

Before assuming her current role at Donor Network West, Dr. Whaley held leadership and clinical positions in three other OPOs, achieving similar successes. As Chief Operating Officer of LifeShare of Oklahoma, she doubled the number of organ donors early in her five-year tenure. Before that, she served as Managing Director of Clinical Operations at LifeGift in Houston, Texas, where she successfully managed the complex processes of working with five transplant centers and 24 transplant programs, leading the region to record-setting numbers of donors recovered.

A staunch advocate for organ donation, Dr. Whaley has served in multiple roles on national boards and committees related to donation and transplantation. She has been President of the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT), which later awarded her the Dr. Oscar Salvatierra Vanguard Award for Multicultural Leadership. She was appointed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a faculty member for the 2012 National Learning Congress (NLC). She served on the Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Advisory Council on Transplantation (ACOT). In addition, she was appointed as the Co-Chair of the Organ Recovery Collaborative Network (ORCN) ASTS/UNOS/AOPO Taskforce by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS). In 2021, the San Francisco Business Times recognized Dr. Whaley as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business. Most recently, she was appointed to the governing board of directors for Access to Healthcare Networks (AHN). This non-profit organization provides access to healthcare services to help individuals, families, and organizations manage healthcare effectively and affordably.

Dr. Whaley holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership, received in 2024, a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a postgraduate certificate from the Harvard Business School's Executive Management Program. Additionally, she is dually certified in organ and tissue recovery through the American Board for Transplant Certification (ABTC) and the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB).