Howard Brown
Howard Brown is an Internet/software entrepreneur, and a two time cancer survivor. His areas of expertise include new game strategic consulting, digital platforms (mobile, audio, video, broadcast / cable, cloud computing, social media, online communities and smart enterprises (data collection, analysis, intelligence, insights and reporting. He is the founder of Advocasee, and was the CEO and Cofounder of CircleBuilder Software LLC, a provider of private online community software. He has twice served as the President of the Babson College Alumni Association Board of Directors, and has served on a number of other nonprofit and private sector boards and committees.
Sam Dharia
Dr. Leslie Cloud
I am a practicing physician and a proud volunteer in COLONTOWN. I currently serve as the Community Leader for health care providers within COLONTOWN, including the neighborhood for both physician-patients and nurse-patients, as well as the neighborhood for consulting physicians. I am also a member of PALTOWN’s Board of Directors and its Medical and Scientific Advisory Board.
COLONTOWN is a resource unlike any other that I have encountered in my professional career or personal life. COLONTOWN is not just another support group—it is a transformational online community that educates and empowers its members with accurate, up to date, evidence-based information about the management of all forms of CRC. With input from leading CRC experts around the country and constant oversight from its cabinet and community leaders, COLONTOWN is a one-stop shop for education, information, emotional support, and camaraderie for the newly diagnosed, seasoned CRC veterans, and caregivers.
Mary Hannon
Mary Hannon is the VP of Marketing and Communications for Aspen Surgical. In this role, Mary leads Aspen’s product portfolio, branding, and communications strategy and is a part of the team responsible for tripling the scale of the company’s business over a two-year period.
Previously, in the non-profit sector, Mary served on the Board of Directors, Marketing Advisory Council, and Community Impact Team for the Heart of Michigan United Way. As a recent colorectal cancer survivor, Mary is also an active member of COLONTOWN. She is passionate about giving back to both her cancer and local communities with her time and marketing communications skillset.
Mary holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband, two little boys, and German Shorthaired Pointer. Together, they enjoy all the outdoor activities Michigan has to offer.
Alexa Morell
Alexa Morell is a proud wife, mom and stage 4 young onset colorectal cancer fighter. In her spare time she enjoys traveling with her family and doing advocacy work with Dana Farber’s Young Onset Colorectal Cancer Center. She is a Field Sales Professional at Revvity Signals, formerly PerkinElmer Informatics (PKI). Alexa graduated with her Master in Healthcare Administration (MHA) from Suffolk University Sawyer Business School in 2018. She attended Mass College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences and graduated in 2013 with her BS in Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Business.
Kelly Nelson
Chief of Staff, Global Digital and Analytics & Global Finance and Operations, Boston Consulting Group
Kelly has also led finance and planning, strategy development, plan execution and business operations for Boston Consulting Group’s North America region, where her duties included:
- Managing member of Americas Region executive leadership team, a partner-driven group that sets and leads BCG’s strategy and operations in the region
- Partners with global leadership, specialty functions, other operations and broader Partner group on business building, strategy and operations initiatives, including new business development and implementation
- Leads team encompassing Controller functions, Financial Planning and Analysis, Business Reporting, Payroll, Risk Management and other finance operations for North America
- Directs Americas’ region functions related to real estate, financial IT investment management, workplace management, compensation programs, travel operations and procurement/vendor management
- Develops and executes internal and executive communications programs
Previously, she was a Principal in client service, working in consumer goods, travel and tourism, energy, and non-profit, as well as for the US Government. Her experience includes strategy, process development, organizational design and change management.
In addition, Kelly spent 6 years with Northrop Grumman, a U.S. defense contractor, including extensive work on large-scale initiatives, including post merger integration, staff retention initiatives, and projects realigning employee skill-sets to new industry and organizational needs.
Prior to that, she worked with KPMG’s Corporate Finance practice and with a California-based manufacturer and distributor of industrial chemicals.
Ms. Nelson has a M.B.A. from the Smith School of Business (University of Maryland), where she was part of student team investing and managing a $1.2 million equity portfolio. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Environmental Studies from Yale University.
Susan Pfau
Susan Pfau, LMFT, RPT is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a registered play therapist. She is currently completing a 1-year behavioral health predoctoral internship at the University of MN St. John’s Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program (2022-23). She has a private practice, teaches Medical Family at St. Mary’s University of MN master’s level, and facilitates young adults living with cancer support groups for Gilda’s Clubhouse Twin Cities (cancer community support. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Medical Family Therapy at Northcentral University.
Susan specializes in the diagnosis, management of mental health and therapy in the following: ages early childhood (0-5), children, adults, and couples. She has extensive training in DC: 0-5-a diagnostic classification of mental health and development disorders of infancy and early childhood. She is trained in Experiential Play Therapy, Theraplay (attachment-based intervention for caregivers and their children), Sand Tray Therapy and EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).
Susan changed careers after losing her son (28) to colon cancer. She realized how important mental health support was during those times. Her passion is to walk alongside families experiencing a terminal or serious illness.
Jackie Robins
Jackie is an APRN certified Nurse-Midwife Hospitalist currently on faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. Jackie has several decades of experience as a Nurse-Midwife, and has taught nurses, midwives, medical students and residents in a variety of programs during her career.
Jackie is a member of COLONTOWN Junior, our online community for families of pediatric colorectal cancer patients. Her teenaged son passed away in 2021.
She brings her professional experience, as well as her lived experience as a caregiver, to PALTOWN’s Board.
Michael Schoenbaum
Senior Advisor for Mental Health Services, Epidemiology, and Economics, National Institute of Mental Health
Dr. Schoenbaum directs a unit charged with conducting analyses of mental health burden, service use and costs, intervention opportunities, and other policy-related issues, in support of Institute decision-making; and with helping to strengthen NIMH’s relationships with outside stakeholders, to increase the public health impact of NIMH-supported research.
Dr. Schoenbaum’s research has focused particularly on the costs and benefits of interventions to improve health and health care, evaluated from the perspectives of patients, providers, payers and society. He has been a scientific principal in NIMH’s Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (http://www.armystarrs.org; now STARRS-LS); and has worked on initiatives with the Veterans Health Administration, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the National Business Group on Health, among others.
Prior to joining NIMH, Dr. Schoenbaum spent nine years at the RAND Corporation, where his work included studies of the feasibility and consequences of improving care for common mental disorders, particularly depression; studies of the social epidemiology and economic consequences of chronic illness and disability; design and evaluation of decision-support tools to help consumers make health benefits choices; and international health sector development projects.
Dr. Schoenbaum was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in health policy at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1995-1997. He holds a PhD in Economics from University of Michigan.
Julie Wrigley
Julie Wrigley is an Assistant Professor of Management in the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. After many years as an attorney in private practice in Alaska, she discovered her love of lawyering was really a deep affinity of teaching others to understand the legal aspects of our world. In addition to teaching real estate and business related classes, she also teaches negotiation and conflict resolution.
Julie has worked with many nonprofit organizations in various board member roles and as legal council. A colorectal cancer diagnosis for her 40th birthday turned her attention to cancer related advocacy projects and cancer centered nonprofits. Outside of work, she spends time with her husband and children skiing, floating and fishing rivers and exploring trails all over Alaska. She is currently working on obtaining her pilot’s license.