Dr. Nancy Ascher has devoted her career to organ transplantation and transplant research. She has served on the Presidential Task Force on Organ Transplantation, Surgeon General's Task Force on Increasing Donor Organs and Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation.

Ascher is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she earned her medical degree. She completed a general surgery residency and clinical transplant fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where she later joined the faculty and became clinical director of the liver transplant program.

Ascher is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. She is a member of numerous other medical societies, including The Transplantation Society and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, both of which she has served as president.