Michael Gibson, MS, MD
Dr. Gibson pioneered our understanding of the open artery and the open microvasculature hypothesis in the setting of heart attack. As an innovator, Gibson invented measures of coronary blood flow that are widely used today (the TIMI frame count (cited 2,131 times), the TIMI myocardial perfusion grade (cited 1,089 times).
Gibson is an interventional cardiologist, cardiovascular researcher & educator. He is the CEO of the combined non-profit Baim and PERFUSE research institutes at Harvard Medical School.
Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly leads the health portfolio for Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. He advises the Senator’s policy and oversight efforts on the Senate Finance Committee. Previously, he was an associate for a political strategies firm advising multiple federal, state, and local campaigns and has worked on Capitol Hill for over five years. Mr. Chris Kelly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Political Science and a minor in History and Political and Civil Engagement.
Ryan Gough
Ryan Gough is a seasoned advocacy and campaign professional who understands how important the details are when the camera lights come on and what it means to put points on the board. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health (PACH) where he regularly convenes influential stakeholders to address access barriers and improve awareness about cardiovascular disease.
Dharmesh Patel, MD, FACC, FACP, FNLA, FASPC, MBBS (London)
Clinical Specialist in Hypertension, Stern Cardiovascular Foundation
President, Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Pamela Garmon Johnson
National Vice-President of Health Equity and Partnerships and National Executive Director for the National Hypertension Control Initiative | American Heart Association
Cedric L. Richmond, JD
Founder | Richmond Consulting, LLC
Former U.S. Representative (LA-02)
Congressman Cedric Richmond was elected to Congress in 2010, where he proudly served Louisiana’s Second Congressional District for six consecutive terms. While in Congress, he served on the following House committees: Small Business, Judiciary, Homeland Security and Ways & Means. Richmond joined President Biden’s administration in 2021 as Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. In that role, he directly engaged with constituencies that ranged from top CEOs to civil rights leaders to youth advocates. He is known for his foresight, keen political intuition and commonsense approach to the 3-way intersection of business, policy and politics, that is, the United States government. In recognition of Congressman Richmond’s tireless work to deliver on social justice and to push corporate America to address the absence of Black representation at the highest levels of business, he was elected as the youngest person ever to Chair the Congressional Black Caucus. Before serving in Congress, Richmond practiced law in New Orleans. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, his Juris Doctorate from Tulane University School of Law and a graduate of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program for Senior Executives in Government.
Jenelle Coy
Founder and Managing Director | Spero Studio
Jenelle is a first-generation Trinidadian-American who is the founder and managing director of Spero Studio, an award-winning culture-forwardTM communications strategy firm. She has been named AdAge 40 Under 40, Forbes 30 Under 30 and Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leader of the Year awards. Additionally, Spero Studio has been named to the American Express list of 50 Fastest Growing Women- Owned Businesses twice. As a marketing and communications thought leader, Jenelle and her team specialize in creating brand awareness campaigns that allow historically excluded communities to be seen, heard, understood and ultimately better served. Jenelle is profiled and featured in Advertising & Creative: Strategy, Copy, Design Fifth Edition by SAGE Publications – an advertising textbook universities use nationwide.
Ryan Gough
Executive Director | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Ryan is the executive director of the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health, where he regularly convenes influential stakeholders to address access barriers to appropriate cardiovascular care and improve awareness about cardiovascular disease. Ryan’s background spans a decade in public policy advocacy and campaign politics. He now focuses on helping PACH and other organizations make changes in creative and compelling ways.
Cindy Lamendola, MSN, ANP-BC, FAHA, FPCNA
Nurse Practitioner | Stanford University
Cindy is an adult nurse practitioner and clinical research nurse coordinator at Stanford University School of Medicine. She received her master’s in nursing science and adult nurse practitioner at the University of California San Francisco. Her career’s focus has been on cardiovascular disease, as well as type 2 diabetes and prevention. Her research focuses on insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and its relationship to cardiovascular disease. Her current clinical practice is with the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease, focusing on genetics specific to familial hypercholesterolemia and other lipid disorders as well as other inherited cardiovascular diseases and cardiometabolic disorders. She is a founding member of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.
Jayne Morgan, MD
Executive Director of Health and Community Education | Piedmont Healthcare Corporation
Jayne Morgan is a cardiologist and the executive director of health and community education at the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation in Atlanta, the largest healthcare system in Georgia. She was formerly the executive director of the Covid Task Force at Piedmont where she served as the system Covid vaccine expert. And prior to that, she was the system director of research and innovation and the director of cardiovascular research where she oversaw all clinical trials and set the strategic growth of the Piedmont Research Institute. Additionally, she serves as a CNN medical expert contributor and is the owner and creator of The Stairwell Chronicles - a social media series directed towards addressing questions surrounding Covid vaccines and other medical topics in a conversational format. Dr. Morgan has served as the chief medical officer of the American Chemistry Council, CEO of Forty Million Beats, LLC - with clients such as Novartis, Abbott and Moderna – the cardiology advisor to the MitraClip team at Abbott Labs, the worldwide director of the Cardiorenal Drug Development program at Solvay Pharmaceuticals and the assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. She is the adjunct assistant professor of medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine, a board member of the National Diversity and Inclusion team at the American Heart Association and the current health equity advisor for Moderna.
Beth Waldron
Patient Advocate
Beth is an independent patient advocate. In 2003, she experienced life-threatening deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, which were initially misdiagnosed. As a result, she began working towards greater thrombosis education for patients and health care professionals, cofounding a medical education program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Clot Connect. She has served as a Member of the Clinical Practice Guideline Panel on Thrombophilia with the American Society of Hematology, a Member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Blood Expert Panel on Prevention Research, an Advisor on Patient and Family Engagement to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Partnership for Patients initiative targeting hospital-acquired conditions and Member of National Quality Forum Affinity Groups on venous thromboembolism and adverse drug events. She published her recent personal experience with non-medical drug switching in the journal Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Monique Whitney, MBA
Executive Director | Pharmacists United for Truth and Transparency (PUTT)
Monique is charged with overseeing the fulfillment of PUTT’s core mission: ending the abusive practices pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) perpetrate daily against patients, pharmacies and end payers. She regularly testifies before state and federal committees, provides background and supporting evidence to journalists covering the impact of PBM abuse on patients and actively assists PUTT members with PBM policy issues at the local political level. Monique hosts the “PUTTcast” and is a frequent contributor to the Pharmacy Podcast Network’s “PBM Reform” podcast. As co-founder of the Arizona Independent Pharmacy Coalition, she serves as an advisor to nonprofits focused on patient and provider advocacy.
Geoff Barnes, MD
Cardiologist | University of Michigan
Dr. Barnes is a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at the University of Michigan. His clinical and research interests center around the care of patients with thrombotic conditions and/or who require the use of anticoagulant medications. He is also a health services researcher with expertise in implementation science. He serves as co-director for the Michigan Anticoagulation Quality Improvement Initiative and is currently funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to improve the delivery of anticoagulation care. He serves in leadership roles with numerous organizations, including the Anticoagulation Forum, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association.
Chris Burger
Director of Programs | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Chris serves as the director of programs for the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health. With two decades of experience in public affairs, communications and campaign politics, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the public arena. Previously, he served as chief strategy officer & assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance and special assistant to the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health. A campaign veteran, Chris worked on two presidential campaigns and a gubernatorial campaign. He also served as a director at a global public affairs firm where he focused on a variety of public policy issues.
Allison DeBattista
Coalition Advocacy Director | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Allison brings more than a decade of expertise in nonprofit management to support the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health’s coalition advocacy work where she directs coalition building, strategic alliance engagement and advocacy-related projects. Allison has spent most of her professional career advocating on behalf of individuals with severe health conditions and worked tirelessly to expand access to treatment and care. As a co-founding member of Epilepsy Alliance America, she continues to serve on the board where she volunteers to teach the importance of advocacy on a local, state and federal level and help empower communities to use their voices.
Jennifer Donelan
Chief Communications Officer | DC Fire & EMS Department
Jennifer is the chief communications officer for the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Previously she served as Prince George’s County director of public information for Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Her service in public safety followed a twenty-year Emmy award-winning career in television news. Jennifer has been featured on NBC’s Dateline, ABC’s 20/20 and, most recently, on HBO’s “Black and Missing” series. Jennifer’s passion is fighting back against the number one killer of women: heart disease. Jennifer suffered a heart attack at the age of 36. She is an ambassador for the Heart Truth campaign and was a campaign spokeswoman for WomenHeart’s SisterMatch program. Jennifer has been interviewed by Dr. Drew Pinsky and featured in Essence, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day and In Style magazines. She has worked closely with a host of organizations to help bring awareness to heart disease. In 2015, Donelan received the Red Dress Award from Woman’s Day magazine for her work as a heart health advocate.
Ryan Gough
Executive Director | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Ryan is the Executive Director of the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health, where he regularly convenes influential stakeholders to address access barriers to appropriate cardiovascular care and improve awareness about cardiovascular disease. Ryan’s background spans a decade in public policy advocacy and campaign politics. He now focuses on helping PACH and other organizations make change in creative and compelling ways.
Eric Harkness
Executive Director | The Sycamore Institute
Eric is the executive director of the Sycamore Institute, an independent, nonpartisan public policy research center. His leadership reflects his commitment to public service through thoughtful engagement with diverse perspectives while working on complex challenges. He began his career in state government with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, where he analyzed health care finance and authored an award-winning report on health care for the uninsured. Eric helped develop Tennessee’s first comprehensive population health improvement plan, led the design and implementation of a statewide community health improvement process and founded one of the nation’s only offices of health policy in a state health department.
Cindy Lamendola, MSN, ANP-BC, FAHA, FPCNA
Nurse Practitioner | Stanford University
Cindy is an adult nurse practitioner and clinical research nurse coordinator at Stanford University School of Medicine. She received her master’s in nursing science and adult nurse practitioner at University of California San Francisco. Her career’s focus has been on cardiovascular disease, as well as type 2 diabetes and prevention. Her research focus is on insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and its relationship to cardiovascular disease. Her current clinical practice is with the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease with a focus on genetics specific to familial hypercholesterolemia and other lipid disorders as well as other inherited cardiovascular diseases and cardiometabolic disorders. She is a founding member of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.
Daniel LoDolce
Patient Advocate
Dan experienced chest pain for a couple of years and it was initially misdiagnosed as heartburn. Then, in 2017 at the age of 32, physicians discovered he had familial hypercholesterolemia and he ended up having a quadruple bypass. After surgery, he went on a statin and vegan diet which could not fully control his low-density lipoprotein levels. His physician prescribed a PCSK9 inhibitor. After having access issues, Dan was finally able to get approval for a PCSK9i and his low-density lipoprotein is under control. Today, Dan serves as an advocate for awareness with The Family Heart Foundation and speaks to first year medical students at University of California, Davis to help tell his story and build awareness for heart health.
Anjali Owens, MD
Cardiologist | University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Owens is the founding director of the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and director of the Familial Cardiomyopathy Program at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Section of Heart Failure, Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support. Dr. Owens completed undergraduate education and medical school at Duke University before completing residency, chief residency and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Owens has a special interest in genetic forms of cardiomyopathy and emerging novel therapeutics.
Pam Parker
Patient Advocate
Pam educates and empowers others as a health and physical education teacher in Washington, District of Columbia. Consistently ranked as a Highly Effective Teacher, this year Pam was recognized as a Physical Education Emerging Leaders Fellowship candidate. Her perspective on life was changed forever when she had a heart attack in 2014. As a result, she now participates in a research study. Pam is a Women Heart Champion, where she shares her story with others to help empower them with education and lifestyle changes to help prevent heart disease.
Dharmesh Patel, MD, FACC, FNLA, FASPC, MBBS (London)
President | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Dr. Patel is president of the board at the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health and a practicing cardiologist at the Stern Cardiovascular Clinic in Southaven, Mississippi. He also serves on the Southeast Board of the National Lipid Association and on the National Board of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology.
Jasmine Patel
Director of Policy & Outreach | Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
Jasmine serves as director of policy and outreach for the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health. Jasmine has extensive experience working in cardiovascular health, growing patient communities, advancing collaborative partnerships with multi-stakeholder groups and driving public health and global advocacy initiatives.
Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS
Chief Science Policy Officer | Global Healthy Living Foundation
Dr. Popovian serves as chief science policy officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation and is the founder of the strategic consulting firm Conquest Advisors. He also serves as vice president of health economics and policy for Equideum Health, visiting health policy fellow at the Pioneer Institute and senior healthy policy fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. One of the country’s foremost experts on every significant facet of biopharmaceuticals and the healthcare industry, he is a recognized authority on health economics, policy, government relations, medical affairs and strategic planning. He is also a sought-after speaker and has been invited to provide detailed presentations, briefings and expert reviews for the United States Congress, dozens of state legislatures and at conferences and medical symposiums throughout the country and around the world. As an advisor, Dr. Popovian serves on the Board of Councilors at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy.
Ann Roy
Patient Advocate
Ann was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease eight years ago after being misdiagnosed with arthritis resulting in unnecessary surgeries and treatments. Although she still experiences pain when walking, she is grateful for the proper diagnosis and a treatment plan to address her peripheral artery disease symptoms. As a retired educator, Ann focuses on healthy habits to improve her physical condition and spends time advocating for peripheral artery disease education and screenings.
Lisa Salberg
Founder & CEO | Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association
Lisa started her journey to educate, advocate and support other patients based on her personal experience with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This included medical errors that nearly cost her life, the death of her sister – also due to medical errors – and the diagnosis of several family members. She has published three books on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, several peer-reviewed journal articles, spoken internationally on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and has appeared in TV and print interviews advocating for patients’ rights, research and raising awareness of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Beth Waldron, MA
Patient Advocate
Beth is an independent patient advocate. In 2003, she experienced life- threatening deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism which were initially misdiagnosed. As a result, she began working towards greater thrombosis education for both patients and health care professionals, cofounding a medical education program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Clot Connect. She has served as a Member of the Clinical Practice Guideline Panel on Thrombophilia with the American Society of Hematology, Member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Blood Expert Panel on Prevention Research, Advisor on Patient and Family Engagement to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Partnership for Patients initiative targeting hospital- acquired conditions and Member of National Quality Forum Affinity Groups on venous thromboembolism and adverse drug events. She published her recent personal experience with non-medical drug switching in the journal Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis.