Board of Directors
Meet the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Inc. Board of Directors
The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) Board of Directors is committted to helping the organization achieve its mission and vision. Their primary duties are: to take care of LBCA by ensuring prudent use of its assets; to ensure, with loyalty to our charity, that LBCA’s activities and transactions and board member decisions are in service to its mission; and to ensure that LBCA adheres to all applicable laws and regulations, as well as its own policies and bylaws. Some board members are individuals who have been directly impacted by invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), also lnown as lobular breast cancer. All are deeply caring and dedicated to promoting and helping LBCA fund ILC research, to advance the understanding of ILC, and to identify treatments that are most effective. The board vigorously supports LBCA in striving to change the future for everyone diagnosed with lobular breast cancer.
Tracy Cushing, MD, LBCA Board Chair, Emergency Medicine Physician with USAcute Care Solutions, has been a practicing academic physician for 15 years, including teaching residents and medical students. She founded and directed the wilderness and environmental medicine fellowship at CU and was the associate editor of the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. She has participated in designing research projects, grant applications, and has been the section editor for the Wilderness Medical Society clinical practice guidelines for 10 years. She was diagnosed with stage 2B ILC in January 2021 and is fully recovered from a double mastectomy without reconstruction and an oophorectomy. She has a daughter, and is a wife, vegan, and recreational triathlete. Her cancer story can be found @tracycrushescancer on Instagram.
Laurie Hutcheson, MS, ILC Patient Advocate & Executive Director of LBCA, has been a leader in health care program development and management for over 40 years. Her experience includes executive roles in Massachusetts health and human services agencies, and in behavioral health provider organizations. She has also consulted in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health care programs, with her own consulting practice and as a Fellow with the National Academy for State Health Policy. More …
Kathryn Krantz, MD, received her BA from Oberlin College and her medical degree from the University of Connecticut. After completing an OB/GYN residency in 1983 at the hospital of the Medical College of Pennsylvania, she earned her specialty board certification and was a practicing women’s health clinician for close to 20 years. The remainder of her career has been primarily devoted to pharmaceutical drug safety, and she retired from her final industry position, as an executive director in Clinical Safety and Risk Management at Merck, in September 2022. Kathy was diagnosed with ILC in October 2019, when she first learned how this stealthy cancer subtype often defies early detection and that better methods of early diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment are desperately needed. She is committed to exploring how her combined experiences and perspectives as a clinician, pharmaceutical physician and ILC patient may best help LBCA to achieve its research and advocacy goals.
Tanya Martin-Dick, Vice President at Union Bank and Trust, began her career with Union Bank & Trust in 1996 and has held various positions in Customer Accounting, Audit, Trust Audit, Retirement Plan Services and Omnify Employee Benefit Solutions. She leads a team of professionals who provide employee benefit accounts for companies, including Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, Lifestyle and Wellness Spending Accounts, and COBRA administration. She has spent several years as a corporate board member for higher education institutions and has volunteered for various church and school groups. Tanya was diagnosed with Stage 2B ILC in November 2020. Following a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, she desired to become an advocate for ILC screening, treatment and prevention.Tanya is a member of the American Bankers Association HSA Council and a member of the Nebraska Association of Health Underwriters. She holds the Certified Health Savings Professional (CHSP), Certified Health Care Consumerism (CHCC) and Certified Cafeteria Plan Administrator (CCPA) designations.
Judy McDevitt has resided in Raleigh, NC, since 1994. She lives with her retired husband Bob and has four children: Matt, Nick, Caitlin, and Colleen and three grandchildren. As part of raising her family, healthy living became integral to her philosophy including exercise and instilling a work ethic in her children through horse ownership and riding. In 2000 she became part of a clinical study after the need for a hip replacement was recommended by local surgeons. After researching alternatives, she reached out to Dr. Harlan Amstutz at Orthopedic Hospital in Los Angeles. She was invited to join his study on hip resurfacing. This successful procedure demonstrated to her the importance of self-advocacy the result of which allowed her to continue horseback riding and all other types of physical activity. She worked as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Raleigh Charter High School where her daughters attended. In 2019 she was diagnosed with stage 2a ILC. A double mastectomy found a mass of 7.2cm rather than the 2cm mass they expected. She found LBCA and her education started. In her free time, she loves to visit her children and grandchildren, loves to travel internationally, and go to the gym.
Robert Oakes, Jr., CPA, MBA, LBCA Treasurer, Senior Principal at Slalom Consulting, focuses on life science clients as they prepare for commercialization of their therapies. Oakes is an experienced business executive and consultant with over 30 years of diverse working experience in consulting, management, accounting, and finance. Prior to working at Slalom, Rob was a director at Integrated Global Performance Solutions and at KPMG Advisory. Before starting his consulting career, Rob served in senior financial management roles in private industry. He started his career in the audit firm of T.M. Byxbee in Albany, NY, before attending graduate school at Bentley College. His combined experience in both consulting and industry brings a unique skill set to his work allowing him to not only understand the latest technology or management theory, but also to understand what does and does not work in practice. His strengths lie in the ability to find creative solutions to complex problems and implement them. His experiences include strategic planning, systems implementation, process improvement, finance transformation, and running enterprise programs. Rob received his BS in Accounting from SUNY Plattsburgh.
In Memoriam
Deb Mueller, MD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Health at San Antonio, practiced and taught trauma, surgical critical care, and emergency eurgery. She was a veteran and retired colonel in the US Air Force having served 24 years. During her military service she participated in breast cancer surgical care. Her current academic pursuits were developing leadership training and wellness initiatives for surgical trainees and advocating for women in surgery in regards to specific issues they face. She was diagnosed with stage 2A ILC in January 2022. She was married with two daughters. LBCA is saddened to share the news that Deb passed away on February 10, 2023. Read our tribute.
