A passionate advocate for organ donation, Woodlhey Ambroise, MSHA, MBA, RRT, RCP and senior director of organ operations and surgical recovery at LifeGift, says she owes everything to her mother. “My Mom gave selflessly of herself to me and to my brothers when we were growing up,” says Ambroise. “She also passed along her giving nature to me. That’s why the organ donation and transplantation field fits me so well. She raised us to always give back to our community and help those in need.”
That emphasis on giving back now manifests itself in Ambroise’s work to increase multicultural organ donors and in mentoring others. She has served numerous times as a mentor in the Alliance for Organ Donation and Transplantation (The Alliance’s) mentorship program.
Mentoring and Being Mentored
“With being a mentor, people want to hear your story, but you need to find out what their story is,” says Ambroise. “When I’m mentoring someone, I always ask, ‘What is it you want to do? What is your ultimate goal?’ I have advised my mentees to shadow a department they’re interested in moving to or to have a conversation with their manager and let them know about their goals. I’ve also talked to mentees about getting an executive coach who can help fine tune skills to be able to get to the next level.”
Ambroise says that she has had several mentors who played a tremendous role in her professional development. In particular, Kevin Myer, President and CEO of LifeGift has been a strong supporter and mentor for her.
“He encouraged me and was very supportive of me obtaining two master’s degrees while I’ve been at LifeGift. He said the organization was here to help me and to support me. He believes in encouraging and supporting his employees and anything that I’ve undertaken in the transplant industry, he’s been there to support. He does that for a number of us in the organization.”
She earned an MBA in 2015 and a Master of Science in healthcare administration in 2017 from Texas Southern University.
Path to Transplantation
“Growing up, I wanted to either be a doctor or a lawyer. My mom is a nurse, my aunts are nurses, and I have cousins who are nurses,” says Ambroise. “I like to help people. I don’t like to see people suffering, so I chose health care.”
Ambroise attended St. Thomas University in Florida and planned to go to medical school after college. When she graduated, she went to Mexico to study medicine as she speaks Spanish fluently. While in medical school, she did rotations in neurology and surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and after earning an MD from the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas rather than apply for residency programs in the U.S., she went to respiratory school and was a respiratory therapist for two years.
Looking to make a change, she took classes to fulfill the requirements to apply for physician assistant programs. In one of the classes, she met someone who worked at LifeGift. “She told me what she did, and I thought organ donation and transplantation was amazing and was something I wanted to be involved with,” says Ambroise. “I went home and spoke to my husband and asked him what he thought. He’s said, ‘Yes, if you feel like that’s something you want to do, go for it,’ and here I am.”
She began her career at LifeGift in 2012 as a donation clinical specialist. LifeGift is an organ procurement organization based in Houston that works with 275 hospitals and ten transplant centers in north, southeast and west Texas.
Role, Team and Work-life Balance
Ambroise was promoted in March 2025 to senior director of organ operations and surgical recovery, where she oversees all aspects of the organ allocation and organ recovery processes and manages a team of 29 professionals.
“I’m now more involved in strategic planning and looking at the bigger picture, trying to maximize utilization with recovery and preservation,” says Ambroise. “In collaboration with our transplant center liaison director, I work on building relationships with transplant centers to make sure that we’re able to get the organs transplanted.”
“We are a 24-7, 365-day-a-year operation and because we’re dealing with death and dying all the time there can be issues with burnout, so we promote work life balance. I tell my managers that if you are off, take your time off. Do not work yourself to the bone where you reach a point where you don’t want to do this anymore. Creating those boundaries and being able to take vacation with your families is important to me as well.”
Faith and Influence of Mother
“Faith drives me to do what I do,” says Ambroise. “I believe God is the giver of life and giving someone the opportunity to live another day with an organ transplant has a lot of meaning for me.” She says her favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“I grew up in the Baptist church, and my family are Christians. My mom made sure that we went to church. We went to Bible study and to Sunday school. I was very active in church and served as president of the youth group and as the choir director. Those leadership roles as a teenager helped me with my journey into leadership.”
“My Mom did an amazing job and has given selflessly of herself to me and my siblings,” continues Ambroise. “I am where I am today because of her sacrifices. She made sure she provided all of us with everything that we ever needed. My parents did a great job.”
Her mother and father came to the US from Haiti as teenagers with their parents and her Mom is a nurse and her father is an engineer. She grew up in Brooklyn with her two brothers.
Ambroise chairs the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) Advisory Board and is on the planning committee for its September 2025 annual conference. The Alliance is co-hosting a half-day workshop during the conference titled, “Bridging the Gap: Leading with Cultural Integrity to Strengthen Community Ties in Organ Donation and Transplantation.” The session will explore the connection between cultural awareness and improved clinical and operational outcomes.
Multicultural education is very important to Ambroise. “My uncle died last year waiting for a heart transplant,” says Ambroise. “It’s our obligation to the community to educate and provide awareness about organ donation,” she says. She has appeared on the Christina Lockett radio show and Good Day Houston during Donate Life month to promote organ donation in multicultural communities.
In 2023, she moderated an Alliance Advancement Series webinar, Kidney Utilization: Broader Sharing – Where Do We Go from Here?. “Within my role, I oversee allocation and utilization, so those areas are near and dear to my heart,” says Ambroise. “It was great to share innovations with the transplant community to maximize kidney utilization such as biopsies and being able to get kidneys to the recipient at the right time, minimizing ischemic time which helps decrease non-use rate.”
The Personal Side
Ambroise lives with her husband, a pharmacist, whom she met while in medical school in Mexico. “My husband has been my one of my biggest advocates and supporters,” says Ambroise. “I’m able to do everything I’m doing because I have a great support system. He has never told me no in regard to my career and he’s always encouraged me to do more, to reach for the stars, and to keep on growing. I wouldn’t be able to be here without his help and his support and encouragement.”
They live in Houston with their 8-year-old son who loves to play soccer and a 15-year-old daughter who loves to go shopping with her mom. “When you go into stores, that is the real retail therapy.” She and her husband love to travel. Earlier this year they went to Columbia and another trip took them to Trinidad. A trip to Europe is planned for next year.
“I’m proud that we’re able to get people off the transplant list,” says Ambroise. “I’m proud that because of this lifesaving work that we do that someone is able to see tomorrow. Children get to grow up and have a life; they’re able to get married and have children. I’m proud that after a kidney transplant, someone can get off dialysis and go on vacation for the first time in years. I’m proud of the fact that when people get their new lungs, and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God! this is the best breath I’ve ever taken.’ These are things that you and I may take for granted but for someone who’s been waiting for a lifesaving organ, it’s a new look at life. I don’t know if there are words to express that feeling, but I’m proud of being able to help someone with a new tomorrow.”
