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Trista Smith

LMSW
In 2026, I am answering the call to... advance transplantation through operational excellence while honoring donors’ life-saving gifts.
Job Title: Transplant Business Operations Manager
Organization: Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
Age: 37
Years in Donation and Transplantation: 9
What makes your career in organ donation and transplantation special?

What makes my career in organ donation and transplantation special is that to me, it is not merely a profession, but a calling and a lifelong commitment to advancing a field that transforms lives. My perspective is uniquely shaped by the eight years I spent as a transplant social worker, where walking alongside patients and their families during their most vulnerable moments instilled in me a leadership style grounded in deep compassion.
I bridge the gap between clinical empathy and operational precision. I take immense pride in knowing that every report I produce and every process I improve is a direct contribution to honoring the selfless gift of the donor and improving the lives of our recipients. My approach is rooted in curiosity—identifying root causes, engaging both internal partners and external experts, and developing sustainable, evidence-based solutions.
What makes this work meaningful is that operational excellence is never an end in itself. It is how I keep the patient and family experience at the center of care delivery, ensuring that the systems behind transplantation are not only safe and reliable, but truly responsive to the people who depend on them.

Biography

Trista Smith, LMSW, serves as the Transplant Business Operations Manager at Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, where she applies nearly a decade of multifaceted experience to drive excellence across the transplant continuum. Leveraging her foundational experience as a transplant social worker, she recognized the critical link between operational efficiency and patient outcomes—an insight that led her to pursue advanced education and transition into leadership.

Trista is a highly impactful leader who consistently advances a team culture embedded in curiosity, collaboration, and compassion. With a focus on operational excellence and a passion for process improvement, she identifies root causes and engages both internal partners and external subject-matter experts to develop sustainable, evidence-based solutions. Her work has contributed to improvements in clinical workflows that enhance efficiency while keeping the patient and family experience at the center of care delivery.

She was nominated for The Alliance 40 Under 40 by Diana Harter, Director of Transplant Services and VAD at BJC Health Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City. Harter described Trista as a relationship-centered leader whose curious inquiry drives meaningful workflow optimization and whose meticulous attention to detail has strengthened data integrity, reporting, and regulatory compliance, calling her “a standout emerging leader in the field.”