What makes your career in organ donation and transplantation special? I was incredibly grateful to join ASTS, and coming with a background in health policy allowed me to dive into learning the complexities of the transplant system. What keeps me coming back every day is how important policy is to transplant in ways that it is not for other fields of medicine. We must measure not only what is clinically and legally correct, but also what is ethically correct. Transplant stands alone in that it straddles life and death—for so many, the gift of life comes out of the immense grief of another family, and it is our moral duty to honor that in every way possible.
What makes my career special is that my mom is one of over half a million Americans who rely on dialysis to stay alive. I have seen the side effects of dialysis and the havoc it wreaks on the human body, and I have had to use my own knowledge of health policy to be my mother’s advocate. If I am able to spare one family the devastation of a life (and death) on dialysis, then my entire career has been a success.
If there is anything I have taken away from this experience, it is that patients need to be at the heart of our donation and transplant system. I’m proud to have launched the Patient Voice Initiative at ASTS, which works to integrate the patient viewpoint—recipients, living donors, and deceased donor families—into our advocacy. This ensures that the policies we pursue align with those they impact most. Part of my job is also working on quality initiatives for ASTS, including procurement training, NSQIP, and standardization initiatives. These projects ensure that transplantation is held to the highest standards while protecting patients and donors.
Advocacy is storytelling and educating. Right now, we all have an imperative to educate the public, those with oversight of the system, and the media about our amazing system and to dissolve myths and rumors that we know are false. It is our duty, as stewards of the public trust, to uphold only the highest standards in what we do every day.
In my four years, I have already seen the system undergo great change, and I’m excited to be part of that. No matter how uncomfortable these monumental changes may feel, it is our duty as professionals in transplantation to ensure our system works at its best for the patients whose lives depend on it.
Emily Besser, MA, CAE, is the Director of Advocacy and Professional Practices at the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS), where she leads advocacy strategy implementation, supports quality initiatives, and serves as staff lead for key policy projects. She works closely with national partners such as the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and collaborates with partners along the full transplant spectrum of care.
Emily launched the Patient Voice Initiative at ASTS, which now engages more than 300 patient participants, and helped redesign the ASTS Health Policy Fellowship to concentrate on research that advances transplantation. Before her work in transplantation, she spent more than six years with the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association, where she managed federal and state policy efforts and was instrumental in passing legislation to protect patients in more than 25 states and the District of Columbia. She was named a Forty Under 40 honoree by Association Forum in 2019 and received the Excellence in Advocacy Award from Women in Government Relations. She holds a Master of Arts in Political Science and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago, and earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential in 2020.
She was nominated for The Alliance 40 Under 40 by Ashley Cardenas, Transplant Administrator at Renown Health, with an additional nomination from Amit Mathur of Mayo Clinic. “Emily is a fierce advocate whose work consistently advances policies that expand access, strengthen the workforce, and elevate the standard of care for patients nationwide,” Cardenas wrote, praising her rare combination of strategic vision and execution alongside her integrity and compassion.
