Valerie Cruz, RN, CTBS founded VitaLync after two decades at the center of the US tissue banking system — from the hospital bedside to the AATB accreditation office to advising governments through the IAEA. She built VitaLync to extend what she learned inside the system to the world.
"Every country deserves the infrastructure to save lives with tissue. VitaLync exists to build that infrastructure — one partnership at a time."
Valerie Cruz, RN, CTBS founded VitaLync after two decades at the center of the US tissue banking system — from the hospital bedside to the AATB Accreditation office to advising governments through the IAEA. She built VitaLync to extend what she learned inside the system to the world.
Valerie's career began at the bedside in New York City's major medical centers, where she built deep clinical expertise and led teams through complex regulatory surveys with the Joint Commission and the New York State Department of Health. From there, she moved into the world of tissue donation — first as a Donor Evaluation Coordinator at LiveOnNY, then as a Clinical Recovery Coordinator at the Washington Regional Transplant Community — developing hands-on expertise in the ethical recovery and processing of donated tissue.
At the American Association of Tissue Banks — the gold standard body for US tissue banking — Valerie served as Accreditation Manager, then rose to Director of Accreditation, overseeing compliance and standards for tissue establishments across the country. She is one of a very small number of professionals who has operated at the intersection of clinical practice, tissue bank operations, regulatory enforcement, and international policy.
Her international reach expanded significantly through a consultancy role with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2019, where she advises governments on radiation-sterilized tissue banking — bringing US-standard expertise directly to emerging market health ministries. She has presented at the Saudi Transplant Congress and has worked with government and institutional partners across the Middle East, Central Asia, and Latin America.
Valerie founded VitaLync in 2024 with a clear mission: to democratize access to safe, high-quality tissue products by bridging the regulatory, logistical, and cultural gaps that prevent them from reaching patients in underserved regions. VitaLync is the rare company where the founder has personally done the accreditation work, written the regulatory frameworks, recovered the donors, and presented on the international stage — and built a company to do all of it at scale.
Connect with Valerie on LinkedInValerie brings a rare combination of clinical, operational, regulatory, and international experience — across every layer of how tissue banking actually works.
Valerie spent years inside the US tissue banking system watching two realities play out simultaneously: an abundance of ethically sourced, high-quality tissue in the United States, and a significant lack of affordable tissue allografts — along with a near-total absence of the regulatory, logistical, and cultural infrastructure needed to deliver them to patients who need them most.
VitaLync is her answer to that gap — a company built with the inside knowledge of how the system works and the international relationships to extend it globally.
Having advised governments through the IAEA, Valerie understands what it takes to build a tissue banking program from policy to practice — and can guide ministries through every step.
Her clinical nursing background and wound care knowledge makes her uniquely positioned to understand the patient-level need driving demand for amniotic membrane and biological wound products.
Her six years at the AATB means she understands accreditation, standards, and compliance from the inside — giving distributor partners confidence that every product and process meets the highest bar.
Whether you're a Ministry building a tissue program, a local and regional initiative seeking wound care allografts, or a distributor expanding your portfolio — Valerie brings 20+ years of tissue banking expertise to every partnership.