Council Members

Chair
Gwen Traficant
Board member, Central Union Mission; Caregiver

Hermoinne Johnson

Vice Chair
Hermionne Johnson, MSN, RN
Caregiver; CEO, Ayana’s Hope Cells; Clinical Nurse Educator

Ijeoma Azubuko, MS
The Ruby Ball Foundation

John R Feore III, JD
Senior Director, Jeffrey J. Kimbell & Associates; Director, Health Policy and Advocacy, Institute for Gene Therapies

Wes Fisher
Public Policy Professional

Michael Friedlander, PhD
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech; Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical
Research Institute at VTC; Senior Dean for Research, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Professor
of Biological Sciences and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine

Stephen Green, MD, FIDSA
Hospitalist; Infectious Diseases Society of America, Fellow; American College of Physicians, Fellow Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Fellow; Medical staff, Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center

Gregory Josephs, MA
Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, Toastmasters International

Paul Kruszka, MD, FACMG
Director of Pediatric Genetics, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia 

Tiffany Kimbrough, MD, FAAP
Medical Director, Mother-Infant Unit; Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics; Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU

Sharon Kopis, Ed.D. MS, RN, FNP- C
CNE Professor Nursing, Liberty Nursing

Angela Olmsted

Angela Olmsted, PharmD

Christina Peroutka, MD, FAAP, FACMG
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Biochemical and Clinical Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine 

 

 

Elissa Pierson
Caregiver

Stephen Rich, PhD
Director, Center for Public Health Genomics; Harrison Professor of Public Health Services, University of Virginia

Elisabeth Scott
Mother and Caregiver

Judy Stecker
Mother, Caregiver, Co-Founder Wheeler's Warriors Against Batten Disease,
EVP Burson; Former Senior Official U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

ex officio member
Marcus C. Allen, MPH
Program Director, Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Program

 

 

Samantha

ex officio member
Samantha Hollins, PhD
Assistant Superintendent,
Department of Special
Education and Student Services,
Virginia Department of Education

 

ex officio member
Rachel E. Cain, PharmD, BS, RPh, ESMT, CCMT
Clinical Pharmacist II, Office of the Chief Medical Officer at Department of Medical Assistance Services

 

Vacant
Representative from Health Plan Companies

Last Updated: February 17, 2026