Chrissy M. Thornton is the Executive Director of The Myositis Association, an international rare disease patient advocacy organization. She's been recognized for developing professional staff training programs to revitalize departments, and implementing organizational change efforts into growing businesses. Experienced in organizational diagnosis and the design and facilitation of large-scale events and staff development activities, Chrissy has a twenty year background in successful fundraising, donor and corporate relations, digital engagement, grant writing, and the seamless execution of exceptional meetings, events, training seminars, team building sessions, education conferences, fundraisers, peer-to-peer events, and more! Chrissy is the Founder of My Girl Power Hour where she offers a discussion series empowering women to overcome obstacles and live their best lives and My Girl Power Matters, an event based empowerment organization. Chrissy is a published author, has a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Organizational Management, is a sought after public speaker, and resides in Maryland with her husband and children.

Rabih Dahdouh, MS, is a Clinical Research Associate at the Center for Health Equity Transformation in the Institute for Public Health and Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Currently, he manages multiple research projects focused on reducing health disparities across the spectrum of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. He has an extensive background in brain and behavioral science, innovative health interventions and community/preventive medicine. 

Rabih completed his Bachelors in Child Learning and Development and Masters in Psychological Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas.

In 2016, Michelle joined CSI Pharmacy as Vice President of Patient Advocacy to continue her outreach with patients ensuring that no patient goes without their lifesaving therapy in an affordable site of care.

Michelle began her career, 30 years ago, as a Senior Legislative Assistant on Capitol Hill for a Member of Congress where she specialized in health care policy. Michelle enhanced her knowledge of the health arena as a Partner and Senior Associate at three firms where she represented academic medical centers, patient organizations, specialty hospitals, and health care coalitions. Michelle also served as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Reimbursement Services for the Immune Deficiency Foundation where she further developed her knowledge of patient groups, advocacy and health policy.

Michelle has years of experience testifying before Congress, federal agencies, and state legislatures. She is also a prominent speaker on topics such as Medicare reimbursement, the economics of the plasma industry, health insurance reform, Social Security disability, navigating health insurance, and patient advocacy. Michelle’s hobby is assisting patients to successfully navigate their health insurance policies to ensure that they get covered for their prescribed medications and other services.

Prior to diagnosis, Elisa was a professor, specializing in the field of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. She is now the owner of Myths, LLC in which the main purpose of the company is to help community members in need (with a huge focus on homeless veterans).

Former Practice Administrator turned Independent Patient Advocate, Nicole Broadhurst helps busy and committed professionals gain peace of mind and take control of medical bills in 30 minutes without making a single phone call. As CEO and founder of Tennessee Health Advocates, Nicole's mission is to simplify and clarify the healthcare billing system. As a former healthcare insider, Nicole focuses heavily on the opportunities for improvement within the medical billing process to help her clients achieve peace of mind knowing they are not paying a penny more than they actually owe.

Dave Mochel, was an orthopedic surgeon for Northwestern Medicine for 25 years. Once diagnosed with IBM, he switched to an administrative job as medical director for Northwestern’s western region. David has an interest in research into myositis treatment, including lifestyle changes, and uses his professional experience to answer questions from members of the Chicago support group. He and his wife, Peg, have homes in Illinois and Florida.

Kayla Brown is a counselor/coordinator at The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportuniites, Internetworking, and Technology) Center for the University of Washington, Seattle, where she focuses on equity in higher education for people with disabilities. Her passions are community outreach, research, and disability activism. Kayla works one-on-one with students to work on goal setting, academic planning, and building a support system.

After obtaining his M.D. and Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Mammen completed his neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship at the same institution. He co-founded the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center in 2007. He and his colleagues discovered a novel form of autoimmune myopathy associated with statin use and autoantibodies recognizing HMG-CoA reductase, the pharmacologic target of statins. In 2014, Dr. Mammen moved to the NIH, where he is an Investigator and Leader of the Muscle Disease Unit. In addition to seeing myositis patients at the NIH Clinical Center, he maintains an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Neurology and Medicine at Hopkins, where he continues to see patients at the Myositis Center.

Dr. Christopher-Stine is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Neurology and the Director of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. In addition, she serves as a board member of the Institutional Review Board at the Johns Hopkins University and she is one of 24 core faculty members to teach in the Johns Hopkins Medical School Colleges Advisory Program, which provides clinical skills instruction in the first year of medical school and continued career advising throughout all four years of medical school. As a clinician scientist, she utilizes the Myositis Database developed by her and her colleagues for which she is the Principal Investigator, currently numbering well over 2000 patients recruited worldwide. She has a strong interest in patient-reported outcomes and has been the co-chair of an international effort through the OMERACT organization to develop a novel patient reported outcome measure. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of Telemedicine in the Division of Rheumatology and looks forward to utilizing this outreach effort to extend both clinical and research care in the future.

Professor Merrilee Needham is the current Foundation Chair in Neurology, a joint position between Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch University and Notre Dame University Australia. She is a consultant neurologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital, the Director of Research for the South Metropolitan Health Service and the Group Leader, Myositis Discovery Program, Centre for Molecular Medicine & Innovative Therapeutics, Institute of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IIID), Murdoch University. She was the Head of the Neurology unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital from 2015-1019. She is a board member of multiple organisations such as OMERACT, GCOM, ANN, AOMC, Clinical & Experimental Rheumatology and the World Muscle Society.

Shevelle Montgomery joined The Myositis Association in February 2021.  Since joining The Myositis Association, Shevelle has worked closely with our Corporate Partners and helped to successfully launch TMA’s Signature Event, FUN FIT FLEX.

Shevelle has worked in Development and Fundraising in the healthcare industry for the past five years. Her experience has provided her success in fundraising, event planning, and volunteer management. Her previous role was Manager, Fundraising Events and Volunteer Engagement at the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation in Maryland and Southern Delaware. Prior to this role, Shevelle worked in Annual Giving at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

For the past 46 years, Kent Yunker has been employed at the family business (which designs, creates and installs retail graphics for national clients). Kent was diagnosed with IBM in June of 2018 (although he likely had it as early as 2016).  The progression has been significant these past 2 years. Not only is he a TMA member, but he also serves on the TMA Patient and Family Advisory Council. He and his wife Janis currently live in Lake Geneva, WI (about an hour north of Chicago).  Their passions and hobbies include traveling, cooking, art, entertaining, loving on their 4-legged children and enjoying their new home!

Conrad “Chris” Weihl, MD, PhD is a professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He serves as board chair of TMA’s Medical Advisor Board.  In addition to caring for patients with myositis, he has a particular interest in understanding the pathogenesis of these enigmatic diseases.

Shawna Nielsen, has been a registered nurse (BSN) for 36 years and a myositis patient with DM for over 24 years.  She teaches patient advocacy to nurses through Independent RN Patient Advocates in Tucson AZ.  She is a Co-Leader for the TMA Northern California Keep In Touch support group as well as manages two Facebook support groups related to myositis. Shawna is passionate about the science and medical advances in myositis research and care. Her goal is for others to not suffer as she did early on.  Shawna is now thriving with myositis and enjoys cooking, hiking and taking bird photos.