Patty Kerrigan
President/Executive Director
Patricia M Kerrigan, PhD is the Founder of ThinkAgain. With an extensive background in special education, she is an early intervention specialist for the division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Neurosurgery at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. Dr. Kerrigan served as a special education teacher in a psychiatric unit at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and also at the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital at UCLA. She earned her Masters degree in School Administration/Special Education from National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, and her Doctorate in Psychological Studies in Special Education from UCLA.
Her primary interest is in the developmental effects of acquired brain injury on the ability to learn. She counsels children as they go through cancer and brain tumor treatment, continually monitors their cognitive, academic and social functioning, and helps them to successfully re-integrate back into school following treatment. Through her work at UCLA, she discovered pediatric cancer patients were suffering newly acquired cognitive, motor and sensory deficits following treatment. Services in schools are limited in their ability to address and remediate these disorders, and therapies are either denied or insufficiently covered by medical insurance. ThinkAgain was created to fill this gap, so these children can now get the therapies they need in order to successfully get back to school, back to their friends, free of their cancer, and free from disabilities that prevent them from living successful lives "after" cancer.
Kellie Richmond
Director
Kellie Richmond is the proud parent of a brain tumor survivor, and currently works as a Distribution Outage Coordinator at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Kellie is the Vice President of the Centennial High School Association of Parents, CHAPS, a parent sponsored organization committed to raising money and funding Students academic endeavors.
Kellie is also an active member of the Women's Network Employee Resource Association at Pacific Gas and Electric. The Women’s Network is dedicated to increasing communication among employees, company leaders, and community organizations. The group sponsors programs benefitting the community at large and provides a forum for discussing workplace issues.
Kellie is very grateful and passionate about raising awareness for ThinkAgain. She is committed to helping this organization grow nationally so they can serve every child referred to them for treatment-related rehabilitation needs.
Kellie lives in Bakersfield with her husband Mike and their two children, Derrick and Jenna.
LaVette Bowles NP
Director
LaVette Bowles is a Nurse Practitioner at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, and takes great pride in the outcomes of our patients and the work she does with the UCLA Bone Marrow Transplant Program. She sees first hand the needs following treatment, as she is also heavily involved in the late effects long-term-follow up clinic, where she continues to care for her patients into young adulthood. "When I first started in 1990 there were few options available for relapsed cancers, sickle cell disease, leukodystrophy or aplastic anemias. Now we’re doing STEM cell transplants and Bone Marrow Transplants for those patients, which are saving their lives. We are seeing some exciting things with genetic disorders and immunological disorders. We have a lot of great, successful stories. Patients are living, going to college, getting married and living their best lives".
Jill Bennet
Director
Jill Bennett is a graduate of the University of Akron with a B.S. in Accounting and CPA certification. She is Vice President of Business Administration at Ports America in San Pedro.
Prior to joining Ports America, Jill worked in Afghanistan for a large Department of State contract which trained the Afghan National Police. In this capacity, she had the opportunity and privilege to manage and mentor employees from many different countries.
She successfully developed multi-national, cohesive, collaborative and high-functioning teams of employees who continue to work successfully throughout the world.
Jill is excited to work with ThinkAgain! and be a part of an organization focused on helping patients realize their full potential. Jill lives in Los Angeles and is the mother of three grown sons.
Kelli Arenson
Director
Kelli Arenson has been the resident of Oak Park, California for 24 years. She has been married to Robbie Arenson and they have 2 kids. Their son Bryce, a 22-year-old cancer survivor) will be attending grad school in the fall at Claremont. Their daughter Brooke is 21 and a junior at SDSU. She also volunteered at her children's schools, from helping out in the classroom, helping with field trips, and fundraising. Kelli has been involved in the Relay for Life events from 2000-2014. She was captain and organized Team Bryce-Kicking this Cancer’s Butt! She was also involved in Hoops for a Cure for pancreatic cancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; A family fundraiser that they started in memory of Nathan Arenson, her father-in-law, which existed from 1996-2015. She has attended Foundation Think Again fundraisers for the past 6 years. In her free time, she loves spending time outdoors hiking and running. She has hiked Mount Whitney and Half Dome and ran in the LA Marathon in 2016. Kelli originally met Patty at UCLA where her son was being treated for cancer. Patty has helped her family in so many ways over the years. She knows that after cancer treatment there is more support that is needed to help kids lead a full life. Because of Kelli’s personal experience with cancer, she is very passionate about helping for this amazing cause for children.
Shelley Bay
Community Outreach Coordinator
Shelley Bay worked in the aerospace industry negotiating international commercial satellite contracts, primarily in Asia. She also negotiated a unique contract to re-boost a stranded Intelsat satellite into its proper orbit via NASA astronauts, and another contract to manufacture the only satellite sold to Russia by an American contractor. She is experienced in proposal preparation, contract negotiations, presentations, operations, business development, and special projects for established and start-up organizations such as Boeing Digital Cinema. Shelley’s career also included working with LinQuest, Litton Aero Products, and Investor’s Business Daily. Currently she provides consulting services to her family real estate business, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Shelley has vetted Greater Los Angeles-based, non-profit organizations that seek grants from Boeing, her former employer. Shelley is a graduate of Stephens College with a BA in Business Administration and of Thunderbird School of Global Management with an MBA in International Management.
John D. Martin
Past Director
John D. Martin has worked in the entertainment industry for over 25 years at various companies including MGM, 3 Arts Entertainment, HBO Independent Productions, and Starz. His responsibilities have included the development of new projects, current programming oversight, business, and legal affairs, publicity, marketing, and awards campaigns. Over the course of his career, he has worked on Everybody Loves Raymond, Martin, The Ben Stiller Show, Outlander, Power, Survivor's Remorse and Black Sails. He has supported the work of Foundation ThinkAgain for many years and was a major asset to our organization. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of LAMP Community, a Skid Row homeless advocacy organization that provides permanent supportive housing to the homeless.
Laura Martin Charles
Past Director
Laura Martin Charles ✞ (1952-2011) was a fundraising consultant who has advised and directed many non-profit organizations in major gifts fundraising, special events, corporate fundraising, and foundation grants. She has worked with many universities (Loyola University Chicago and Oregon Health and Sciences University), medical schools and centers, American Diabetes Association and the Los Angeles Alzheimer’s Association, the international relief organization CARE and most recently the animal sanctuary, Best Friends. Laura has a sincere and committed interest in the health and well-being of children. She worked for and served on the Board of Trustees for Park Century School, a school for children with learning disabilities. Laura earned a B.A. from UCLA and lived in Beverly Hills with her husband Alan Charles. Laura was very instrumental in the development of ThinkAgain, and with great affection, we continue to honor her wisdom, great kindness, contribution, and legacy.
Founding Medical Advisory Board :
Jorge Lazareff, MD: Retired Director of UCLA Pediatric Neuro-surgery and Brain Tumor Program.
Satiro De Oliveira, M.D. Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Clinical and Translational Research in Gene Therapy and Cancer Immunotherapy
Ted B. Moore, MD: Professor of Pediatrics, Clinical Director and Director of the UCLA Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant Program.
Jacqueline Casillas, MD, MSHS: Assistant Professor of UCLA Pediatrics, Director of the Life After Cancer Clinic, Long Term Effects, and Cancer Survivorship Center.
Sharon Grandinette, MS Ed, CBIST: Brain Injury Specialist.
La Vette Bowles, MN, FNP-BC: Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Case Manager: Pediatric Neuro-oncology Program, and UCLA Life after Cancer Clinic.
Susan L. Smalley, PhD, Professor of psychiatry and founding director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Barbara Klein, EdD, PhD: Educational Consultant who has written numerous books on child psychology and education.
Odie Bracy, PhD HSPP: Clinical Neuropsychologist; Director Neuroscience Center of Indianapolis; President and Founder of Psychological Software Services.
Gigi McMillan: Consultant to “We Can” Pediatric Brain Tumor Network, Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, Cedars-Sinai Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee, and the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protection.
Community Outreach Advisors:
Kyza Williamson
Taylor Wheelon Marano
Michelle Arroyo
Tina Oswald
Sonia Bravo
Alejandra Mendez
Alicia Mendez
Michael Kojin
Ulises Magana
Suzie Navarro
Rob Martin
Mary Cronin
Maile Navarro
Alan David
Courtney Kerrigan
Dr. Johnna West, D.C.
Thomas Clark
John Maclaren
John Martin
Tommy Zorc
Skarlet Barsegyan
Tina Salvo
Sherry Graves
Web Site Management :
Queerine Prawirasuta