Rob Purdie

President and Founding Member, MyCARE
Coccidioidal Meningitis (Valley Fever/Cocci Meningitis) Patient
Midland Texas

Rob Purdie is a husband and father who was diagnosed with Cocci Meningitis in 2012, the most severe type of Valley Fever. Rob relies on daily antifungals to control his disease and has used his experience to help other patients and become a leading fungal disease patient advocate.

In 2023 Rob co-founded MyCARE, the first patient led, pan fungal nonprofit; with a goal to bring fungal patients together to share knowledge and experiences and advocate for better care and increased research for their diseases. Rob is becoming a sought-after speaker and key opinion leader in the fungal and AMR communities. Rob’s legislative efforts have included work on state and federal legislation and appropriations to support fungal research and awareness.

He is a frequent invited speaker and moderator at national and international conferences including ESCMID Global, the World AMR Congress, ASM Microbe, TIMM, and the Sepsis Alliance AMR Conference. His advocacy and policy work have been featured in national and international media such as The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Fox News, and CNN.

Rob is also a member of the WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors and is part of the workgroup developing a Fungal Priority Pathogen List blueprint to provide guidelines to address the pathogens on the list that was created by the WHO in 2022.

Rob continues to lead efforts to integrate patient perspectives into research design, policy development, and health systems, ensuring that individuals and families affected by fungal diseases are recognized as essential partners in improving outcomes and shaping the global response to mycotic infections.

Lisa A Tushla, PhD, H(ASCP)

Treasure and Founding Member, MyCARE
Managing Director, Integrita Healthcare Education Foundation
President, Terranova Medica, LLC
Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Dr Lisa A. Tushla is a Founding Member of MyCARE and a managing director at Integrita Healthcare Education Foundation. She is also a president of Terranova Medica, LLC, a medical education and communication company based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In a career spanning over 25 years, Lisa has demonstrated a true vocation for medical education and advocacy, particularly in the fields of infectious diseases and oncology. A physiologist by training with more than 6 years of experience in clinical hematology, Lisa’s primary area of research interest has been in host defense mechanisms and the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory processes in acute lung injury. Lisa also completed postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, including research peptide mimicry of HIV epitopes, followed by work on defensins at New York University.

Lisa has successfully participated in the launch and maintenance of medical education startups, including PharmAdura, LLC (currently Paradigm Medical Communications) in 2003—growing the award-winning CME unit and taking the company through accreditation. With a move to the West Coast in 2007, Lisa subsequently joined Quest MedEd, LLC, an innovative company focusing on high-quality E-learning activities, primarily in the field of hematology/oncology. Capitalizing on that experience, Lisa launched Terranova in the fall of 2009, and the company has delivered a variety of educational initiatives in live, print, and web-based formats. Since 2010, Terranova has successfully launched dozens of activities on invasive fungal infections in collaboration with the MSGERC, among other partners. In addition, Terranova has spearheaded multiple oncology-focused initiatives in collaboration with advocacy organizations that address supportive care issues (such as management of infectious complications), including http://themelanomanurse.org, http://aimwithimmunotherapy.org, and skincancerinfo.org. Lisa is excited by the opportunity to apply the learnings from Terranova’s advocacy work in oncology to MyCARE.

Lisa’s commitment to patient advocacy for underserved diseases was strengthened in 2020, when she was diagnosed with an in situ nail matrix melanoma. Despite Lisa’s deep connections in the melanoma field, she found the navigation of treatment options challenging for this rare malignancy. She is pleased to help build community and resources around fungal diseases.

Tom Davis, BS

Board Member at Large and Founding Member, MyCARE
Managing Director, Integrita Healthcare Education Foundation
Chief Operations Officer, Terranova Medica, LLC
Based in Ojai, California

Tom is a leading expert in the field of business transformation for companies engaged in the growth or creative stage of their life cycle. He has worked with countless companies, from those on the Fortune 500 to relative unknowns and start-ups as well as being a part of being a founding member of MyCARE.

Prior to joining the Terranova Medica team in late 2009, Tom had been a serial entrepreneur. With an educational background in information and computer science, economics, and philosophy, Tom founded Information Works, an Information Design and Development company, in 1996. Based on his experience delivering solutions that offered captivating designs coupled with tangible sales and marketing results, Tom founded the highly successful Elite Products Group in early 1999. It was at Elite Products Group that Tom helped pioneer the comprehensive online traffic and sales analysis system that allowed Elite to become one of the most coveted online distribution channels of the early 2000s.

Most recently, he had redefined business transformation by establishing Fluidity Partners, which works with growing businesses to leverage ideas and solutions across the areas of business development, design services, sales consulting, and marketing and strategic analysis. Tom’s understanding of business far surpasses that of a typical director. He truly understands what it takes to start, grow, and maintain successful companies and brings those strengths to Terranova as a whole, as well as each initiative he is involved in.

Tom’s personal connection to mycology and his younger brother’s battle with coccidioidomycosis presented him with profound challenges that ultimately spurred him into patient advocacy. Witnessing his brother’s struggle with this fungal infection highlighted the inadequacies and complexities of the healthcare system when it comes to treating such conditions. Tom witnessed his brother and parents confronting numerous challenges along the way, including misdiagnosis, limited treatment options, and a lack of public awareness about this disease. These obstacles motivated him to act, becoming a passionate advocate for patients affected by mycological diseases. Through these advocacy efforts, Tom strives to raise awareness, improve access to accurate diagnosis and specialized treatment, and support research initiatives. His personal experience ignited a deep sense of purpose, empowering him to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those affected by similar challenges.

Andrej Spec, MD, MSCI

Board Member at Large and Founding Member, MyCARE
Professor of Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Founder and Co-Director, Invasive Fungal Infections Clinic
Section Direction, Transplant Infectious Disease
Deputy Editor, Open Forum Infectious Disease
Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri

Dr. Andrej Spec is Professor of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, and a Fellow of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (FECMM) and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). He is also a founding member of MyCARE and continues to serve on the board. He also serves on the board of the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium. His personal mission statement is to reduce the suffering caused by fungal infections worldwide, both through direct clinical care, patient-driven and focused research, and advocacy.

Dr. Spec’s research focuses on fungal infections caused by Cryptococcus, Histoplasma, and Candida, particularly in immunocompromised patients, including transplant recipients. He studies the epidemiology and factors that affect outcomes in patients infected with fungi. His research is designed with patients’ help and driven by one objective: “Will this study make somebody’s life better in the next 2 years?” That research is broad in methodology, including randomized controlled trials, retrospective studies, prospective cohorts, and administrative “big data” research. Anything that has the potential to improve patients’ lives is used.

Dr. Spec also oversees the division’s clinic that focuses on invasive fungal infections. This has grown from a small clinic focusing on very complex patients to a Diamond Level Center of Clinical Excellence, and in the last year has seen patients from 41 states and 5 countries. There, he cares for both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients with fungal infections, which he considers the best and most rewarding part of his job.

Dr. Spec has been working behind the scenes for years to help formulate an approach to patient advocacy for his patients with fungal infections. He is thrilled to see MyCARE launch and looks forward to helping with its efforts.

Patrick Mazi MD, MSCI

Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine
Department of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Mazi’s journey to becoming a physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal infections was circuitous. Despite the seemingly random assortment of life experiences, fungi have been a common thread throughout Mazi’s life.

As a high school and college wrestler and later as a high school wrestling coach, Tinea corporis (a fungal infection commonly called ringworm) was the scourge of an uncleaned wrestling mat. As a Peace Corps Volunteer stationed in Jamaica, Mazi observed the beautiful bioluminescent mushroom Neonothopanus species as well as the deadly effect of chytridiomycosis on island amphibians. During residency training in Wisconsin, Mazi was frustrated by the poor diagnostic testing and treatment options for patients diagnosed with blastomycosis. This final experience was the driving force for Mazi to pursue Infectious Disease fellowship and later focus their research efforts on improving clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with invasive fungal infections.

Mazi completed two medical fellowships–infectious diseases & critical care medicine– so they could care for patients afflicted with fungal infections across the clinical spectrum, from the ICU to the outpatient clinic. Mazi has participated in several antifungal clinical trials and is part of the Washington University Mycoses Group that studies fungal infections.

While much of Mazi’s professional time is spent fighting fungal infections, they believe that fungi can also do enormous good for the world. Fungi are responsible for some of the best things in life. As Mazi would say, ” Fun with fermentation.” Cheese, miso, chocolate, gochujang, bread, and huitlacoche are all fermented foods that owe their amazing flavors to fungal fermentation.  To practice what they preach, Mazi enjoys baking, brewing beer, hunting for Morrells and other edible mushrooms.

Robert Horne

Robert Horne has over two decades of experience working with business executives, non-profits, states and the federal government. Robert is a nationally published author with over 40 articles including pieces featured in Harvard Law School’s Bill of Health and Health Affairs. He specializes in creating new ideas and thinking ahead on issues of markets and policy including but not limited to healthcare.

He spent 10 years working on Capitol Hill as professional staff on the House Energy and Commerce Committee under Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and as senior health policy adviser to Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-GA). During his tenure he helped author numerous laws affecting the Medicare program, FDA for digital health/drugs/medical devices, the NIH, and Public Service Act.

Robert has extensive expertise in a range of health policy areas including FDA regulatory policy, digital health technology, and payment and delivery transformation. Robert has developed some of the most consequential laws and regulations governing the health care market including the Medicare Physician Payment System (known as MACRA), nearly 50% of the 21st Century Cures Act, laws governing how the FDA regulates software as a medical device at the FDA, and the information blocking laws related to the electronic exchange of health information.

Robert Horne is now the President and Managing Partner of Forest Hill Labs. Robert began his career in the Ohio House of Representatives where he served as the Chief Counsel to the Committee on Health.

Tom Chiller MD MPHTM

Tom Chiller MD MPHTM is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Vice President of Strategic Innovation at IMMY (Immuno-Mycologics, Inc.), a US-based IVD manufacturer dedicated to saving lives through the development and distribution of innovative diagnostic solutions for fungal diseases. Dr Chiller is also a member of the board of Global Action For Fungal Infections (GAFFI) the only global NGO dedicated to fungal diseases.  Prior to his recent appointment at Immy, Dr. Chiller served as Chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and spent 25 years at the CDC, where he led national and international efforts to detect, prevent, and respond to fungal infections. His work at CDC included spearheading the development of surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, and policy frameworks that have shaped fungal disease response worldwide. Dr Chiller received his MD and MPHTM at Tulane Medical School and did his residency at UT Southwestern/Parkland Hospital and his infectious diseases fellowship at Stanford.