World Diabetes Advocate Charles Mattocks is a published author with the American Diabetes Association and a Blue Circle Champion with the International Diabetes Federation. Charles is also a multiple award-winning director and is regularly seen on such major shows as CNN, Dr Oz, The Today Show and scores more, not just in the USA, but across the world. Charles has also produced the first ever diabetes docuseries featured on Discovery Life every Tuesday at 7pm, titled Reversed.

Charles has been a force in diabetes since he was diagnosed 8 years ago. Charles has created many engagements in diabetes ranging from the first ever diabetes RV tour with Shire Biopharmaceuticals to being a key note speaker for companies such as AZ and Blue Cross to documentaries on diabetes filmed around the world. Charles has worked with many countries on diabetes programs, ranging from the Caribbean Jamaica to India.
Being the nephew of the late reggae legend Bob Marley, Charles has been a tireless advocate for the people.

Shakir Cannon is a Civic Health Leader and Co-Founder of the Minority Coalition for Precision Medicine (MCPM), an emerging organization dedicated to the disbursement of health information literacy through a parallel education and awareness strategy performed within minority populated regions as determined by US Census data. Shakir is also an internationally recognized Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) patient and advocates who helps educate & spread awareness for SCD both as a public speaker and social media thought leader. Throughout his lifelong battle with the often debilitating and at times devastating disease, Shakir learned how crucial it is to remain educated and informed of the ever-evolving healthcare system. When President Obama released the Precision Medicine Initiative in 2015, Shakir became fascinated about learning about this exciting opportunity to, as put by the former President, “accelerate the process of discovering cures in ways that we’ve never seen before”. In November 2015, Shakir along with his business partner, Michael Friend, hosted a two-day event in Baltimore Maryland entitled “Sickle Cell Disease and Precision Medicine” to highlight sickle cell disease as one of our nation’s biggest health disparities while also beginning discussions on how future precision medicine practices could potentially provide much-needed hope for those who suffer from the inherited biomolecular illness. Representatives from the many governing health agencies were present, including Dr. Jo Handelsman the then Associate Director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who provided the Keynote Speech for this rather historic event. Shortly thereafter Shakir was invited to The White House for the Precision Medicine Summit of 2016 as the Minority Coalition for Precision Medicine was listed on The White House fact sheet for their community outreach, along with their sister organization, The Health Ministries Network (HMN), and collaborators The BioCollective. Shakir truly believes that through genomic medicine and upcoming genetic technologies, hereditary illnesses like sickle cell disease will one day be more effectively treated if not cured. Shakir’s lifelong mission is to achieve health equity for ethnically diverse populations throughout the United States.

Luke Rosen is the founder of KIF1A.ORG, INC. After his young daughter was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, Luke and his wife, Sally, started the foundation with a mission to drive science and discover a cure for Susannah’s disease, KIF1A. Connecting families and encouraging research, KIF1A.ORG is also active in policy regarding patient rights, shared data and access to genetic testing. A published author and teacher, Luke also brings to the rare disease community a background of advertising and public relations.

Ijmal Haider is the founder of Razi Blog and co-host of the web series ‘Help Us YYC’. Both are focused around advocating the importance of mental and physical well being while dealing with Chronic and Invisible Illnesses. Ijmal was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2015. He graduated with a degree in Urban Sociology, in 2011, his love and focus has always been on the importance of community and the importance of social interactions to create unity. This has been a practice he has followed through his career and life by traveling around the world and empirically studying community and culture, and now something he is practicing to raise awareness with UC and other invisible illnesses.

How do you #turnyourlyfeon?

Working on myself is important, balancing my diet, staying active, keeping up on mental fitness helps keeping that momentum to tackle life with Chronic Illness. Never stop fighting. In life I have had to come face to face with adversity on numerous occasions, I have had to fight the odds, and I have had to prove my worth and value. For me, turning my lyfe on is no different; nobody in this world will fight harder for you than you, so never stop fighting for yourself. Part of succeeding in that fight is surrounding yourself with a community to help you #turnyourlyfeon when you feel you can’t fight anymore, shedding your life of the unnecessary negativity, and having people who will encourage you to the finish line rather than weigh you down. Some days you may lack the positivity to #turnyourlyfeon but if you have a strong enough community around you they will pick you up when you’re down and heal you when you’re weak, and forgive you when you’re broken.

Aline Peach was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at two years old. Marketing expert, she decided five years ago to focus her work on Diabetes. She started sharing her life experiences on her blog and now she has a informative website named Clube do Diabetes and works as a CEO  at a start up, designing a digital platform to manage Diabetes.

Krystal is the co-founder of a cannabis health & wellness company, Kanabé Goods Co. After a long battle of being sick and overlooked, she was diagnosed with severe fistulizing Crohn’s disease in 2010. Her disease was presenting in atypical symptoms making it very hard to pinpoint, and after years of sickness and weight loss, her intestine was so damaged it resulted in many trips to the ER. With that, high doses of opioids and prednisone were the norm while waiting for a resection surgery. After the procedure, Krystal had been looking for balance in her life with the main goal being remission. She discovered medical cannabis was a great alternative to prescription pain medicine, and aided with the anxiety of dealing with a chronic illness. In 2016, she began making cannabis infused balms and oils to rub directly on pain points, or ingest as an alternative to smoking, and was able to use her personal marijuana license to develop these products that otherwise would not be found in regulated markets. These non-intoxicating methods of using cannabis spurred the idea that it can be used for health and wellness in everyday life; the same as taking a vitamin or using a muscle rub. She wanted to enable others suffering from IBD and other chronic illnesses the same relief she found with cannabis, thus Kanabé Goods Co. was born. Kanabé is bringing cannabis topicals, tinctures, and capsules to market with Canadian cannabis legalization in 2018 focusing on health and wellness rather than intoxication. Krystal’s hope is to empower others to be an advocate for their own health and wellness. She aims to educate on the benefits that cannabis products can offer as an add-on to traditional therapies for IBD.

A magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, Rebecca has lived in Manhattan for nearly 20 years, where she has worked as an Integrated Marketing Executive specializing in full service custom branded partnerships. After nearly a decade at Conde Nast Publishing group, she now focuses on conversation based digital tech innovations for e-commerce, fashion, retail and lifestyle brands such as eBay. In the 24 years since Rebecca was first diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis, she has undergone 6 major surgeries including the removal of her entire colon and creation of a j-pouch in 2016-2017. Rebecca is a staunch IBD awareness advocate and top national fundraiser, sitting 3 boards for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s: Young Professionals, Spin 4 and the Patient Education Advisory. In her free time Rebecca loves to exercise, travel, spend time with family and volunteer.

Tina Aswani Omprakash is a Crohn’s patient and award-winning patient expert and health advocate based out of New York City. She has had Crohn’s Disease for 15 years and has had numerous surgeries. Tina maintains a blog and advocacy platform called Own Your Crohn’s (http://ownyourcrohns.com) and recently co-founded IBDesis, a community for South Asians living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Her overarching aim is to normalize the rhetoric around chronic illnesses and disabilities in order to help diverse groups of patients own their ailments to live fuller, happier lives.

Via her writing, lobbying, social media advocacy, and speaking engagements, she spearheads public health causes, including those proposing research and creating awareness for IBD, life-saving ostomy surgery, gastroparesis, fistulizing disease, and initiatives supporting health equity for women and racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.

Tina is pursuing her master’s degree in Public Health at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. Additionally, she has spoken at many premier GI conferences and does freelance work for non-profits as well as ostomy manufacturers, in addition to pharmaceutical and digital health companies. Her aim is to help companies recognize disparities and unmet needs in minority health populations.

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation recognized Tina in 2021 for her phenomenal leadership and powerful impact on the IBD community with the Above & Beyond Volunteer Award. Tina’s blog was also recognized as a 2020 Best Blog by Healthline, and she was awarded the 2019 Healio Gastroenterology Disruptive Innovator Award by the American College of Gastroenterology for moving the needle on GI care for patients.

Michael B. Fensterstock is currently Managing Director of Sales, Marketing & Branding at Epicured, a healthcare company using food as medicine. Inventing since he was a child, Michael loves innovating and creating tangible value. Michael has started companies and has been CEO of a luxury lifestyle company he created. He has served as an advisor to technology companies and was #31 world ranked doubles squash player. He is actively involved in StreetSquash, an after-school youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring with squash instruction, community service, and mentoring.
Michael attended Bowdoin College where he played baseball, golf and captained the squash team and has guest lectured at Johns Hopkins University where he completed his MBA. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two sons.