Gift of Life Donor Program is proud to announce the addition of two new highly accomplished community leaders to its Medical Advisory and Policy Board (MAPB). They will support and guide our mission to save and heal lives through organ and tissue donation. Gift of Life is the non-profit, federally designated organ procurement organization serving the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware for 50 years.
Hospital Administrator
Charles Barbera
MD, MBA, MPH, FACEP
President & CEO, Reading Hospital – Tower Health System, West Reading, Pa.
Dr. Barbera is board certified in emergency medicine, and was named to Becker’s Hospital Review 2023 list of “Physician Leaders to Know” for his dedication to improving and optimizing healthcare in our community. Dr. Barbera has more than 25 years of experience in senior clinical and executive roles within the Tower Health system.
As president and CEO of the 714-bed Reading Hospital, he oversees hospital operations, clinical outcomes, employee and physician engagement, and community service. Dr. Barbera played a pivotal role in developing Reading Hospital’s trauma center, community paramedic program, pediatric emergency department, psychiatric emergency department, and telemedicine efforts.
He has received the Berks County Medical Society William J. Alexander Award for Contributions to Medicine and Community Service and has served as president of the Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians and the Berks County Medical Society.
Voluntary Health Organization
Brian W. Frazee
President & CEO, Delaware Healthcare Association (DHA), Dover, Del.
Mr. Frazee’s unique blend of experience spans political, policy, advocacy, and association leadership. In his role as president of DHA, he works with the First State’s hospitals, health systems, and healthcare-related organizations to tackle complex challenges facing healthcare and to advance the well-being of Delaware’s communities through innovation, collaboration, and excellence.
He most recently served as Vice President of Government Affairs for the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA), where he led advocacy efforts on behalf of Maryland’s 60 hospitals and health systems for eight years.
Prior to joining MHA, Frazee served as Director of Public Policy for the Maryland Association of Community Services, an association of more than 100 nonprofit providers supporting people with developmental disabilities.
He also served as an Associate with an Annapolis-based lobbying firm, worked in the office of a Maryland Senate Chairman, and managed the Southern Maryland Democratic Coordinated Campaign in 2010. His leadership in Maryland’s advocacy community led him to being elected President of the Maryland Government Relations Association.
MAPB members provide expertise and guidance to Gift of Life in recommending policy on a variety of initiatives related to increasing donation opportunities and enhancing relationships with hospital partners.
President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program, Transplant Foundation and Gift of Life Howie’s House
“We welcome our new board members and look forward to benefitting from their deep knowledge of the healthcare system as we work together with hospital partners to advance an even stronger culture of donation within our region.”
Medical Advisory and Policy Board Officers
Chair
Peter Lalli, PhD
Director, HLA, Atrium Labs, Director, Donor and Product Testing Laboratory, Eurofins Labs Director, Director, Histocompatibility Laboratory, Lehigh Valley Health Network
Vice Chair
Michael Marvin, MD
Chair, Department of Transplantation and Liver Surgery, Geisinger Medical Center
Gift of Life Governing Board
The Governing Board provides oversight and direction of the strategic and operational initiatives of the organization. Gift of Life board members have expertise in hospital administration, transplant surgery, critical care medicine, business, science and community activism. The board’s focus is to advance the life-saving mission of Gift of Life.
Governing Board Officers
Chair
Warren R. Maley, MD
Nicoletti Family Professor of Transplantation Surgery Surgical Director, Live Donor Liver Transplantation, Jefferson Health
Vice Chair
Linda Barrasse, MD
Donor Mom, Cardiologist with Lankenau Heart Group, Main Line Health
Immediate Past Chair
Barbara Wadsworth, DNP, MBA, RN, FAAN, FNAP, FACHE
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Main Line Health
Treasurer and Secretary
Margaret A. Belfield, BSN, MSN
Former Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, AtlantiCare, member of Geisinger Health System
Honorary Chairman and Co-Founder
Clyde F. Barker, MD
Chairman Emeritus, Department of Surgery and Transplant Surgeon, Professor of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Co-Founder, Greater Delaware Valley Society of Transplant Surgeons
More information on each board member can be found here.
About Gift of Life Donor Program
Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. It works with 126 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as hundreds of transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 14,196 donors and 39,469 organs for transplant, the most of any OPO in the country since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Overall, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 59,000 organs and more than two million tissue transplants since its founding. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of about 100 others. For more information or to register, visit donors1.org.