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    The Patient Champions

    Advisory Board

The Patient Champions Advisory Board is comprised of pathologists, laboratory professionals, and public members who collaborate with the ASCP Patient Champions team to shape the vision and strategy of the Patient Champions program. Board members guide the strategic direction, help determine potential partner organizations, identify events and conferences to help promote our Champions, and review medical information for the program.

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Carlo Ledesma was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States armed with a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the University of Santo Tomas, in Manila. Over the years, Mr. Ledesma has worked in a university hospital and reference laboratories, and as an educator for laboratory programs. He shares his passion for hematology with students at local high schools through his volunteer role as an ASCP Career Ambassador. Currently, Mr. Ledesma is a program director for a medical laboratory technology and phlebotomy program at Rose State College in Midwest City, OK. Carlo’s professional experience in the lab includes dealing with special hematology. In this capacity, Carlo has seen firsthand the miracles of timely diagnosis and the impact of accurate laboratory results on patients’ lives.
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Cliff Sullivan works at Emory University where he specializes in Transfusion Medicine/Blood Banking and Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. His academic interests focus on optimizing laboratory testing and algorithms to improve patient care. Dr. Sullivan feels pathologists and laboratory professionals have a duty to educate fellow clinicians on laboratory utilization as well as patients on the fundamentals of the laboratory and its role in their care. One of his goals in patient advocacy is making patients aware of the existence of pathologists and medical technologists. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with friends while eating good food and drinking delicious cocktails.
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Deedee O’Brien is the Executive Director of Ironstone Farm and Challenge Unlimited, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a variety of therapeutic interventions using horses to people with disabilities and mental health issues. Her experiences as the final caregiver for her mother and her partner have taught her the importance of education, gathering second opinions, seeking different opinions, and advocating for loved ones. That empowerment made all the difference in their quality of life as their health deteriorated, and gave her the confidence to make decisions for herself when faced with her own illnesses. She is passionate about working to make that difference for others. She spends her leisure time sitting by the fireplace and reading a good book.
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Jeffrey Myers is A. James French Professor of Diagnostic Pathology, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and Quality, and Director of MLabs in the Department of Pathology at Michigan Medicine. Following residency training in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship with his mentor and lifelong friend, Anna-Luise Katzenstein, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he was a member of the Mayo Clinic staff in Rochester, Minnesota where he served for a decade as Division Chair in Anatomic Pathology. He has served in a number of leadership roles for national organizations and is Past President of the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology (ADASP) and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP). His interest in surgical pathology with a focus in thoracic pathology is complemented by a strong commitment to quality, safety, service excellence and innovation. His current focus is understanding the value of working directly with patients and families to transform their experience of care. Together with Michele Mitchell, a Patient and Family Advisor (PFA) in Michigan Medicine’s adult Patient and Family-Center Care (PFCC) program, he co-chairs the Department of Pathology’s Patient and Families Advisory Council (PFAC). Their vision is to create and nurture a patient and family-centered culture of diagnostic medicine and personalized pathology care.
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Lee H. Hilborne is a Senior Medical Director in Medical Affairs for Quest Diagnostics. He completed his MD degree from the University of California, San Diego and his residency in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Hilborne serves on a number of editorial boards and was a long-term member of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and president from 2007-2008. He was also a member of the AMA’s CPT Editorial Panel and now serves as ASCP advisor to CPT and co-chair of the Proprietary Laboratory Analysis (PLA) Technical Advisory Group (PLA-TAG). He previously served as the Quest Diagnostics’ medical director for the West Hills laboratory and national medical director for quality. He is also a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, at UCLA and was the Director of the UCLA Center for Patient Safety and Quality. He is also a consultant to the health program at RAND in Santa Monica. Dr. Hilborne has published many articles related to quality of care, medical appropriateness, and patient safety. He is passionate about patient safety and quality – making sure that patients get the right diagnostic tests at the right time and right cost – and strongly embraces the ASCP Patient Champions program so that non-laboratory individuals can learn more about the contributions of laboratory medicine to saving patient lives.
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Susan Graham has served as Associate Dean of the College of Health Professions at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York for seven years and held the position of Assistant Dean of the College for three years prior to that. She has also served as Chair and Program Director, Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, since 2002. Susan is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC), which provides excellence in certification of laboratory professionals on behalf of patients worldwide. She has been the proud recipient of the BOC Distinguished Service Award in 2014 and the ASCP Excellence in Education Award in 2017. Ms. Graham says that being involved with Patient Champions allows her to make the connection between the laboratory and the patients that the laboratory team serves. When you see the impact the lab has on the lives of patients and their families, working in the laboratory becomes incredibly meaningful.
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Tiffany Channer honed her skill and knowledge of blood banking at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, where she completed her 9-year tenure as Blood Bank Educational Lead Medical Technologist III/ Safety Officer. She’s currently working as a Technical Supervisor for OneBlood, Inc. at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Ms. Channer is an ASCP Career Ambassador and was named an ASCP Top Five 40 Under Forty honoree in 2015 for her dedication and advocacy relating to education and laboratory medicine. The Patient Champions initiative speaks to Ms. Channer’s core values of education and advocacy. By creating a platform for patients to share their stories, and sharing them on ASCP’s social networks, she believes we can educate millions about the laboratory’s vital role in diagnosis and prognosis of disease. Having patients be the voice of countless individuals suffering from different ailments can be empowering as well as therapeutic for these individuals.