Board of Directors
David Mitchell
President and Founder
David Mitchell, 68, is a patient with an incurable—but treatable—blood cancer called multiple myeloma. He was diagnosed in 2010. He relapsed in 2014. He depends on drugs for his survival, and expects to be in continuous treatment until he dies. Myeloma is smart and finds its way around drugs, so David is a strong supporter of innovation and new drugs to extend his life, and the lives of other patients. But he says drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. David has 40 years of experience working on health care and public health policy as a communications specialist. He has worked to reduce teen smoking, increase use of seat belts, to fight drunk driving and improve child health and safety. He helped build and run for more than 30 years GMMB—a cause-oriented, public policy communications firm in Washington, DC. He retired in 2016 to focus his full energy and attention on helping bring about policy change to lower drug costs.
You can follow him on Twitter here.
Email him at [email protected]
Cal LaRoche
Director and Treasurer
Calvin C. LaRoche is a proven leader with 35 years of management experience including significant general management responsibilities. Cal was Chief Operating Officer at The Orkand Corporation, a marquee federal information technology services provider. Later, Cal was a Director of Strategic Development for IBM at the company’s headquarters in Armonk, New York. During a 24-year career with IBM, he directed an information systems sales and marketing organization consisting of 1,200 professionals. Cal later had worldwide responsibility for IBM’s advertising and promotion. Cal was chairman of the Board of Trustees of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD. Cal is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for Norwood School, an independent K-8 school in Bethesda, MD where he served as Chair from 2012-2015. He is also an active member of the Advisory Board for the Ron Brown Scholars Program.
Charles Hurley
Director
Charles A. (Chuck) Hurley has a long and successful career in public health and safety. After serving in U.S. Naval Intelligence, he was the special assistant to the mayor of Wilmington, Delaware from 1970-71. He worked for Republican Congressman William A. Steiger, coauthor of OSHA, as his legislative director from 1971-74. During that period, Chuck was very involved in the early days of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He headed the Washington Office for the National Safety Council from 1977-1989, and was senior vice-president of communications for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety from 1989 to 1996. He led the development of the Click It or Ticket campaign in North Carolina and then its national expansion. He also served as CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving from 2005-2010. Chuck has deep knowledge and experience on moving public policy issues at the state and federal levels.
Tomi Fadeyi-Jones
Director
Tomi Fadeyi-Jones is an accomplished Senior Human Resources Professional with 20 years of experience, including program and project management. She’s held varying leadership roles developing and guiding HR strategy and operations for Fortune 500 corporations and non-profit organizations. In honor of her mother, a breast cancer survivor, Tomi started and captains a team that annually runs and fundraises to support continued research for breast cancer treatment options and drugs. Tomi also serves on the Board of Directors for Horizons Greater Washington, a nonprofit organization designed to empower economically disadvantaged students to realize their full potential.
Our Staff
Audrey Baker
Communications Director
Audrey (she/her) has worked in advocacy communications for over five years, most recently at M+R, where she led earned media strategy for reproductive rights, criminal justice, housing, food advocacy, and humanitarian campaigns. She has also worked as an organizer for local, state, and federal campaigns across the country. Originally from the Bay Area, California, Audrey is a graduate of University of California Berkeley (Go Bears), where she double-majored in Sociology and Theater Performance studies. She is passionate about making health care accessible to all Americans, and believes in the power of uplifting patients’ voices in the news in order to influence legislation.
Merith Basey
Executive Director
Merith’s commitment to health equity began nearly two decades ago working alongside young people living with type 1 diabetes in Ecuador. Her formative grassroots organizing combined with a master’s degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine motivated her to co-found the 100 Campaign in 2012, aimed at reframing the narrative around insulin access as a human rights issue and reducing the barriers to access.
Most recently, Merith served for eight years as executive director of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines in North America, an international, student-driven organization that seeks to improve access to and affordability of life-saving medicines researched and developed at universities. In March 2020, she launched the Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 campaign via UAEM and, in conjunction with the Center for Artistic Activism, to advocate for equitable access to COVID tests, treatments, and vaccines.
Merith is a connector, a movement-builder and a creative. She also serves on the Technical Advisory Committee of the ACCISS study addressing the Challenges and Constraints of Insulin Sources and Supply. She speaks French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Wendy Chew
Chief Operations Officer
Wendy is a seasoned operations professional in the health care sector with a primary focus in HR administration, lobbying compliance, and finance/budget tracking. Her experience includes five years as VP of Operations at the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO) and 10 years as Sr. Manager, State Government Affairs & Operations at CVS Health.
Danny Finley
Community Organizing Director
Danny Finley (he/him) works to recruit, grow, and organize the Patients for Affordable Drugs’ patient community. Before working for P4AD, Danny worked on several political campaigns as an organizer and spent a year in Brazil as an English Teaching Assistant through a Fulbright grant. His belief in the possibility of an equitable health care system where patients can afford the drugs they need brought him to P4AD and inspires his daily work. He is a graduate of Tulane University, where he studied Economics and Finance through the Altman Program in International Studies.
Emily Foster
Digital Director
Emily (she/her) brings years of digital strategy experience to P4AD from her years working for political campaigns and consulting firms. As digital director, she works to elevate the fight for lower drug prices online and to mobilize the patient community through social media. Emily is passionate about stopping Big Pharma’s influence on elections and politics.
Emily received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Communication at American University in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Kaminer Bourland
Legislative Director
Sarah (she/her) has six years experience working as a registered nurse in community health and critical care nursing. She decided to enter health policy after seeing the many barriers encountered by her patients as they tried to access affordable health care. While studying health policy, Sarah became disturbed about the realities of the pharmaceutical industry and eager to make an impact on drug pricing policy.
Sarah received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from UNC Chapel Hill and her MPH in Health Policy from Harvard University.
Natalie Litton
Legislative Advisor
Natalie has worked in health care policy both at the state level and on Capitol Hill. She is excited to bring her combination of advocacy and legislative experience to the fight for lower drug prices. Natalie graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in political science and history and is committed to increasing access to high-quality, affordable, equitable health care for all.
Ian Seepersaud
Communications Associate
Ian (he/him) is interested in creating equitable change through storytelling and lifting up marginalized voices. Before coming to P4AD, Ian worked as a field organizer in rural North Carolina for the 2020 election and interned at The Hub Project, working on healthcare and tax justice campaigns. He is a graduate of UNC Charlotte, where he studied English and Political Science.
Lucy Westerfield
Deputy Executive Director
Over the last few years, Lucy (she/her) has worked with the P4AD team in a variety of roles to bring the patient voice to the fight for lower drug prices. She additionally brings policy, communications, and organizing experience to P4AD from her time on Capitol Hill and on political campaigns.
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lucy graduated with a degree in biology from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is passionate about the power of patient and constituent voices (and well-designed spreadsheets) in the fight for affordable and accessible health care.
