Jak Cooper

Jacqueline “Jak” Cooper is Director of Communications for The Liver Circle, where she combines lived experience, substantial project management experience, patient advocacy, storytelling and community outreach to help make the liver and transplant world feel a little less overwhelming — and a lot more human.

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A liver transplant recipient herself, Jak brings the perspective of someone who has experienced the transplant journey from the patient side. She also serves as a Peer Support Specialist at Stanford Hospital, supporting patients and families navigating transplant, addiction and major life change.

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At The Liver Circle, Jak works across communications, outreach, education and special projects, drawing on her project management background to take ideas from concept through planning, coordination and delivery. In 2026, her work has included helping bring Burden of Genius — the documentary exploring the extraordinary life and work of transplant pioneer Dr. Thomas Starzl — to the Liver Circle community, together with a live discussion bringing patients, clinicians and members of the transplant community into the conversation.

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She also created and leads Liver Lights 2026, The Liver Circle’s Liver Awareness Month pilot campaign encouraging landmarks and buildings across the United States to illuminate green in recognition of liver patients, transplant recipients, donors, donor families, caregivers and everyone whose life has been touched by liver disease.

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Jak has a particular interest in ethics and fairness in transplantation — including how decisions are made, whose voices are represented and how lived experience can contribute meaningfully to the systems and conversations that shape patient care. She is passionate about patient voice, peer support and ensuring that caregivers are seen, supported and acknowledged for the often unseen and sometimes unsupported work they do alongside patients. She believes the transplant journey belongs not only to the person receiving care, but also to the families, friends and caregivers carrying so much of that journey with them.

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For Jak, this work is personal. She is both a beneficiary of decades of transplant innovation and living proof of what that innovation makes possible. 💚