Board

Sarah H. O’Brien, MD, MSc

President

Pediatric Hematologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and Associate Chief Clinical Research Officer for the Abigail Wexner Research Institute. She leads an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary hematology and adolescent gynecology clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  Her clinical and research interests include pediatric thrombosis and thromboprophylaxis, the evaluation and diagnosis of bleeding disorders, and the intersections between hematology and women’s health.

Andra H. James, MD, MPH

Founding Board President

An Ob/Gyn and high-risk pregnancy expert, Dr. James is an internationally renowned leader in advancing the optimal treatment and management of women with blood disorders and is the recipient of the CDC Blood Disorders in Public Health Outstanding Leadership Award 2012; and the HTRS Lifetime Achievement Award 2017.

Dr. James served as Board President since the inception of FWGBD, spanning 13 years. She remains a member, in addition to the Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee.

Barbara A. Konkle, MD

Founding Board Member

Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Division of Hematology Oncology, at the Washington Center for Bleeding Disorders, University of Washington.  Dr. Konkle has long been committed to improving the care of women with bleeding and clotting disorders through research, clinical care, and leadership in national organizations, and is the recipient of the ISTH 2021 Esteemed Career Award. 

Roshni Kulkarni, MD

Founding Board Member

Professor Emerita and former Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Michigan State University. Dr. Kulkarni was the Director of CDC’s Division of Blood Disorders and Distinguished Hematology Consultant for CDC. She serves on Boards of national and international organizations, including ASPHO, ATHN, and ISTH, and has received the US FDA Distinguished Service Award.

Peggy James, CPA

Treasurer

Peggy James is a Certified Public Accountant currently based in Durham, NC. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a Master of Accounting degree and spent 9 years working in higher education finance. Since 2021, she has been working at her own firm providing accounting and tax services to small businesses, freelancers, and individuals. Peggy has experience in corporate and nonprofit accounting and finance, ranging from journal entries and bank reconciliations to management of a complex fiscal year-end close process with accruals and deferrals.

Sarah Luke, Esq.

Secretary

Sarah Luke is Executive Legal Counsel at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York.  With over a decade of experience in higher education law, she provides legal counsel, fosters informed decision-making and creative problem-solving in all areas of institutional operation, instruction, research, and administration. Prior to her role at Brooklyn, Sarah was in private practice in New York City where her work focused on the representation of private colleges and universities. She has also held in-house positions at public universities in Michigan, Illinois, and New Jersey. 

Biree Andemariam, MD

Biree Andemariam, MD is a physician-scientist at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine (UConn) in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Founding Director of the New England Sickle Cell Institute (NESCI), and Director of the Connecticut Bleeding Disorders Center.  Dr. Andemariam is the past Chief Medical Officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. (SCDAA) and now serves on the Board of Directors. During her tenure at the SCDAA, she has been twice awarded the Chairman’s Award (2019, 2020) for her outstanding service centered around national programmatic development, disease education/awareness, legislative advocacy, corporate fundraising, and media engagement.

Janice Bacon, MD

Practicing OB/GYN at Lexington Women’s Care at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina. Her subspecialty certification is in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. She was also the past president of the North American Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG) as well as the past president of the South Atlantic Association of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. Dr. Bacon’s professional interests include pediatric and adolescent gynecology and contraceptive management.

Shannon Bates, MDCM, MSc, FRCPC, DRCPSC, FACP

Hematologist at Hamilton Health Sciences and an expert in thromboembolism. She completed her subspecialty training at McMaster University, where her research focuses on improving the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism, particularly in pregnancy and other underserved populations. Dr. Bates leads major multicenter studies funded by CIHR and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. She also chairs the American College of Chest Physicians’ guidelines on VTE, thrombophilia, antithrombotic therapy, and pregnancy.

Ware Branch, MD

Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist at the University of Utah, Dr. Branch is best known for his work in autoimmune disease in pregnancy, particularly antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). He has held several administrative roles within the Department of OB-GYN at the University of Utah and has been the Chair of OB-GYN at two clinically affiliated hospitals.  His clinical and research interests include recurrent pregnancy loss, stillbirth, diabetes in pregnancy, thrombosis in pregnancy, bleeding disorders in pregnancy, and placenta accreta spectrum disorder.

Meera Chitlur, MD

Professor of Pediatrics at Central Michigan University and Barnhart-Lusher Hemostasis Research Endowed Chair at Wayne State University, Dr. Chitlur serves as the Director of the Hemostasis Treatment Center and the Jeanne M. Lusher Special Coagulation Laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. She is currently working on modalities to improve the education of providers and patients with regards to menstruation, the development of guidelines for better management and diagnosis, and addressing period poverty both from the education aspect as well as product procurement.

Kristin Paulyson-Nuñez, MS, CGC

Kristin is a board-certified Genetic Counselor (CGC) with over 30 years of experience. She is a Senior Genetic Counselor within Duke Women’s & Children’s Services, providing clinical expertise to Duke’s Hemostasis and Thrombosis Center and the Divisions of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology/Fertility, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and Adult Hematology. Kristin has developed a specialty and passion for hematological conditions, particularly around genetic testing, prenatal diagnosis, fertility, and preimplantation genetic testing as well as perinatal bereavement. She served as Director and Past President for the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC).

Ravindra Sarode, MD

Chief of Pathology and Professor of Pathology, as well as the Medical Director of Clinical Laboratory Services and the Medical Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine and Hemostasis at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Current focal areas of his work include apheresis, platelet dysfunction, hypercoagulability, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Endowed Title: John H. Childers, MD, Professorship in Pathology

Russell E. Ware, MD, PhD

Director, Division of Hematology at Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Ware is also the Institute Co-Executive Director of the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute and the Director of the Global Health Center. Dr. Ware has been involved with a wide variety of clinical and translational hematology research projects for 25 years, however, his primary interests have focused on sickle cell disease. He currently runs an NIH-funded laboratory effort investigating genetic modifiers of sickle cell disease.