Director Bios

Maureen Damitz, AE-C, Chair
Maureen brings 17 years experience in community asthma education to the Chicago Consortium. Currently, she manages all asthma programming for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, providing education to the community, schools and medical professionals. Maureen is the Chicago Outreach Coordinator for Allergy Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics, serves on the Illinois Asthma Partnership, and is an active member of the advisory councils for the Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project and the School-Based Pediatric Asthma Research in Chicago project. As the parent of two children with asthma, Maureen is passionate about helping the community, medical professionals, and schools understand the needs of families and patients with asthma. She has been a part of the CAC School Task Force since 1998.

Kristen Ellensohn, CNP, Treasurer
Kristen coordinates the asthma program and provides primary care as a family nurse practitioner at PCC Community Wellness Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that serves the west side of Chicago. As the asthma coordinator, she is also active in the Access to Healthcare Committee of the Asthma Action Plan of Chicago Advisory Committee. PCC Community Wellness Center is a part of the Health Disparities Collaborative for diabetes and recently implemented the same Care Model for asthma. As a member of the Board of Directors, Kristen will bring the unique perspective of an FQHC provider active in the Health Disparities Collaborative. Her vision for the future of the CAC includes stronger linkages between organizations and community members, and raising awareness through networking and education.

Dennis Bryan, RpH, MBA, FAPhA, Secretary
Dennis brings to the organization over 30 years of practical experience having held staff, management, and ownership positions. Educationally, he holds three different certificates in asthma care and has participated with Dr Howie Zeitz in his "Problem Based Learning" project. His experiences have been accentuated by having served as an officer in various organizations, which include: the University of Illinois, College of Pharmacy Alumni Association, the American Pharmacist Association, the Illinois Pharmacist Association, and the Illinois Pharmacy Foundation. He has been honored several times for his community/professional activities. It is his goal to assist today's consumers in their healthcare transition from that of a spectator to one of an active participant. Dennis's greatest passion is the sharing of his experiences and knowledge to help others, particularly in the control and relief of asthma.

Joel Africk
Joel Africk is President and Chief Executive Officer of Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, where he oversees a 50-person staff and an annual budget of $6 million. The Association has served as a leader in the asthma and chronic disease community through its efforts to improve student health in Chicago and its recent work in convening the statewide coalition that developed the Illinois COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) State Plan. The Association convenes the working group that prepares an annual Asthma Action Plan for Chicago each year. In 2005, Joel was admitted as a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.

Jaime Dircksen, MSW
Jaime joins the Board after two years of work on the CAC School Task Force. She is currently the Manager of Family and Community Partnerships with the Coordinated School Health Unit for the Chicago Public Schools, where she develops health policy, collaborates with researchers on health-related projects, manages the school-based oral health program, and is the liaison to school-based health centers. She is also coordinating system-wide health partnerships and linkages to help CPS schools focus on medical compliance and obesity. She welcomes the opportunity to help the CAC further engage the Chicago Public Schools and the community as a whole.

Lisa Ely, RRT
Lisa brings 18 years of experience in the medical industry to the CAC Board. Currently, she works as a Respiratory Clinical Specialist for Teleflex Medical, where she is responsible for education and training as well as sales support. Prior to this position, she was a Community Asthma Account Manager for Advocate Health Care, where she has worked hard both to increase grant funding for asthma and to promote asthma education in the community at large. Lisa is a licensed Respiratory Care Practitioner and a Certified Asthma Educator and looks forward to leveraging her relationships with physicians, medical staff, and the community to help the CAC reduce the impact of asthma through education and outreach.

Allen Goldberg, MD, MBA, Master FCCP
Allen is a past president of the Chicago Asthma Consortium and a home-care physician with expertise in long-term mechanical ventilation, telemedicine, eHealth, and mobile medical care. Previously, Allen practiced pediatric anesthesia and critical care medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he worked with Drs. Jack Downes and C. Everett Koop to manage asthmatics with critical illness and pioneer home care for technology-dependent children. With Dr. Koop, Allen planned the 1982 Surgeon's General Workshop, which led to changes in public policy and practice for children with special health needs. Since 2000, both doctors have been working with the support of the CHEST foundation on the Communications in Health Care Project to promote humanitarianism in medicine and global health with a focus on overcoming health disparities. Allen has served as a Professor of Pediatrics at Loyola University-Chicago, the Medical Director of the Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital at Loyola Mobile Medical Unit, and a past president of both the American Academy of Home Care Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians.

Semone Green, RRT
Semone, an original member of the Chicago Asthma Consortium Board of Directors, returns to the Board for a second term. A respiratory therapist, Semone is developing an asthma clinic at Roseland Community Hospital, located in one of Chicago's highest need communities. The goal of the clinic is to provide the highest asthma care and incorporates an efficient practice model intended to meet the needs of patients, providers, and payers. The clinic will feature comprehensive asthma education including basic asthma facts, medication usage, triggers, environmental controls, and indoor and outdoor air quality. Prior to her position at Roseland Community Hospital, Semone was a supervisor and CQI Coordinator at John Stroger Hospital of Cook County. She was responsible for orienting and training respiratory care personnel, coordinating and developing the respiratory care hospital-wide asthma program, and developing the departmental quality assurance monitoring study. Semone is a member of the American Association of Respiratory Care, Illinois Society for Respiratory Care, and the American Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Anne Krantz, MD, MPH
Through 20 years of experience as an internist and occupational medicine physician at Stroger Hospital, Anne sees, daily, the frequency of severe asthma and the obstacles to treatment encountered by individuals who utilize the County health system. Anne is Board Certified in Occupational Medicine and Internal Medicine. She is an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at UIC. She has conducted research and presented widely on workplace factors in low-income asthma patients. She serves as the Co-chair of the Occupational Asthma work group for the Executive Committee of the Illinois Asthma Partnership. She is a Consultant Medical Toxicologist to the Illinois Poison Center and a reviewer for a number of medical journals. Anne has been an active member of the CAC for the past 7 years and looks forward to the opportunity to help increase the CAC's role as a dynamic nexus for asthma-related activities in the Chicago area.

Helen Margellos-Anast, MPH
As an epidemiologist at the Sinai Urban Health Institute, Helen places strong value on data and sound research methodology to guide activities and provide answers to questions. She combines those values with a strong belief that the interpretation of data, and the subsequent translation of data into appropriate action, is best done in collaboration with the community. At SUHI, Helen gained extensive experience working in the areas of health disparities, design and evaluation of health interventions, effective presentation of epidemiological data to various audiences, and working with the community to best address health needs. Much of her work has focused on pediatric asthma and associated disparities. She participated in Sinai's Improving Community Health Survey, the largest ever door-to-door comprehensive health survey conducted in Chicago, and served as Evaluation Coordinator for two subsequent pediatric asthma interventions conducted by Sinai. An author and lecturer on a variety of topics, Helen is a member of the American Public Health Association and the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC).

Molly Martin, MD, MAPP
Molly Martin is a pediatrician in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center. She obtained her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin, completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Chicago, and then was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Chicago from 2002-2004. Her research uses community-based participatory research methodologies to design and implement culturally specific interventions that incorporate community health workers. Molly is particularly interested in Latino health and asthma. She is currently an active co-investigator on the Chicago Initiative to Raise Asthma Health Equity (CHIRAH) and the Mexican-American Trial of Community Health Workers (MATCH) which are both NIH-funded behavioral randomized controlled trials involving community health workers. Molly welcomes the opportunity to help the CAC collaborate with academic institutions and community service organizations to develop interventions and implement policy changes that will address the asthma health disparities experienced by minorities in Chicago.

Joel McCullough, MD, MPH, MS
Joel is the Assistant Commissioner and Medical Director of Environmental Health at the Chicago Department of Public Health, where he helps develop environmental policy and directs the activity of the Environmental Health Division. He is currently involved in the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and the Health Code Enforcement Program, both of which seek to ensure safe housing in the Chicago area. Joel has also served as a Medical Officer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and an Epidemiologist at the National Center for Environmental Health. Joel looks forward to using his experience in preventive medicine, public health, and occupational and environmental medicine to help the CAC develop a comprehensive asthma program in the city of Chicago.

Sydney Parker, PhD
Sydney is the Vice President for Development and Outreach at the American College of Chest Physicians, having served previously as the Vice President of Health and Science Policy. She has been active in the field of asthma education for nearly 30 years and has also served as the Chief of the Prevention Education and Research Training Branch with the Division of Lung Diseases of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She developed a program of funded research in asthma education at the National Institute of Health and convened the National Asthma Education program for the NHLBI. Sydney was the initial project officer for the Childhood Asthma Management Study and helped organize the Chicago Asthma Consortium in 1996. Each year, she hosts a Symposium for Community Asthma Coalitions to help facilitate organization and funding for local asthma education. As a longtime member of the CAC Board, she has helped shape the organization and continues to guide it in its mission of improving the quality of life for people with asthma.

Stephen Samuelson, MPA
Steve has spent the past 15 years working with underserved adults and children in and around Chicagoland. Through direct service earlier in his career and significant management positions in non-profit organizations for the past 8 years, Steve has seen, first-hand, the impact of asthma and the positive outcomes of proper treatment. He is currently the Executive Director of Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation, an organization that provides free asthma care and education to children in underserved areas of Chicago. In this capacity he is responsible for the oversight and management of fundraising, budgeting, staff training and development, in addition to daily operations. Steve is looking forward to utilizing the wide variety of skills and expertise that he has gained through his experience in non-profit management to benefit the CAC, and he hopes to increase his role as an ambassador for addressing the asthma epidemic in Chicago.

Dolores Weems, Jr.
Dolores is the Administrator of the University of Chicago's Asthma Center, where her primary duties include program administration, community outreach, and grants administration. She manages a community educators program focused on a peer-to-peer education for the residents, builds relationships with community-based organizations and individuals for the purpose of community resource sharing and education, and coordinates well-smoking cessation classes for patients and employees. Dolores brings a unique perspective to the Chicago Asthma Consortium, She is not an academic or a clinician, but a true voice for the community. On a daily basis she works to empower people with asthma to live full lives - by controlling and managing their disease - and strives to develop new avenues to coordinate services for the community to help individuals with asthma manage existing co-morbidities which undermine the balance in their lives.

Raoul Wolf, MD
Raoul is a founding member of the Chicago Asthma consortium. He is a nationally recognized authority in asthma and allergy management and has been awarded many honors, including being named one of the top physicians in America by Castle Connelly. His extensive expertise also has earned him special recognition from the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. Raoul's research interests include improving outcomes in children with high-risk asthma and chronic lung disease of infancy. In addition, he is a member of the National Task Force for the Detection of Asthma in Schools.

Myra Zuvich
Myra is a registered pharmacist who, along with her professional knowledge, brings a passion to help Chicago's asthma community. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Asthma Consortium (CAC) since 2005 and is currently the Co- chair of their School Task Force. In addition, she is a certified instructor by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC) for their Asthma Management and Fighting Asthma Now (FAN) programs. Myra has also previously volunteered with the American Lung Association teaching and helping with their Open Airways and Asthma 101 programs in Long Island, New York, Puerto Rico and Chicago, IL. In 2006 she was the recipient of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago "Making A Difference" award. Myra joins the Board with a desire to continue to make Chicago an asthma friendly city where everyone dealing with asthma can get the care, education, and encouragement they need to control their disease. Hoping to raise awareness, Myra is committed to creating partnerships to increase the network of those advocating for a better quality of life for people with asthma.