Outstanding Leadership in Queens
2017 Honoree of the Queens Federation of Churches

Helen Irving, RN, MBA

Helen Irving was appointed President & CEO of LiveOnNY in September of 2011. She oversees the second largest organ procurement organization (OPO) in the country, serving 13 million people, more than 100 acute care hospitals and 10 major transplant centers. She also manages a staff of 175 who help administer and coordinate organ and tissue transplantation and donation throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Irving, who began her career as a critical care nurse, brings 30 years of clinical, administrative, and business expertise to the field of organ donation, coupled with a deep understanding of New York healthcare and the rapidly evolving world of transplantation. Among her accomplishments as CEO and President of LiveOnNY, Irving has established the LiveOnNY Foundation, overseen the rebranding of the 38-year-old procurement organization, and enhanced much-needed services for New York’s donor families who, in the midst of anguish and loss, have given the gift of life so others might live and their loved ones live on. She also played a key role in launching New York’s first face transplant program – a groundbreaking advancement – in collaboration with NYU Medical Center. Prior to joining LiveOnNY as president and CEO, Irving was vice president of hospital operations for five years at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. Among her many responsibilities, she supervised solid organ transplantation, dialysis, and bone marrow transplantation.

Irving first joined the LiveOnNY family in 1993, serving as a transplant coordinator and clinical manager. She was subsequently recruited by New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital as manager of transplant operations. Over the course of her career, Irving has been a tireless advocate for equal access to life-saving transplants for New Yorkers. She has successfully lobbied state and federal legislators to increase awareness of organ donation, and to expand the number of New Yorkers registered to donate. Most recently she participated in President Obama’s White House Summit on Organ Donation, and helped win passage of several laws making it easier for New Yorkers to become organ and tissue donors.

Irving, a native of England, has lived in New York for 25 years. She holds an M.B.A. in Health Care Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and sits on the board of the New York State Hemophilia Consortium and the New York Institute of Technology’s Medical Advisory Board. Irving resides in Manhattan with her husband, David Rock, a health care executive. A hiking enthusiast, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in 2009, the world’s tallest freestanding mountain at 19,341 feet.