Wendy Van Kirk is the Director of Organ Recovery Services for Donor Network of Arizona and earned her BSN from Purdue University. She has been a nurse for 29 years and working in donation and transplantation for 17 of those. Before working as the Director of Organ Recovery Services, she served the Organ Department as the Manager and Clinical Nurse Educator. She has been an active member and affiliate faculty in both UNOS Region 5 and NATCO for the past 14 years.
Prior to her work at Donor Network, she spent 12 years working in a variety of critical care settings, including Adult, Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care as well the Emergency Department. Ten of those years she flew as a flight nurse for the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Life Net of Arizona, which she was the Chief Flight Nurse and ended her flight career as the Clinical Director of Life Net Arizona.
Wendy is passionate about her family, donation, and all things outdoors. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband Burton and their two children Joshua and Elisabeth…and their 200 lb St. Bernard Sam!