Board of Directors
Meet the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Inc. Board of Directors
The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) has five board members including the executive director. They are committed to helping LBCA 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). 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, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado, has been a practicing academic physician for 14 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 almost 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 is mom to a 10-year-old girl, 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.
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 teenage girls. LBCA is saddened to share the news that Deb passed away on February 10, 2023. Read our tribute.
Ramlah Nehring, PhD, Head of Strategy and Transactions at Roche Diagnostics. Dr. Nehring is based in San Diego, CA, and leads a global team across APAC, North America and Europe. She has a PhD in Biology from the University of California San Diego and did her graduate studies in molecular genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Ramlah’s professional experience includes the ability to drive strategy and partnerships, with a significant experience in deal sourcing, structuring transactions, leading mergers and acquisitions, and licensing. Prior to working at Roche Diagnostics she led the Corporate Development team at Foundation Medicine. She has spent a significant amount of time in the startup industry in San Diego and has focused her career on improving oncology patient care through access to novel diagnostic solutions.
Robert Oakes, Jr., CPA, MBA, 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.
