AFRICAN AMERICAN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, a - LIST
Amber works on the UsAgainstAlzheimer's A-List. She is also co-producer of the BrainStorm podcast. Amber provided web/social media outreach for the HarperCollins launch of Meryl Comer's book, Slow Dancing with a Stranger: Lost and Found in the Age of Alzheimer's, and she recently co-created an Alzheimer's Curriculum that has been adopted at an NYC public high school. Amber has extensive experience supporting top-tier executives, including the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network and the Geoffrey Beene Foundation, for which she was liaison for the national Rock Stars of Science PSA campaign, as well as various media projects.
Job Titles:
- Individual Giving Officer
Anne is a seasoned fundraising professional with 20 years of experience in building individual giving programs, managing Board and leadership volunteers, and successfully increasing development revenue. Anne's background includes work with many health and disability rights organizations including the Arthritis Foundation, Epilepsy Foundation, American Lung Association and National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She has also served in a variety of roles for international organizations working to combat global poverty, promote global health initiatives, provide humanitarian relief and reduce hunger around the world.
Prior to entering the non-profit field, Anne was personal financial planner providing tax, investment and philanthropic counsel to high-net worth individuals. A native of New Jersey, Anne received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Delaware with a dual concentration in marketing and finance and pursued a graduate degree in Taxation at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Favorite Book: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director, Center for Brain Health Equity
Daphne is the Program Director, Center for Brain Health Equity at UsAgainstAlzheimer's (UsA2), where she works to promote brain health equity through public health promotion/early intervention strategies, workforce development and strategic partnership engagement.
Daphne has over a decade of experience in government relations, coalition building, and public health and chronic disease prevention policy, using her experience to advocate on behalf of patients, caregivers, and community-based organizations. Prior to joining UsA2, Daphne worked at Trust for America's Health, YMCA of the USA, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and served as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Health Fellow for U.S Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard.
Daphne has a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and minor in Biology from Duke University and a Master of Public Health in Health Behavior from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Daphne lives in Miami, Florida.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Physician
- Board Member Founder and Senior Advisor, Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine 16th U.S. Surgeon General
- Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute
- Honorary Co - Chair, AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer's
David is a physician-scientist and public health administrator with an extensive track record of leadership, research, and community engagement. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and holds MD and PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Satcher served as 16th Surgeon General of the United States (1998-2002) and the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services (1998-2001). He also served as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Dr. Satcher has held top leadership positions at the Charles R. Drew University for Medicine and Science, Meharry Medical College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. He has received over 50 honorary degrees and numerous awards. He is Founding Director and Senior Advisor for the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
David Satcher, MD, PhD, is Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute, established in 2006, and Professor of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the Morehouse School of Medicine. He has also served as founding Director of the National Center for Primary Care and as Interim President of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Prior to 2002, Dr. Satcher served as Director of the CDC, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Surgeon General of the United States, making him only the second person in history to serve simultaneously as Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health. As Surgeon General, Dr. Satcher released the first-ever Surgeons General Reports on Mental Health, Oral Health, Sexual Health, and Overweight and Obesity. As Assistant Secretary for Health, he led the development of Healthy People 2010, where the goal of eliminating disparities in health was first articulated, and served on the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Dr. Satcher has received over 50 honorary degrees and numerous leadership awards. Additional leadership roles have included Interim Dean and CEO at King-Drew and past President of Meharry Medical College. As a former member of the Alzheimer's Study Group, he spoke of the demographic "tsunami" of new Alzheimer's cases facing the nation's Baby Boomer generation. Dr. Satcher joins the African American Network Against Alzheimer's as an Honorary Co-Chair.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Global CEO Initiative
- Executive Director, the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer 's Disease
Drew is the Executive Director of The Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease, a coalition of leading corporations investing in Alzheimer's disease research, treatment and care. He is also a Partner at High Lantern Group, a healthcare consultancy focused on the intersection of business strategy and public policy. Drew brings nearly two decades of healthcare experience in government and corporate affairs, sales and marketing in global biotechnology, pharmaceutical and U.S. government organizations to a diverse client base. He has spent over 10 years working on Alzheimer's disease in a range of positions. Prior to joining High Lantern Group, Drew was at Pfizer, where he most recently led efforts around the company's Alzheimer's program and advanced Alzheimer's and aging issues through development of commercial strategy and advocacy with international organizations, non-governmental organizations, nonprofits and other key stakeholders.
An editor by training and an organizational thinker by nature, Elizabeth joined UsAgainstAlzheimer's as a Financial Consultant in 2017. She now wears many hats, in development and operations as well. Prior to UsA2 she served as Executive Vice President at Give an Hour, a nonprofit organization providing free mental health services to military personnel and their loved ones. Her position there entailed a variety of roles from chief financial officer to operational strategist, human relations manager, and program director. Previous positions include Director of Publications at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs and Editor at Harvard University Press.
While new to the non-profit field, Erin has extensive experience in project/event management and client relationship management. She received her B.S in Kinesiology (Sport and Recreation Management focus) at James Madison University in Virginia and her M.B.A at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Her career began in the sports industry working for the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians and most recently she has worked in the software and boutique fitness industries. She has seen what a well put together event can do for an organization and as UsAgainstAlzheimer's (UsA2) Event Manager, she is ready to put her tenacious enthusiasm towards organizing and planning to UsA2 signature events.
She is excited and honored to join the UsAgainstAlzheimer's team to help work towards ending Alzheimer's disease. When she is not working, she loves to spend time with her family and friends and travel to new and exciting places.
Favorite book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Board
- ( in Memoriam ) Co - Founder and Vice President
George is Chairman of UsAgainstAlzheimer's, which he co-founded in October 2010 with his late wife, Trish (1946-2017). He was named by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve as a founding member of the Advisory Council on Research, Care, and Services established by the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA Council) and has testified before Congress about the global Alzheimer's pandemic. Under his leadership, UsAgainstAlzheimer's co-convenes both the Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer's Disease (LEAD) Coalition and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease. In 2021, again under his leadership, UsAgainstAlzheimer's launched a Swiss and U.S.-based global initiative to prevent Alzheimer's called the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, where Mr. Vradenburg serves as Founding Chairman. He is also a founding member of the World Dementia Council. He has long been a dedicated member of Washington's civic and philanthropic community, serving as Chairman of the Phillips Collection for 13 years. Mr. Vradenburg is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of Washington. He has served in senior executive and legal positions at CBS, FOX, and AOL/Time Warner.
Greg is author of the award-winning On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's. It is the first book written by an investigative reporter embedded in the mind of Alzheimer's chronicling the progression of his own disease. On Pluto has won the 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award for Medicine, the 2015 International Book Award for Health, and was an Eric Hoffer International Book Award finalist, as well as a finalist for USA Best Book Awards. PBS/NOVA, National Public Radio (NPR), and other national and regional media have chronicled the Pluto journey. Greg has written for numerous media including The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, Time, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, USA Today, Associated Press, Boston Herald, Providence Journal, Arizona Republic, New York Metro, Boston Metro, and Philadelphia Metro, among others. Greg lost his maternal grandfather, his mother, paternal uncle and father to Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
Job Titles:
- President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer
- President, WomenAgainstAlzheimer's Board Member, UsAgainstAlzheimer 's Action
Jill is President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer's, a Network of UsAgainstAlzheimer's. In that role she leads a campaign to find, fund and implement a cure for Alzheimer's with a focus on the impact on women. Lesser also serves as a member of the UsAgainstAlzheimer's board. She is a co-founder of the Global Alliance on Women's Brain Health and has been as a caregiver for her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, since 2007. Previously, Lesser was Executive Director of the Center for Copyright Information. She collaborated with The Glover Park Group on strategic communications and government relations for clients and served as a Managing Director from 2010-11. She managed domestic policy for America Online until its merger with Time Warner. She was Senior Vice President, Domestic Public Policy for AOL Time Warner, Inc., leading the DC office.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Co - Founder President, Global Alzheimer 's Platform Foundation
John is the President of the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation. The GAP Foundation is dedicated to making the clinical trial process for Alzheimer's therapies substantially more efficient thereby speeding cures to patients afflicted with this insidious disease. John is a serial healthcare entrepreneur who most recently participated in the acquisition of MeYou Health, upon whose Board he now serves. Prior to GAP, John served as the co-founder and Chairman of Telcare, Inc., a high technology manufacturer of the first wirelessly enabled blood glucose meter designed to empower patients with diabetes to better manage their disease.
John first became a CEO at the age of 30. In the following years, he has held "C" level positions in six emerging growth companies in the healthcare industry. His past assignments have included serving as CEO of e-Medex, Inc., which later merged with Active Health Management to become the leading provider of population health management services where he served as the Chief Operating Officer. Active Health was purchased by Aetna in 2005. He was also a co-founder and Chairman of CodeRyte, Inc., a venture-backed seller of medical billing software using natural language processing to generate billing codes. CodeRyte was purchased by 3M in 2012.
John co-founded Us Against Alzheimer's, a patient advocacy group focused on changing the way the country addresses the threat posed by Alzheimer's. He also cofounded the first political action committee focused on a specific disease, the Alzheimer's Action PAC. He began his career as an attorney with the Washington DC based law firm of Arent, Fox LLP where he focused on transactions in regulated industries.
John currently serves on the Boards of Directors of a number of private and not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Dwyer is a graduate of Marquette University and the Cornell Law School.
Job Titles:
- Chief Communications Officer
- Chief Communications Officer of UsAgainstAlzheimer
Jon Summers serves and Chief Communications Officer of UsAgainstAlzheimer's. Jon is a nationally recognized strategist and storyteller who combines data, innovation, creativity, and experience to craft communications campaigns that drive change. Among his extensive media experience was his role as television anchor and reporter for a CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, Communications Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party and later for the Democratic Governors Association, and his five-year tenure as Communications Director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. More recently, he served as Senior Vice President at the creative media agency GMMB, where he ran multifaceted communications campaigns for political candidates, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and corporations. Jon's passion for doing good in the world impelled him to leave Summers Strategies, the successful communications firm he founded, and join us in the fight against Alzheimer's.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Board Member Founding Board Member, Children's Research Fund North Suburban Board, Ann & Robert Lurie Children 's Hospital of Chicago
Karen has been involved with fundraising for medical research for over 20 years. In 1995, she founded the North Shore Medical Research Junior Board for Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. Over the last 21 years, the board has raised over $4.0 million for neuroblastoma research. In 2002, after her mother was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, Karen shifted her focus to raising awareness and fundraising for the Alzheimer's Association. She has been an active board member of the Chicago Rita Hayworth Gala Committee and co-chaired the 2014 Chicago Gala. In 2015, Karen joined the UsAgainstAlzheimer's board and is focusing her efforts on advocating for increased focus on Alzheimer's prevention efforts. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Job Titles:
- Honorary Co - Chair, AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer's
Kay Coles James has an extensive background in nearly every sector of America's economy. She has worked at the local, state and federal levels of government and has served dozens of organizations in the corporate, non-profit and academic arenas. Mrs. James is the Founder and President of the Gloucester Institute, a nonprofit organization which trains and nurtures African American leaders. A graduate of Hampton University, she served as Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush. In this role, Mrs. James also served as the Chair of the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program Principals, Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and a member of the President's Management Council. In addition, she was appointed to serve on the White House Fellows Commission. Mrs. James is the author of three books-her award-winning 1993 autobiography Never Forget; Transforming America: From the Inside Out (1995); and What I Wish I Had Known Before I Got Married (2001). Most importantly, she is the wife of Charles E. James, Sr., the proud mother of three children and grandmother to five grandchildren. Mrs. James joins the African American Network Against Alzheimer's as an Honorary Co-Chair.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer 's Brain Health Partnership
- Vice President, Prevention Executive Director, Brain Health Partnership
Kelly O'Brien is Vice President of Prevention and the Executive Director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer's Brain Health Partnership (BHP). BHP is a comprehensive initiative to promote brain health and improve early intervention. In these roles, she is the strategic lead and director of the team implementing the early intervention and brain health program.
A change catalyst, Kelly's unique combination of leadership, strategy, community engagement, partnership development, project management, sales/fundraising, and communications skills have resulted in an impressive record of raising the profile and impact for many organizations and initiatives.
Before joining UsAgainstAlzheimer's, Kelly was a founding Executive Director of The Kennedy Forum Illinois, a mental health initiative led nationally by former Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Her service history includes leadership positions in the public, nonprofit and private sector, including CEO of the social impact consultancy Ideaction Corps, public health advisor to Senator Richard Durbin, Senior Legislative Aide to Congressman Jerry Kleczka, Director of Government Affairs for Partnership for Prevention, Associate Executive Director for the American Public Health Association, Congressional Liaison for the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vice President at Wilhelm & Conlon Public Strategies, Executive Director of Girls on the Run Chicago, VP of Corporate Partnerships and Marketing at United Way of Metro Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Director of Institutional Giving
LaShonne joined UsAgainstAlzheimer's as Director of Institutional Giving, with over 15 years of development and revenue generation experience. Her background includes significant work cultivating new relationships and increasing revenue for organizations.
LaShonne is a native Washingtonian and an avid tennis player.
Job Titles:
- Prevention Program Manager
- Program Manager for UsAgainstAlzheimer
Latonya Aaron serves as the Prevention Program Manager for UsAgainstAlzheimer's. Throughout the years, Latonya has gained experience in program management through her past work as a Graduate Coordinator for the Alternative Breaks program, where she explored her interests in social justice advocacy and leadership. Latonya also has a background in teaching, where she taught 7th through 12th grade students from New York University in their Science and Technology Entry Program. On her free time, she enjoys dancing and has even discovered a new interest in photography. With a Master of Public Health in Behavioral and Community Health from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Howard University, Latonya has always been passionate about the sciences, community outreach, the healthcare system, and self-care.
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
Lynn Marie Croneberger, CFRE was the Chief Development Officer at WAMU 88.5, our nations' NPR station for three years. Before WAMU, Lynn did some consulting for a year, focusing on board development. Prior to her consulting, for six years she was the CEO of SOS Children's Villages-USA, an
international organization focused on saving orphaned and abandoned children around the world. Prior to SOS, she was Vice President of Development for The Wilderness Society and Reading is Fundamental in Washington, D.C. Before moving to Washington, DC, Lynn was the Executive Director for the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Foundation and Memorial Foundation in Hollywood Florida for six years, Executive Director of the American Heart Association in South Florida for eight years. Ms. Croneberger is a certified fundraising professional (CFRE) and was the 2018 Outstanding Fundraiser of the Year for the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Ms. Croneberger graduated from Memphis State University where she maintained an internship and eventually a full-time position at WKNO-TV/Radio in Memphis,
Job Titles:
- CEO of Melody Barnes Solutions LLC
- Honorary Co - Chair, AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer's
Melody Barnes is CEO of Melody Barnes Solutions LLC, a domestic strategy firm, and Vice Provost for Global Student Leadership Initiatives and Senior Fellow at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. Ms. Barnes also serves as a Senior Director at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm; Chair of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions; and on the Board of Directors of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. From January 2009 until January 2012, she was Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. As Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Ms. Barnes provided strategic advice to President Obama and worked closely with members of the Cabinet coordinating the domestic policy agenda across the Administration. Under her leadership, innovative new policies, practices and partnerships were initiated to address significant national challenges, including education, health care and the federal government's relationship with local governments and communities. Ms. Barnes joins the African American Network Against Alzheimer's as an Honorary Co-Chair.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Co - Founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer's WomenAgainstAlzheimer's UsAgainstAlzheimer 's Representative
- Founding Board Member
Meryl Comer is a Co-Founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer's; WomenAgainstAlzheimer's; UsAgainstAlzheimer's representative of the Global BBP BrainTrust; Vice Chairperson, WHAM (Women's Health Access Matters).
For more than a decade (2007-2019), Meryl served as President and CEO of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative, a catalyst funder targeting early diagnosis through spirited public engagement campaigns, early assessment technologies, support of the first "virtual registry", and pre-clinical AD research to modify disease risk. She served on the NIH National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) from Sept 2018-Jan 2022. In 2012, she led the formation of the 21st Century BrainTrust® (21CBT), a non-profit partnership to advance mobile health technologies and brain health. Comer was also Co-Principal Investigator for the PCORI Alzheimer's Patient/Caregiver Research Network in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, UCSF's Brain Health Registry, and UsAgainstAlzheimer's. In 2009, she served on the bi-partisan Alzheimer's Study Group, charged with presenting a National Strategic Plan to Congress. A former veteran broadcast journalist, 100% of Meryl Comer's New York Times bestseller, "Slow Dancing with a Stranger" (HarperCollins), supports Alzheimer's research.
Mike comes to UsAgainstAlzheimer's with more than 20 years of experience in financial management, including over 15 years in the non-profit sector. He has built and led teams dedicated to developing long-term financial strategies as well as meeting day-to-day operational needs. Prior to joining UsAgainstAlzheimer's, Mike served as an Executive Director of Finance at the American Red Cross. During his career, he managed the finances of Long-Term Disaster recovery operations as well as performing financial statement and federal funding audits for private sector and non-profit entities.
A native New Yorker, Mike holds a BA in Economics and a MA in Accounting from the College of William and Mary, and lives in Arlington VA.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Operations
Missy (her ‘real' name is M'liss), has been involved with non-profit organizations for over 25 years, and has concentrated on the financial management of such organizations for the past 10 years. She has also served as a consultant for local small businesses and organizations that contract with the government. For the past three years, she has enjoyed working with both the day to day operational work of UsA2 and the strategic development of the organization as we move towards the mission of finding a cure. She also has been an active member in the community and, in particular, enjoys working at the College Tracks program at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, where students with limited resources receive guidance with the college application and financial aid processes. Missy earned her Bachelor's of Science in Economics at the College of Holy Cross and an MBA with a concentration in Finance at the University of Maryland.
Job Titles:
- Principal With Faegre Drinker Consulting
- Senior Policy Consultant Faegre Drinker Consulting
Ms. Debra Lappin serves as a principal with Faegre Drinker Consulting. She is recognized across government, academic, and nonprofit sectors as a leading strategist in public health and science policy.
Ms. Lappin consults on innovative precompetitive partnerships, global consortia, and other strategic alliances among academic research institutions, voluntary health agencies, government, and industry. She brings special expertise in regulatory science where her practice leads a range of initiatives for patient-focused drug development and the generation of value models for payment and coverage determinations.
A skilled facilitator of scientific meetings, Ms. Lappin brings an ability to translate and synthesize complex scientific information for diverse audiences and to elicit collective and balanced input. She is respected and trusted by senior leaders across the nation's health agencies, having served on advisory boards to the directors of both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and as Chair of the National Arthritis Foundation, President of the Council for American Medical Innovation, and a member of the Boards of Research!America, the Next Fifty Initiative, and the Ludeman Center for Women's Health Research.
Over eight years, she has supported UsA2 in the design of a number of its defining initiatives, including the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's, the Global Alzheimer's Platform, the Alzheimer's Disease Patient and Caregiver Engagement initiatives and, most recently, the Alzheimer's Disease Evidence Accelerator, a platform for the collection, linkage, and sharing of real world data in Alzheimer's.
Job Titles:
- Principal on the Health
- Senior Policy Advisor
- Senior Policy Advisor Faegre Drinker Consulting
Nick is a Principal on the Health and BioSciences Team of Faegre Drinker Consulting. He provides strategic counsel and support to a number of entities including patient advocacy organizations, children's hospitals and related providers and stakeholder coalitions and has been part of the UsAgainstAlzheimer's federal public policy team since early 2011. With more than 15 years of experience in federal healthcare policy, he is an experienced strategist in the process of high-stakes initiatives from start to finish. His work spans projects focused on Congress, as well as federal departments and agencies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Chairman and Co - Founder, Home Instead
Paul Hogan founded Home Instead with his wife Lori in 1994. The franchise network is the world's leading provider of home care services for seniors, with more than 1,100 independently owned and operated franchise offices that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually across 14 countries. On August 6, 2021, Home Instead merged with Honor Technology, Inc. and continues to operate under the Home Instead name. This union brings together the largest, highest-touch home care network AND the leading home care technology and operations platform to revolutionize the Home Care industry for the benefit of the professional caregiver, aging adults and their families.
Hogan has served as Governor for the Future of Health and Health Care System at the World Economic Forum and as a Steward for the World Economic Forum's System on the Future of Education, Gender and Work. He also previously served as the Vice Chair for the Global Agenda Council on Ageing at the World Economic Forum.
In 2016, Hogan became a member of the World Dementia Council (WDC) which consists of global experts and leaders drawn from research, academia, industry, and governments. The WDC focuses on the areas of finance, drug development, data sharing, care improvements and risk reduction.
Hogan was awarded the "E" Award by the U.S. Department of Commerce in May 2008 for successfully exporting the home care concept to other countries. This award is one of the highest honors the federal government presents to individuals, firms or organizations and Home Instead was honored with the "E Star" Award in 2016 for sustained excellence.
In recognition of his contribution to franchising, Hogan was named the Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006 by the International Franchise Association.
Hogan co-authored, Stages of Senior Care (McGraw-Hill), a USA Today Bestseller. Proceeds from book sales go to the Home Instead Charities, which provides financial support to non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life of older adults.
Hogan currently serves as a founding board member of Home Instead Charities and is an active board member for the following organizations: The National Forest Foundation, University of Nebraska- Omaha Gerontology Advisory Board, University of Nebraska Medical Center iEXCEL Advisory Board, and UsAgainstAlzheimer's.
Job Titles:
- Reverend
- Honorary Co - Chair, AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer's
Reverend Al Sharpton is the Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), a not-for-profit civil rights organization headquartered in Harlem, New York, with over 50 Chapters nationwide. As one of the nation's most-renowned civil rights leaders, Rev. Sharpton has been praised by President Barack Obama as "the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden" and by former President George W. Bush, who said, "Al cares just as much as I care about making sure every child learns to read, write, add and subtract." Rev. Sharpton is currently the host of MSNBC's "PoliticsNation," which analyzes the top political and social news of the day and features the country's leading newsmakers. The show recently beat all other MSNBC and CNN primetime shows in the ratings in its demographic. Rev. Sharpton also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show "Keepin' it Real" that is heard daily all over the country, as well as two local New York radio shows. He delivers remarks at NAN's weekly Saturday Rally at its Harlem headquarters, the "House of Justice," that are broadcast live on NAN's website (www.nationalactionnetwork.net) each Saturday from 9-11 a.m. Under Rev. Sharpton's leadership, NAN has become the most active social justice organization in the country. President Obama said-in his keynote address at NAN's 20th anniversary Keepers of the Dream Awards Dinner-that National Action Network is not the National "Satisfaction" Network but the National "Action" Network, highlighting that "Action" is what Rev. Sharpton and NAN are about. Rev. Sharpton joins the African American Network Against Alzheimer's as an Honorary Co-Chair after losing his mother, Ada, to Alzheimer's in 2012.
Job Titles:
- Director of Institutional Giving
Roseann is a strategic, results-driven professional with over 20 years of experience in fundraising, operations and project management at nonprofits and educational institutions in the Washington, DC area. She thrives on building collaborative, rewarding, and successful relationships and implementing strategies to maximize resources and drive positive change.
Prior to joining the UsAgainstAlzheimer's team, Roseann worked in the conservation, community development, youth development, and higher ed arenas. She earned a master's degree in community planning from the University of Maryland, College Park and a bachelor's degree with dual majors in public communications and cultural anthropology from American University in Washington, DC. .
Russ Paulsen is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader and innovator. Under his leadership, a series of nonprofit programs and teams have saved hundreds of lives, helped rebuild and heal communities across the nation, and brought cutting-edge technology to public health and human services.
Russ joined UsAgainstAlzheimer's as chief operating officer in 2019. Since then, the organization built a web and telephone platform that delivers information tailored to where a specific user is on their Alzheimer's journey; received its first-ever funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and assembled a 100-organization coalition to set a national Alzheimer's risk-reduction goal.
Prior to joining UsAgainstAlzheimer's, his team at the American Red Cross built a campaign to reduce deaths from home fires; it has saved more than 1200 lives since its launch and made 960,000 high-risk homes safer through smoke alarms and fire escape plans. More than 1.7 million kids have learned about fire safety through classroom presentations and an award-winning videogame designed by his team. And in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in addition to rebuilding thousands of homes, Russ led a Red Cross team that helped rebuild the mental health system of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi through targeted grants and a system of treatment reimbursement that created an economic incentive for small providers to return.
Russ's career in helping began with an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area, when he felt compelled to drop what he was doing and volunteer.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Founding Board Member
- Founding Board Member Founder & President, VeteransAgainstAlzheimer 's Founding Member, WomenAgainstAlzheimer's
- Founding Board Member of UsAgainstAlzheimer
Shawn recently founded VeteransAgainstAlzheimer's, a new network of UsAgainstAlzheimer's. Her work as both an Alzheimer's and a veterans' advocate has given her insights into the perspectives of those who are directly affected by this disease and who are best positioned to address this health crisis in the military and veteran communities.
Shawn is a founding board member of UsAgainstAlzheimer's and the WomenAgainstAlzheimer's network, and she has been an advocate and caregiver in the Alzheimer's world for over 30 years. In addition, she is a Consumer Advisory Board Member for Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium, a Consumer Reviewer for the Department of Defense's Peer-Reviewed Alzheimer's Research Program, an Advisory Committee Member for the Code of Support Foundation, and a Committee member for Cohen Veterans Bioscience Veterans Advocacy Panel. Shawn has held volunteer roles with several veteran service organizations including the Code of Support Foundation, the GI Film Festival, Veterans Moving Forward, Troops First, Hero Dogs, Pets for Vets, and the VA hospital in Washington, D.
Love for her country and the Alzheimer's history in her family motivated Shawn to raise awareness of the unique military risk factors that are associated with Alzheimer's. Many organizations do great work around traumatic brain injury, PTSD, blast injury, and concussion, but few are focused on veterans with Alzheimer's.
Founding Board Member; Founder & President, VeteransAgainstAlzheimer's; Founding Member, WomenAgainstAlzheimer's
Job Titles:
- Vice President and Senior Advisor of Health Equity and Access at UsAgainstAlzheimer's
- Vice President and Senior Advisor, Health Equity
STEPHANIE J. MONROE is Vice President and Senior Advisor of Health Equity and Access at UsAgainstAlzheimer's, a national advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. She also directs African Americans Against Alzheimer's, founded in 2013 and the first national network created specifically to respond to Alzheimer's disease's disparate impact on African Americans. By working nationally, locally, and through strategic partnerships, African Americans Against Alzheimer's is raising awareness of the impact of Alzheimer's health disparities on communities of color and women, the need for greater minority participation in clinical trials to find better treatments and hopefully a cure, and the importance of all communities, especially those most at risk, to begin to focus on brain health and adopt risk reduction strategies that promote brain health and healthy aging.
An attorney with three decades of federal public policy experience, Stephanie is former Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. Prior to serving in that position, she ended a 25-year career on Capitol Hill after holding a number of key staff positions in the United States Congress, including Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Staff Director of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families.
In addition to her work in Alzheimer's, Stephanie serves on the National Academy of Sciences Board for Children, Youth, and Families, addressing issues that impact vulnerable families, including health and education. She also advises academic centers, industry partners, federal agencies, and others on strategies to achieve inclusive participation clinical trials.
Job Titles:
- Project Director Producer, BrainStorm Podcast Director, National Summit
- Senior Project Director at UsAgainstAlzheimer
Susan is Senior Project Director at UsAgainstAlzheimer's and provides management, leadership, and vision on a range of programs and projects including the National UsAgainstAlzheimer's Annual Summit. This multi-day event brings together global industry leaders, researchers, individuals living with Alzheimer's, advocates, and caregivers - all working toward the shared goal to end Alzheimer's disease. Susan produces the podcast BrainStorm by UsAgainstAlzheimer's that features conversations about brain health and new developments in the fight against Alzheimer's. In addition, she is liaison to the Board of Directors. Susan's experience as an investment banker honed her skills as an effective manager, excellent communicator, and exceptional problem-solver. She has served as PTA President of her children's schools, managing multiple projects and events simultaneously. Susan received her BA in Political Science from Providence College.
Job Titles:
- Project Lead, AD PACE and a - List
Terry provides guidance on a broad range of strategic decisions, integrating expertise into product and disease strategies, medical and scientific communications and patient and caregiver advocacy efforts. Her interest in Advocacy has resulted in long-standing support of several organizations dedicated to patient support in Brain Disorders and Breast Cancer and she participates on several Boards. She was also a long-time caregiver for her mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Board
- Vice President
- in Memoriam ) Co - Founder and Vice President