Dr. Macey Levan (Henderson) is an internationally recognized scientist and leader advancing organ donation and transplantation through research, policy, and patient-centered design, shaping complex public health systems and translating science into practice.
Dr. Levan is Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Director of Policy & External Affairs for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. She co-founded and now directs the Center for Surgical and Transplant Applied Research (CSTAR) Qualitative Core in the Department of Surgery.
Under her leadership, CSTAR has helped elevate NYU Surgery’s NIH funding ranking to #7 in just four years. She currently serves as PI on two NIH R01 awards and has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications across medicine, public health, ethics, and policy including in top medical journals like JAMA.
Previously at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Levan played a central role in growing the transplant research enterprise to over $100 million in NIH funding, helping to build one of the most influential transplant research programs in the world.
At the federal level, she served as an elected Director—and later Vice President of Patient & Donor Affairs—for the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In that role, she helped guide national governance reform, modernization efforts, and policies affecting thousands of patients annually, championing transparency, accountability, and patient-centered design within one of healthcare’s most complex infrastructures.
Her work spans federal agencies, academic medical centers, professional societies, philanthropic partners, and international collaborators, preparing health systems for emerging innovations including advanced surgical technologies, xenotransplantation, and bioengineered organs.
Beyond research and policy, Dr. Levan views storytelling as essential to public trust. She leads global media and engagement strategy for an international scientific journal, produces podcast programming for a worldwide audience, and develops projects across television and digital media.
She serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Organ Transplant Association and mentors emerging clinicians and scientists nationwide.
At the center of her leadership is a simple conviction: science must advance with integrity, courage, and humanity—and always in service of patients and families.
