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Global Liver Institute

Who We Are

GLOBAL LIVER INSTITUTE

Who We Are
Mission

Mission

To improve the lives of individuals and families impacted by liver disease through promoting innovation, encouraging collaboration, and scaling optimal approaches to help eradicate liver diseases.

Vision

Vision

For liver health awareness to be universal and for liver disease to take its proper place on the global public health agenda consistent with its prevalence and impact.

Values

Values

Patient-centeredness

Collaboration

Integrity

Inclusion

Results

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Check out our 2023 Annual Report

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Read the overview of our organization

Board of Directors

V. Reyes

Victor J. Reyes, MBA

GLI BOARD CHAIR
Managing Director, Human Capital, Deloitte Consulting LLP

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Shonta Chambers S Chambers

Shonta Chambers, MSW

GLI BOARD SECRETARY

EVP Health Equity Initiatives & Community Engagement, Patient Advocate Foundation

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B. Munroe

Brian Munroe

GLI BOARD TREASURER
Vice President Government Affairs at Bausch Health Companies Inc.

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Laurie Mobley Scaled

Laurie Mobley

GLI BOARD DEVELOPMENT CO-CHAIR
Executive Vice President, BRG Communications

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A. Wright

Amy L. Wright, JD

GLI BOARD DEVELOPMENT CO-CHAIR
Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister

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N. Austin

Nicholas Austin, JD

Principal Corporate Legal Counsel, Microsoft, Inc.

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Dennis Cryer

Dennis R. Cryer, MD, FAHA

Chief Medical Officer, CryerHealth LLC

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Donna New 2

Donna R. Cryer, JD

Founder, Global Liver Institute

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G. Deverman

Gary Deverman, CFRE

Vice President, NutriStyle

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B. Goodman

Ben Goodman

Press Secretary, Office of Maine Governor Janet T. Mills

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Screenshot 2023 11 29 At 9.48.16 AM

Melodie Narain-Blackwell

President & Founder, Color of Crohn’s & Chronic Illness

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L. Roberts

Lewis R. Roberts, MB, ChB, PhD

Professor of Medicine and Consultant, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic

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Meet our team

Larry Headshot

Larry Holden

President & Chief Executive Officer

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Jeff Headshot (1)

Jeff McIntyre

Vice President, Liver Health Programs

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Gina Bartes

Vice President, Patient & Community Engagement

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Joel Headshot

Joel Ballew

Director, Strategic Partnerships

Lily Headshot

Lily Benig

Associate Director, Science and Public Health

Nicole Brown Headshot

Nicole Brown

Coordinator, Liver Action Network

Alyssa Davenport Headshot

Alyssa Davenport

Director, Policy

Meg Didier

Meg Didier

Manager, Patient Engagement

Giacomo Headshot

Giacomo Donnini

Program Director, Liver Health is Public Health

Cat Headshot

Cat Evans

Director, Program Operations

Kristin Hatcher Headshot

Kristin Hatcher

Program Director, Pediatric & Rare Liver Diseases

Shira Headshot 2023

Shira Horowitz

Business Manager

Sharon Jaycox Headshot

Sharon Jaycox

Program Director, Fatty Liver Disease

Kayla Johnson Headshot

Kayla Johnson

Coordinator, Graphic Design

Anna Lin

Anna Lin

Program Manager, Pediatric & Rare Liver Diseases

Christine Headshot

Christine Maalouf

Director, Communications

Sarah Headshot

Sarah Manes

Program Director, Liver Cancers

Sandra

Sandra Ponce

Program Manager, Liver Cancers

Ethan

Ethan Schneier

Senior Coordinator, Digital Media

Media Partners

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Contributors

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Donna New 2

“The gaps in liver health advocacy have resulted in one and a half billion people living with liver diseases, most of whom are undiagnosed, undertreated, and over-stigmatized. I know because I am one of these people.”

Donna R. Cryer, JD, GLI founder & board member, and 29-year liver transplant survivor

Donna R. Cryer, JD, received a life-saving liver transplant in law school after years of living with an autoimmune disease. On the 20th anniversary of her transplant, she realized her experience as a patient, lawyer, and professional health systems consultant could help fellow patients. In 2014, she founded Global Liver Institute.

2020: Annual Report, 990 Tax Return Form
2021: Annual Report, 990 Tax Return Form
2022: Annual Report, 990 Tax Return Form

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V. Reyes

Victor J. Reyes, MBA

GLI Board Chair

Managing Director, Human Capital, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Victor is a Managing Director in Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, focused on helping organizations reimagine their people strategies and HR capabilities to deliver business results, enhance talent experience, and anticipate and embrace future workforce challenges.  In his more than 23 years as a management consultant, he has designed and implemented programs that include talent strategy, acquisition, and development; HR technology strategy and deployment; global shared services and outsourcing; and workforce analytics.

Victor has served clients in the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia.  While he has worked in multiple industries, including financial services, telecom, healthcare, real estate, consumer products, and retail, he concentrates on energy, resources, and industrial companies, and serves as Deloitte’s Human Capital consulting leader for the Industrial Products & Construction sector.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Victor was an Associate Partner in IBM’s Talent & Engagement practice, and a Principal at KPMG, where he founded the human resources optimization practice.

Over the years, Victor has been active as a Big Brother, a mentor with Capitol Partners for Education, a pro bono consultant to non-profits with Compass and Deloitte, and a mentor to veterans through American Corporate Partners.  He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Government from Harvard College, and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He and his wife live in Washington, DC.

Shonta Chambers S Chambers

Shonta Chambers, MSW

EVP Health Equity Initiatives & Community Engagement, 

Patient Advocate Foundation

Shonta Chambers is a seasoned non-profit executive and public health professional whose career spans more than 25 years of experience in chronic disease prevention, health promotion, community engagement, and women’s health. As Executive Vice President-Health Equity Initiatives and Community Engagement for the Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), she is responsible for the development and execution of the Foundation’s national strategy to address health equity, with a specific focus on persons with chronic and complex health conditions residing in low-income communities with high disease morbidity and premature mortality. This includes establishing benchmarks to measure progress and impact. Shonta specifically drives program initiatives that respond to unaddressed social determinants of health and the social need gaps caused by them. As the staff lead for PAF's health equity work promoting person-centered care, she engages strategically with community stakeholders aligning with all facets where people seek assistance, to mitigate barriers to health care.

Shonta also serves as the Principal Investigator for the SelfMade Health Network, one of eight national networks supported by CDC-RFA-DP23-0015: CDC’s National Networks Driving Action: Preventing Tobacco-and Cancer-Related Health Disparities by Building Equitable Communities. She provides leadership in implementing and evaluating evidence-based strategies to advance the prevention of commercial tobacco use and promote early detection of cancer among populations with low socio-economic characteristics with the overall goal of decreasing related disparities.

Shonta holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Talladega College. She is an Atlanta native and enjoys mentoring young women, golfing, and spending time with her two sons Keelan, Jr., and Caleb. Shonta is an active member of the Psi Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 

B. Munroe

Brian Munroe

GLI Board Secretary

Vice President Government Affairs at Bausch Health Companies Inc.

Brian Munroe is the founder and Past-President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). He currently serves as the Chairman of PMC's Public Policy Committee and on the Executive Committee of PMC's Board of Directors. A twenty-five year veteran of health care public policy, advocacy, and communications, Brian's areas of expertise include FDA legislation and regulations, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, federal and state tax policy, and the development of government policies to advance personalized medicine. As Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, he oversees PMC's public policy initiatives and its interactions with the federal government. Brian has created successful, stand alone Government Affairs Departments from scratch at: SmithKline Beecham, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and Endo Pharmaceuticals. He is currently Vice President, Government Affairs at Bausch Health Companies.

L. Mobley

Laurie Mobley

GLI Board Development Co-Chair

Senior Vice President, BRG Communications

As a senior vice president at BRG Communications (BRG), Laurie Mobley focuses on creating enduring connections between consumers and health and wellness brands. She currently provides senior counsel across multiple agency account teams and works directly with clients on strategic program development, issues management, regulatory milestones and campaign launches.

During her more than twenty-year healthcare communications career, Laurie’s experience spans from pharmaceutical and consumer health product launches to CDC’s global public health initiatives to award-winning consumer education and disease prevention campaigns targeting women. She has a proven track record of delivering highly measurable results for clients looking to build trust and recognition for educational health and wellness platforms.

Laurie has developed and managed nationally-recognized programs for clients including: Medtronic, AOA, Aetna, EMD Serono, Heart Rhythm Society, Frito-Lay, Galderma, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and IBM Healthcare/Life Sciences.

Laurie joins BRG from a leading healthcare communications agency where she served as Director of the Washington, D.C. office and led multi-office account teams to support clients in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology sectors. Previously, Laurie spent seven years at a top 10 global public relations agency in various leadership positions including building the agency’s first southeast based healthcare practice.

Earlier, Laurie gained extensive science communications and issues management expertise working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she managed external communications for the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. Prior to CDC, Laurie managed healthcare accounts at two top 10 global public relations firms in Atlanta and New York.

Laurie is a frequent speaker on communications including speaking opportunities for the National Marketing to Women (M2W) Conference, Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, CDC Foundation, Georgia BioMedical Partnership, PRSA and Howard University.

Laurie graduated from Lafayette College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She also completed a number of Graduate certificate courses at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

A. Wright

Amy L. Wright, JD

GLI Board Development Co-Chair

Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister

Amy focuses her practice on trademark, copyright and right of publicity law in the context of aggressively pursuing infringing entities on behalf of her clients, as well as managing global IP portfolios. She has been successful in complex litigation, negotiations and settling a variety of IP infringements on behalf of her clients, including the Estate of Marilyn Monroe, the Estate of John Dillinger, the Estate of Duke Ellington, CMG Worldwide, The Hershey Company, Heineken, Volkswagen of America, Indiana University and others.

Amy also devotes much of her time to the practice of entertainment law by providing full service representation to her clients throughout the country in the entertainment industries related to music, film, theater, television, book publishing, games and the visual arts.

Prior to private practice, Amy was a senior member of the in-house legal department of CMG Worldwide, an international leader in the protection and prosecution of intellectual property rights of celebrities and sports icons worldwide.

Amy is certified by the Indiana Supreme Court as a Family Law Mediator. She previously updated the Indiana Practice Rules On Alternative Dispute Resolution for Mr. John R. VanWinkle Dispute Resolution, and she is a frequent speaker in the areas of Intellectual Property Law.

N. Austin

Nicholas Austin, JD

Principal Corporate Legal Counsel, Microsoft, Inc.

Nicholas “Nick” Austin’s work primarily focuses on providing expert counsel to Fortune 500 companies. He currently serves as Principal Corporate Legal Counsel at Microsoft, Inc. where he focuses on cloud technology transactions and other strategic initiatives.

Nick previously worked at Wells Fargo Bank as Vice President and Senior Counsel in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Venture Capital (VC) and Strategic Transactions Group. While at Wells Fargo Nick also served as a diversity leader for the bank. He also serves as the current Treasurer of the National Bar Association. Nick is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the The Black Student Fund.

Nick worked as M&A and VC Counsel at Caterpillar, where he advised senior company executives on legal matters pertaining to M&A and Caterpillar’s VC and joint venture projects. Nick helped establish Caterpillar’s first corporate VC initiative, and served as General Counsel of Caterpillar’s Toronto based tunneling business, Caterpillar Tunneling Canada Corporation, where he led legal operations for the entity.

As an associate at the Washington, DC offices of Foley & Lardner, LLP, Nick handled M&A and Business Transactions where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, securities and energy related matters. While at Foley, Nick served two secondments as in-house counsel for Cummins, Inc. and Sunoco.

Nick also recently completed a term as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Young Lawyers Division of the National Bar Association (NBA YLD). Nick is also a member of the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association (ABA YLD). During his term as NBA YLD Chair Nick partnered with the ABA YLD on numerous initiatives and events. During his bar year, the NBA YLD was selected as a winner of the annual Embracing Diversity Challenge due to the NBA YLD's pipeline diversity work with law students all across the country that year. The grant money is being used to help fund the NBA YLD's continued diversity pipeline efforts. The ABA YLD’s EMBRACING Diversity Challenge recognizes and awards top young lawyer organization's that increase diversity in the legal profession.

Nick is a proud recipient of the American Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer award as well as the National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer Award.

Nick earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center where he competed on the Moot Court team and also served as BLSA President. Nick is a Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College where he served as Editor-In-Chief of the student newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. An aggressive entrepreneur and proud DC native, Nick also owns several DC-area based businesses and properties.

In his free time, Nick loves to plan social events and fellowship with his Omega Psi Phi Fraternity brothers.

Dennis Cryer

Dennis R. Cryer, MD, FAHA

Chief Medical Officer, CryerHealth LLC

Dennis R. Cryer, MD, graduated from the Johns Hopkins University and completed his medical education in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he performed extensive research in molecular genetics and carried out pivotal studies on the structure of DNA in eukaryotic chromosomes.  Following residency training in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn), he completed subspecialty training as the recipient of a research fellowship in Molecular Biology at Penn and a clinical research fellowship in Human Genetics and Metabolism at CHOP.  He remained a member of the Penn pediatric faculty in the fields of genetics and metabolism for several years, performing original fundamental research in lipoprotein metabolism and kinetics (atherosclerosis) by developing innovative stable isotope protein tracer techniques.

Dr. Cryer joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1987 where he had an expansive career over 20 years.  He started in Clinical R & D on the pravastatin (Pravachol™) NDA and development of the large pravastatin primary and secondary cardiovascular intervention trials (WOSCOPS, CARE, LIPID.)  He moved to the U.S. Operation in 1989 with primary responsibility for developing all medical aspects of the launch of pravastatin.  In early 1991, his responsibilities were expanded to include late phase medical development of all lipid-lowering and cardiac drugs.  In 1993, he and his team led the licensing and medical development of metformin (Glucophage™), an oral antidiabetic agent, for launch in the U.S.  It has subsequently become first line therapy throughout the world for Type II diabetes.  In 1996, Dr. Cryer’s responsibilities were expanded to include the Women’s Health Care area, and he was promoted to Vice President.  He was subsequently named Vice President, External Medical Affairs, initially serving as an internal expert for litigation support, and later serving as external liaison for Advocacy and Quality across therapeutic areas, with a focus on development of programs in the cardiovascular, metabolic, neuroscience, and primary care arenas.  Since 2008, Dr. Cryer has served as Chief Medical Officer of CryerHealth, a patient-centric strategic consulting firm in Washington, DC, serving the breadth of the healthcare community in the US and internationally. In addition, since 2014 he has served as the lead physician co-convener of the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative, providing medical leadership and policy guidance to this coalition of 7 physician specialty societies.

Dr. Cryer was elected a Fellow of the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association in 1987.  He previously served as a member of the Campaign Corporate Advisory Committee for the American College of Cardiology Foundation, completed a 4-year term on the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, served on the Board of Directors of the Sister to Sister Foundation and was a member of the Board of Directors and Secretary/Treasurer of the Society for Women’s Health Research.  He is currently Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (NIH), and serves as Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.  He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Global Liver Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Black Cardiologists. 

Dr. Cryer resides in Washington, DC, with his wife, Donna R. Cryer, JD.

Donna New 2

Donna R. Cryer, JD

Founder of Global Liver Institute

Donna R. Cryer, JD is the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Global Liver Institute, the only patient-driven liver health nonprofit operating across the US, EU, and UK. GLI convenes the NASH, Liver Cancer and Pediatric and Rare Liver Disease Councils, as well as the Liver Action Network, collectively more than 200 organizations.

Mrs. Cryer has channeled her personal experience as a patient with inflammatory bowel disease and a 29-year liver transplant recipient into professional advocacy across a career in law, policy, consulting, public relations, clinical trial recruitment, and nonprofit management. She is the recipient of the 2021 Global Genes RARE Champions of Hope Founder’s Award and the 2021 AASLD Distinguished Advocacy Service Award.

At GLI, Mrs. Cryer has raised more than $10 million for liver health initiatives. Among her many accomplishments with GLI, she developed a program featured by the White House on Solving Organ Shortage/Transplantation. She has launched numerous other successful programs at GLI, including the Cure Campaign, Advanced Advocacy Academy (A3), Liver Matters Blog, Liver Matters Health Policy Memo, the NASH Council, the Liver Cancers Council and the Pediatric and Rare Liver Diseases Council.

She is a frequent speaker on the topic of patient-centeredness and patient engagement in healthcare transformation and created a unique model for advocacy that mobilizes patients, influences policy, and coalesces clinicians to improve patient outcomes. In May 2021, she testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, in a pivotal hearing on reforming the broken organ procurement system. Her testimony highlighted the racial disparities in organ transplantation. Thanks to consistent, fact-based advocacy from GLI, other allied groups, the media, and Congress, meaningful reforms to improve the system are finalized and forthcoming.  Her advocacy for better representation of people of color in the organ procurement system includes urging the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to implement three concrete steps she identified to facilitate more transplants for people of color and an elevated performance for the entire system, benefiting all patients.

For almost a decade, Mrs. Cryer founded and led CryerHealth, a healthcare consulting firm providing strategic counsel to top biopharmaceutical companies, patient advocacy organizations and emerging technology firms on patient engagement in health information technology, drug discovery and clinical decision making.

Earlier in her career, Mrs. Cryer worked at the United Network for Organ Sharing in Richmond, Va., where she negotiated organ allocation regulations with the Department of Health and Human Services as part of the special executive staff/board member team. She also organized an immunosuppressive coalition of pharmaceutical companies, transplantation groups and key congressional offices, resulting in increased coverage of immunosuppressive medications under Medicare.

Mrs. Cryer serves on the Boards of Directors for the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, Sibley Memorial Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative. She was the first patient to serve on the ABIM Gastroenterology Specialty Board, was one of the founding members of the AASLD Patient Advisory Committee and is the Community Representative on the AASLD NASH Task Force. Previously, Mrs. Cryer served on the Executive Committee of the People-Centered Research Foundation. She was appointed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office to serve as the patient and consumer representative on the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, the federal advisory body to the National Coordinator for HIT. In addition, she served as a patient representative to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Group to the NIH Learning Health System Research Collaboratory, as well as on the ABIM Gastroenterology Specialty Board and on an American Society of Clinical Oncology Guidelines Committee.

Mrs. Cryer was proud to serve as a member of the White House Task Force on e-health Equity in 2013. As part of the task force, she worked with a summit of experts on health disparities and health information technology to establish a framework to ensure that underserved populations benefit from advances in health technologies.

She has been named one of the Top Blacks in Healthcare by the Milken Institute at GW School of Public Health and BlackDoctors.org, one of the Top 10 Patients Who Make An Impact by Health 2.0 and one of PharmaVoice’s 100 Most Inspiring People. She is a frequent speaker on patient centricity in research and healthcare delivery at meetings of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), National Quality Forum (NQF), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

Mrs. Cryer received an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center.

G. Deverman

Gary Deverman, CFRE

Vice President, NutriStyle

Gary Deverman, CFRE, is the Vice President for Nonprofit Outreach and Development of NutriStyle.  Prior to this position, Gary Co-Founded Building Healthier America, a 501 © 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing overweight/obesity and chronic disease.  Gary’s entire career has been dedicated to children and family health.  He has raised a total of $2 billion to date with different organizations.

Gary has led a team of eight plus an eight member Board of Directors and a Council of Eighteen Experts in nutrition, fitness and health management.  BHA's mission was to build sustainable consumer and community change to end obesity.  To achieve this, Gary and his team focuses on three key pillars – Consumer Awakening, Community Empowerment and Advocacy/Call to Action. These efforts bring focus, clarity and resources to weight related health care challenges by expanding knowledge, building leadership at all levels and advocacy in both public outreach and public policy.  Building Healthier America’s signature family health program was launched partnership with NutriStyle. Other significant partners included Produce for Better Health Foundation, Food Marketing Institute and the prestigious American Council on Exercise (ACE).

Gary’s career includes leadership positions in program and resource development, including National 4-H Council and Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC; Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women in Orlando, Florida; Points of Light Foundation and American Diabetes Association in Washington, DC.

Mr. Deverman co-founded the National Safe Kids Campaign (now Safe Kids Worldwide) and "The Extra Mile," monument to volunteering and philanthropy in Washington, D.C.Gary has received the honor of “Fundraiser of the Year” from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the “Distinguished Service to Safety,” National Safety Council’s highest award.

Gary has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of Illinois. He has completed work for a Master’s in Adult Education at Northern Illinois University and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).

Gary resides in Reston, Virginia with his wife Arlene, a Certified Association Executive (CAE, CFRE) and Chief Learning Officer for the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).  Their daughter Michele, her husband Joe Hawkins and their two children live in Damascus, Maryland.

B. Goodman

Ben Goodman

Press Secretary, Office of Maine Governor Janet T. Mills

Ben Goodman has deep experience developing and strengthening state and federal health policy.

From 2018 to 2022, Ben served as National Director of Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit advocacy organization of nearly 800 retired admirals and generals focused on advancing policies to combat the major health barriers that keep more than 70% of young Americans from being eligible to serve in the military.

Prior to joining Mission: Readiness, Ben served as the top health policy advisor to former U.S. Congressman Mike Michaud, Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. In this role, Ben helped to secure key veterans’ health provisions in the landmark Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014.

In 2022, Ben served as the spokesman and legislative liaison for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

In addition to Ben’s significant health policy experience, he has extensive personal and family experience with liver health, profiled in 2015 by The Washington Post. Ben earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Maine, where he received highest honors for his thesis on the history of the Democratic Presidential Primary process. The research was used as the basis of a 2020 FiveThirtyEight podcast series, The Primaries Project.

 

Melodie Narain Blackwell

Melodie Narain-Blackwell

President & Founder

Color of Chron's & Chronic Illness

Melodie Narain-Blackwell is a passionate health advocate, educator, mobilizer, and the founder of Color of Crohn’s & Chronic Illness, a nonprofit dedicated to health equity and BIPOC communities that are challenged with digestive diseases and chronic illnesses. After suffering with stomach pain since the age of 6 (six) and rectal bleeding since age 13 (thirteen), Ms. Narain-Blackwell was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2018, at the age of 36 (thirty-six). The year prior to her diagnosis, Ms. Narain-Blackwell suffered 4 months of nonstop rectal bleeding, burning, rectal tearing, hair loss, recurring rectal abscesses, arthritis, urgency, fatigue, and so much more. A colorectal surgeon evaluated her and told her nothing was wrong. Three weeks later, she was admitted to the hospital with a temperature of 104.3 degrees and a golf-ball-sized abscess burst in her rectum during examination; she was immediately scheduled to have her first surgery that would take place the next morning. Ms. Narain-Blackwell’s personal mission is to support the development of tools and opportunities to prevent anyone from ever having to endure the journey that was set before her. A Black and Indian woman and entrepreneur, she has been sharing her health journey—from being misdiagnosed with gout to being told that she needed to squeeze her inflammation out of her lips by a physician—since 2013 with an engaged and committed community. Once she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and shared that with her following, the response was unforeseen: she began to receive an influx of questions and petitions for help. Ms.Narain-Blackwell began to help where she could and research to find opportunities for others who were suffering with health challenges.

Having followed an unconventional path from patient to patient-leader, Ms. Narain-Blackwell is a trailblazer who has been featured in Everyday Health, Guide to Living with IBD, Healthline, BlackDoctor.Org, Black Love Doc on OWN, and more. She has participated in numerous podcasts, interviews, and panels, and hosted events, spreading the importance of health equity and educating on the barriers to inclusion in research. Ms. Narain-Blackwell graduated from Berkeley College in Manhattan, NY, with an Associate inApplied Science Degree in Fashion Marketing and Management, and a BA in Business Administration. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Health Education and Behavior. She currently resides in the Washington Metropolitan area with her husband Ronald, and 2 children (Zaden & Zarie).

L. Roberts

Lewis R. Roberts, MB, ChB, PhD

Professor of Medicine and Consultant, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Lewis R. Roberts is the Peter and Frances Georgeson Professor in Gastroenterology Cancer Research and Consultant in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, where he is Co-Chair of the Hepatobiliary Cancer Disease Group of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Co-Principal Investigator of the Mayo Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Hepatobiliary Cancers, Associate Director of Pre-Doctoral Programs in the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, and Director for Research at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Dr. Roberts earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School, a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from The University of Iowa, and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Cancer Genetics at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Roberts practice is focused on liver and biliary cancers and gastrointestinal endoscopy. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of liver and biliary carcinogenesis; biomarkers for diagnosis of liver, bile duct and pancreas cancers; and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis and liver cancer in Africa as well as in immigrant African communities in the USA. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Gastroenterological Association Foundation, American College of Gastroenterology, The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and PSC Partners Seeking a Cure. He has authored over 380 articles, book chapters and letters, and the book “Evaluation and Management of Liver Masses”.

Dr. Roberts is currently Deputy Editor of Hepatology and is on the Editorial Board of Liver Cancer. He serves as President of Africa Partners Medical, a non-profit organization focused on improving healthcare delivery in Africa through medical education, practical skills training, provision of medical equipment and supplies, and health advocacy, as President of the West Africa Institute for Liver and Digestive Diseases Foundation, and as a member of the Advisory Council for The Hepatitis Fund.

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Larry R. Holden

President & Chief Executive Officer

Larry R. Holden has spent most of his personal and professional life engaging as a public servant. He has a special connection to liver health, as several of his family members are affected by it and continue to face ongoing struggles. A tireless advocate for the patient's voice, he now uses his years of political experience and his vast network of congressional contacts to serve the public good. Before stepping into the role of CEO, Mr. Holden has served the liver community in a variety of capacities at GLI, including as Chief of Staff and his most recent role as Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Holden served for over two decades in politics and policy positions in Washington, D.C. In that time, he worked for U.S. Senator Hank Brown (CO), helped negotiate international security agreements with foreign governments, started a political Internet company, served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Shays (CT), and was President of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association.

In addition to his political work, Mr. Holden has over 15 years’ experience creating and running small businesses. He started three for-profit businesses that were all sold successfully to investors. He believes that using for-profit models to drive efficiencies in the nonprofit world gives charities the best chance for success and the best outcomes for the patients served. Believing strongly in servant leadership, he guides, counsels, and mentors many in the field.

Jeff Headshot (1)

Jeff McIntyre

Vice President, Liver Health Programs

Jeff McIntyre is the Vice President of Liver Health Programs for the Global Liver Institute. As Vice President, Jeff supervises GLI’s diverse liver health program portfolio - including NAFLD/NASH, liver cancer, pediatric and rare diseases, and GLI’s worldwide 'Liver Health is Public Health' campaign. Working with GLI Program Directors, Jeff identifies patient advocacy opportunities in all areas of patient and care pathways including drug development, regulatory input, biomarker development, and awareness and educational opportunities while addressing disparities in screening and treatment in the US and globally.

Jeff currently serves on the Board of Tufts University School of Nutrition's Food & Nutrition Innovation Council, the Nairobi-based Wellness for Greater Kenya, and just finished his term on the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease's Practice Guidelines Committee. Jeff has formerly been a member of the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, an Advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Roundtable on Childhood Obesity, and PBSKids Board of Advisors. 

He has frequently given invited testimony before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Committees, and multiple federal agencies, and spoken at the Global NASH Congress, EASL Liver Congress, AASLD Liver Meeting, Paris NASH, and the NAFLD and NASH Primary Care Summit, and Biomarkers for NASH Symposium. Jeff’s publications include articles in the Journal of the American Behavioral Scientist, Journal on Discovering Popular Culture, The Oxford Handbook of Media Psychology, Runner’s World, and the National Enquirer.

Jeff graduated from American University with a Master’s Degree in Philosophy. In his personal time, he enjoys competing in triathlons, whitewater kayaking, reading non-fiction, and meeting all the dogs.

Gina Bartes HS 6.2024

Gina Bartes

Vice President, Patient & Community Engagement

Gina Bartes oversees the patient and community engagement aspects for Global Liver Institute, driven by the mission to improve the lives of individuals and families impacted by liver disease through promoting innovation, encouraging collaboration, and scaling optimal approaches to help eradicate liver diseases. Gina has worked extensively in leading liver health education, advocacy training, development, marketing & campaigns, and creative programming across the globe with stakeholders at every level.

Gina advocates for patients, caregivers, and the community and joins a network of colleagues and liver champions across the globe from many different academic centers, liver clinics, and organizations to work toward eliminating stigma and promoting access and normalization of liver health equity and inclusion.

Gina is co-founder of the Hep Free AZ Coalition, an Arizona state-wide advocacy effort convening stakeholders in viral hepatitis elimination efforts and elimination plan implementation, and United Liver Arizona & New Mexico, focusing on increasing health equity, access, and linkage to care to those affected by liver disease. She serves on the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Practice Guidelines Committee, the Donate Life Arizona (DNAZ) Medical Executive Committee, the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) Viral Hepatitis Diagnostics Working Group, the United Liver Board of Directors, and several advocacy and research related advisory boards across the globe.