Faces of Cedars-Sinai: Transplant Coordinator Alexandra Wierzbicki Cedars-Sinai Skip to content Close Select your preferred language English عربى 简体中文 繁體中文 فارسي עִברִית 日本語 한국어 Русский Español Tagalog Menu Close Call 1-800-CEDARS-1 toggle search form Close Share Email Print CS-Blog Cedars-Sinai Blog Faces of Cedars-Sinai Transplant Nurse Coordinator Alexandra Wierzbicki Apr 17, 2020 Agata Smieciuszewski Share Tweet Post A patient going through a transplant journey comes into contact with many smiling faces along the way, from appointment schedulers to transplant coordinators to nurses to surgeons and more. We talked to Cedars-Sinai kidney transplant nurse coordinator Alexandra Wierzbicki about what inspired her to pursue her career and her favorite part of the job. What does your average day look like Alexandra Wierzbicki: I work on the kidney transplant living donor team. My job is following our donors all the way through the process. I love my job, and I feel like I meet a lot of people who can't say that, so I feel really blessed to really enjoy what I do. A typical day is a lot of education about the process—who can be a donor and what all the testing is to become a donor. The biggest questions are how people will feel with one kidney, and how they can live a normal, healthy life with one kidney. What inspired you to pursue your career in medicine AW: I've always liked helping people, so nursing just felt like the right path. And then my cousin-in-law donated a kidney to her mom and told me the transplant floor was amazing, and she thought I'd be a really good fit there. Read: Healthcare Heroes: Nurses How has COVID-19 affected your job and what your team is doing over there AW: All of our living donor surgeries are on hold, which is a huge bummer. We had a pretty full schedule into May, and putting everything on hold was disappointing to us and especially to our patients. The donors are often very involved with a lot of different things in life. One of our social workers used to always say, "Donors are doers." Putting life on hold has been difficult for donors, but obviously everybody is understanding. For my team, we've transitioned to working from home most days of the week, so it's been hard to not physically see our patients. How has the transition to remote work been AW: I just think technology is amazing! I am able to use a remote desktop, so I feel like I'm working at my normal desk, but from home. Read: Faces of Cedars-Sinai: Dr. Todd Brennan, Transplant Director What s your favorite part of your job AW: I just think that donors are really special people, and it's not for everyone. It's really neat to hear why people are led to being a kidney donor—sometimes it's straightforward, like for a family member, but other times, it's for a complete stranger. I love hearing about that. What excites you about the future AW: I think transplant is always quickly evolving. It will be very interesting to see where things go with potentially growing organs in a lab. I think there always will be a need for living donors, potentially, but I think it's important to educate more people and overcome some of those misconceptions of organ donation. Read: 7 Myths About Organ Donation What do you do outside of work AW: I'm a mom of identical twins—they just turned 3. So that's my main focus. I also have a golden retriever-yellow lab mix named Rexford. We love to spend time outdoors. What s the best advice you ve ever received AW: I would say in relation to the kids, just enjoy every minute—even when it's hard. And I think that can be applied to life in general. Tags Faces of Cedars-Sinai Share Tweet Post Popular Categories Health + Wellness Science + Innovation Community Blog & Magazines catalyst Blog & Magazines Home CS-Blog Blog CS Magazine Cedars-Sinai Magazine discoveries magazine Discoveries Magazine Embracing our Community Embracing Our Community Blog & Magazines catalyst Blog & Magazines Home CS-Blog Blog Embracing our Community Embracing Our Community CS Magazine Cedars-Sinai Magazine discoveries magazine Discoveries Magazine Popular Topics In Our Community Faces of Cedars-Sinai Patient Stories Los Angeles Behind the Scenes Make an Appointment Find a Doctor Schedule a Callback Call us 24 hours a day 1-800-CEDARS-1 Support Cedars-Sinai Make a Gift Volunteer Share Email Print Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility