WHAM Team Members
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Carolee Lee
CEO & Founder
Carolee Lee
CEO & FounderCarolee Lee is an innovative trailblazer dedicated to transforming the health of women. In 2020, she founded WHAM (Women’s Health Access Matters), a non-profit organization. WHAM is committed to accelerating research and investment in women’s health and implementing strategies to eliminate the inequities and bias in research and enterprise, while accelerating scientific discovery and economic impact. Carolee assembled a board of 25 leading businesswomen to launch this initiative and commissioned the Rand Corporation to create The WHAM Report, which quantified the economic benefits of investing in woman’s health research.
As a well-recognized, highly respected leader, she has shifted the dialogue on women’s health by looking at the ethics, empirical data and economic impact of women’s health while coalescing others to spearhead effective change.
As an entrepreneurial thinker, Carolee believes that convening and motivating thought leaders from all parts of the ecosystem will be key in creating the needed sustainable and lasting change to drive innovation, action and address the inequities which still exist today.
Prior to founding WHAM, as a creative force and visionary leader in the fashion world, Carolee built a preeminent global brand and successfully sold it to Luxottica in 2001.
Carolee has served on numerous public and private boards and currently serves on the boards of: The La Jolla Institute for Immunology; The Women’s Health Advisory Board, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and The Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a past president of the Committee of 200 and served as the Chair of its Foundation Board. Carolee also was a director on the board of DSW, Inc., the Museum of Arts and Design, NY, and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation for twenty years.
Throughout her career, Carolee has embraced mentoring and leadership roles in many diverse business organizations and is active in numerous civic, philanthropic and educational organizations.
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Lori Frank, PhD
President
Lori Frank, PhD
PresidentLori Frank, PhD is the inaugural President of WHAM. Her career has focused on incorporating community perspectives in health research and health policy to advance public health and health equity. She serves on the Board of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and on the Medical, Scientific, and Memory Screening Advisory Board of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. She is Past President of the International Society for Quality of Life Research, a professional society devoted to health outcomes assessment. She completed her Health and Aging Policy Fellowship through the Congressional Fellowship Program; prior to that she served on executive leadership for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She has held research and teaching positions with Georgetown University Department of Psychiatry, the National Institute on Aging, the New York Academy of Medicine, MedImmune LLC/AstraZeneca, and the Veteran’s Administration. She completed postdoctoral training in health services research with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Her PhD is in Human Development/Gerontology from the Pennsylvania State University and her MA is in biopsychology from the Johns Hopkins University.
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Anula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice Chair & Chief Scientific Officer
Anula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice Chair & Chief Scientific OfficerDr. Anula Jayasuriya has worked at the leading edge of life science innovation in the US, Europe, and India, where she co-founded the first health care private equity fund.
Dr. Jayasuriya has been investing in life sciences and health care since 2001, first with TVM and Skyline Ventures and subsequently with funds she co-founded or founded. She combines successful investment expertise and industry operating experience together with scientific and medical knowledge. Most recently, Dr. Jayasuriya formed EXXclaim Capital to capture the compelling yet under invested business opportunity in women’s health.
Anula received a BA from Harvard summa cum laude, and an MD and PhD (in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) from Harvard Medical School. She interned in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Anula also holds a M. Phil. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, in England.
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Meryl Comer
Vice Chair & Global Chair
Meryl Comer
Vice Chair & Global ChairMeryl Comer is a Co-Founder/Board Member of UsAgainstAlzheimers, and former Chair, Global Alliance on Women’s Brain Health (2018/2020). For more than a decade (2007-2019), Ms. Comer served as President and CEO of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative, a catalyst funder targeting early diagnosis through spirited public campaigns, early assessment technologies, support of the first “virtual registry”, and pre-clinical AD research to modify disease risk. She served on the NIH National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA). In 2012, she led the formation of the 21st Century BrainTrust® (21CBT), a non-profit partnership to advance mobile brain health technologies. Comer was also a co-Principal Investigator for the PCORI Alzheimer’s Patient/Caregiver Research Network in partnership with the Mayo Clinic. In 2009, she served on the bi-partisan Alzheimer's Study Group that presented a National Strategic Plan to Congress. A former veteran broadcast journalist, 100% of Comer’s New York Times bestseller, “Slow Dancing with a Stranger” (HarperCollins), supports Alzheimer’s research.
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Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik
Chief of Staff & Strategic Partnerships
Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik
Chief of Staff & Strategic PartnershipsMarianne Foss-Skiftesvik was appointed Chief of Staff of WHAM in 2021 when it was launched as a 501c3. Marianne started working on this initiative in 2018 after joining AccessCircles, a global, by-invitation network founded by Carolee Lee committed to bringing women access to leaders, resources and experiences that can help transform their lives. Marianne is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications. Prior to joining AccessCircles, Marianne was an Analyst for Axtria, a global management consulting firm providing cloud software and data analytics to leading pharmaceutical companies.
Marianne graduated from Bucknell University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. At Bucknell, she was selected to join the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program. Marianne is also a Certified Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
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Leah Golbert
Strategic Initiatives and Communications Associate
Leah Golbert
Strategic Initiatives and Communications AssociateLeah Golbert joined WHAM in 2024, after completing her Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health at the University of Maryland. During her time at UMD, Leah served as the Creative Development Captain for Terp Thon, Maryland’s largest student-run philanthropy, raising funds for Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She was also the Social Media and Communications Chair for Yogi Terps, a popular yoga club on campus.
Leah's hands-on experience in women’s health began on Long Island, where she worked as a Social Media and Marketing Intern with the Maurer Foundation for Breast Health Education. She then joined the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) as a Communications Intern, which broadened her understanding of the gender health gap and the importance of funding women’s health research.
Leah is committed to using her experience and passion to drive impactful change in the women’s health space as a Strategic Initiatives and Communications Associate at WHAM.
WHAM Board Members
Dale Atkins, PhD
Psychologist and AuthorGail Bassin
Managing Director, Gail D Bassin FoundationJoanne Bauer
Global Corporate Executive and Board Member Former President of Kimberly-Clark’s Global Health Care BusinessVirginia Bennett
Senior Advisor, WHAM
WATCH VIDEONelly Bly
Vice Chair, The Center for Discovery Board of Directors Trustee, Dwight-Englewood School AuthorDiane Britz Lotti
Founding Partner, Circle Financial GroupMarilyn Chinitz
Litigator and Partner, Blank Rome LLPMaria Chrin
Partner, Circle Wealth ManagementMeryl Comer
Vice Chair and Global Chair, WHAM Co-Founder, UsAgainstAlzheimers/ WomenAgainstAlzheimers Chair, Global Alliance on Women’s Brain HealthGina Diez Barroso
President and CEO, Grupo Diarq Founder, DaliaEmpowerChaz Ebert
President, Roger and Chaz Ebert FoundationMary Foss-Skiftesvik
Board Member and InvestorEmily Gold Mears
Citizen Scientist, Research Analyst, Biohacker, Author and Former AttorneyMarsha Henderson
Former Associate Commissioner for Women’s Health, FDAAnn Kaplan
Partner, Circle Wealth ManagementAnula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice Chair and Chief Scientific Officer, WHAM Founder and Managing Director, EXXclaim CapitalSusan King
Board Member, Private Investor, CMO, Advisor, and AdvocateCarolee Lee
Founder, CEO, and Chair, WHAM Founder and CEO, AccessCircles Founder and former CEO of CAROLEEChristopher Lee
Associate Vice Chancellor, UC San DiegoSharon Love
CEO, TPNSheila Ann Mikhail
Cofounder and Advisor, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio)Anne Lim O’Brien
Vice Chairman, Heidrick & StrugglesJim Roth
Vice Chair of the Board, HuronKaren Segal
Board Member, UsAgainstAlzheimer's Founding Board Member, Children's Research Fund North Suburban Board, Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital of ChicagoEkta Singh-Bushell
Global Chair/Chief Operating Officer Board Member Non-Executive Director Public, Private, & Startup AdvisorGeorge Vradenburg
Founding Chairman, Davos Alzheimer’s CollaborativeCelia Weatherhead
PhilanthropistTAKE ACTION
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