Category: Our Leadership

Garet Hil is the Founder & CEO of the National Kidney Registry. Mr. Hil became involved in transplantation when his daughter was diagnosed with kidney failure at age 10. After he and his wife were both deemed incompatible, a difficult and extensive donor search finally resulted in a successful transplant for their daughter. That process …

Dr. Matthew Cooper is the Chief of Transplantation, Director of Solid Organ Transplant and a Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is the Mark Adams Distinguished Professor of Surgery. He is also a member of the National Kidney Registry’s Medical Board and its Surgical Director. Dr. Cooper chose the specialty of …

Dr. Michael Cecka is the Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Immunogenetics Center, Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. He is certified by the American Board for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and an HLA Laboratory Director and holds licenses in California, Hawaii and New York. Dr. Cecka …

Margaret Voges leads the National Kidney Registry Operations Committee in working to improve the living donation process, teaching new centers how to navigate the system, and working with experienced centers on how to make improvements and utilize new technologies. She also serves as an educator for NKR regional training sessions and is the lead educator …

Dr. Amy Waterman is a national transplant innovator and the Deborah C. and Clifton Phillips Centennial Chair for Clinical Research in Transplant Medicine at the J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center at Houston Methodist Hospital. In addition to many national transplant leadership positions, Dr. Waterman is a Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation. In 2018, …

In his dual roles as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Meehan is responsible for operations, cash flow management, finance, analysis and reporting. Prior to joining the NKR, Mr. Meehan was a Managing Partner of Aviano Capital, an acquisition fund, where he raised seed capital from Private Equity firms and secured $100 million …

Samantha Hil is a kidney transplant recipient and the catalyst for the formation of the NKR and ImmunoFree. She manages the microsite product, leads the teams that design and manage all of the NKR’s websites, and is the organization’s chief editor, responsible for writing and reviewing the company’s published material, both online and in print.

Frank Schultz leads the NKR Software Development team, the Quality Assurance team and the Information Technology group. He is responsible for technical leadership, software processes, and the execution of development projects. Mr. Schultz has over two decades of software experience and over 10 years in the life sciences industry, including executive positions at global leaders …

Jon Sullenberger is responsible for overseeing all programs and initiatives associated with coaching and mentoring in support of both donors and recipients. Mr. Sullenberger has firsthand experience with the donor search process and living donation. His spouse has had two living donor transplants, and he donated as a Standard Voucher donor for her second transplant.

Timothy Wan, Esq., is the NKR’s General Counsel and Chief Litigator. He oversees contracts, leases, intellectual property, employment law, risk management and litigation. Mr. Wan was admitted to the New York State Bar in January 2001, after graduating from Brooklyn Law School with his Juris Doctor, and from Vassar College, with a double B.A. in …