Hunter Howard

Global Pandemic Coalition, Founder

A founding member of the Long COVID Alliance, Hunter brings years of experience as a senior executive and entrepreneur in tech, healthcare, and disruptive innovation to improve patient lives. His nonprofit work reflects the necessity of relationship-building, collaborative policy advocacy, and reaching across the aisle. Crucially, Hunter helped write the legislation to get $1.25 billion ear marked for NIH Long COVID research. He also serves as CEO of Hormone Therapeutics, a direct-to-consumer telemedicine platform providing anti-aging, testosterone, and hormone replacement therapy services to empower patients to live healthier, longer lives. Hunter has been featured in Dallas Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”, on the Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000, and profiled for numerous advocacy publications. He earned his B.A. in history from Southern Methodist University and an M.B.A. from University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Hunter’s experience as one of Texas’ first COVID and Long COVID patients compelled him to mobilize the international effort of Global Pandemic Coalition, to bring together best-in-class health care solutions and services to help the world prepare for and fight against infectious disease.

Karyn Bishof

COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project, President & Founder

Having founded one of the first long COVID organizations in the nation, COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project, Karyn has been on the front line since the beginning, making her uniquely qualified to advocate for the millions of newly chronically-ill and disabled people. A founding member of the Long COVID Alliance, she champions a comprehensive cross-community and cross-illness approach that utilizes her background in medicine, education, and lived patient experience. Karyn was selected by the NIH to serve on the RECOVER Initiatives Ancillary Studies Oversight Committee and serves on the Advisory Board of the Long COVID Research Fund. She has appeared in the New York Times, PBS, NPR, Medium, and dozens more. 

Karyn was among first cohort of Long COVID patients in the world after contracting COVID in March 2020 while working as an EMS Firefighter in south Florida; she has subsequently also been diagnosed with dysautonomia, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).

Emily Taylor

Solve ME, Vice President of Advocacy and Engagement

Emily brings over fifteen years of policy, organization, and advocacy experience in the non-profit and government sectors. Having spent years on Capitol Hill, Emily contributes a keen understanding of both state and federal policy processes while cultivating strong grassroots organization and patient representation. She is a veteran of an award-winning autism organization and several successful electoral campaigns, where she spearheaded major overhauls in education policies and online organization. She received a M.A. in American politics from Claremont Graduate University and a B.A. with honors in politics and international relations from Scripps College in Claremont.

Emily draws inspiration from her mother, who has battled ME/CFS and chronic autoimmune and thyroid conditions since 1999.

Lisa McCorkell

Patient-Led Research Collaborative, Co-founder

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and developing long COVID herself, Lisa co-founded the Patient-Led Research Collaborative to create effective, responsible long COVID research. She contributed her background in social safety net policy and labor and employment issues to many of the landmark reports that directed the early stages of the Long COVID research and advocacy response. Since then, she has testified before Congress, liaised with the CDC, and was featured as one of Nature’s “10 People Who Shaped Science in 2022”.  She earned her M.A. in public policy from Goldman School of Public Policy at UCLA Berkeley and her B.A in political science from UCLA.

Lisa’s path through patient-led research work continues to be guided by her experience as a Long COVID patient-advocate.

Michael Sieverts

Patient-Advocate

Michael’s career in federal science policy spans over 30 years with the National Science Foundation, including as Budget Director and Deputy Office Head in the Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management. To his work as a patient-advocate, he brings budgeting, planning, and grants management experience, and continues to serve as an NSF Expert. Michael has been a longtime contributor to Body Politic, The Patient-Led Research Collaborative, and Strategies for High Impact, and his story has been highlighted in the Washington Post and on NPR. He has a B.S. in Physics from Guilford College and his M.A. in public policy from UC Berkeley.

After Michael contracted COVID in March 2020 and began experiencing debilitating long-term symptoms, he became one of the first to enroll in NIH’s early post-COVID intramural trials.

Lauren Stiles

Dysautonomia International, President & Co-Founder

Lauren co-founded Dysautonomia International in 2012, a non-profit that advocates on behalf of patients with autonomic nervous system disorders through research, physician education, public awareness, and patient empowerment programs. Having organized several of the largest dysautonomia research studies to date and some of the earliest long COVID studies in collaboration with researchers at Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, University of Calgary, the Karolinska Institutet, and other research centers, she ensures the lived patient experience remains at the heart of the research process. Lauren is also a Research Assistant Professor of Neurology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, where she focuses on dysautonomia and Long COVID. Her work has been featured on CNN, Fox News, NPR, and more, and she is a frequent guest lecturer at medical schools around the country. She holds a B.A. in Earth & Space Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a J.D. from Pace University School of Law. 

Lauren has lived with Sjogren’s disease related dysautonomia for over a decade, but, after acquiring COVID-19 in February 2020, she organized research to study the coming tidal wave of new dysautonomic cases following COVID infections; she has since been a steadfast advocate for those living with autonomic disorders and Long COVID.

Liza Fisher

Patient-Advocate

Liza is a national healthcare advocate and RYT-200 yoga teacher committed to providing clinical and patient education around long COVID and associated conditions. In the wellness space, she specializes in a multi-experiential approach of embodiment and repair for individuals having experienced ableism, erasure, and exclusion within the yoga community and beyond. Liza has co-authored numerous research manuscripts, has testified before Congress, and served as a patient representative for NIH and the University of South Carolina COVID Patient Engagement Studio. She also serves on the boards of Long COVID Families and Texas Survivors of Texas. She has a B.A. from Ohio Northern University and an M.B.A. from Northern Kentucky University.

Liza’s eyes were opened to the world of under-acknowledged and under-researched complex ironic illnesses after a months-long hospitalization and being disabled by Long COVID.

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