Wilson Disease Association Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Jean P. Perog, President
Merritt, B.C. Canada
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jean is a retired CPA living in Merritt, British Columbia. She has WD and has a brother with WD. Jean also served as Treasurer of the Wilson Disease Association and is an active volunteer in her community.
Rachel Albert, Vice President
Middlebury, Connecticut
Carol Terry, Secretary
Hampton, VA
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Carol graduated from the University of Utah in 1976 with a B.A. degree in Accounting, and retired from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with 31 years Federal government service in September 2002. Since retirement, she does part-time consulting work as an Associate with Brown, Williams, Moorhead & Quinn. She was diagnosed in 1973 with Wilson's disease, which resulted in neurological impairment. She was misdiagnosed for almost two years, and her experience has been documented in an article she wrote which was published in the American Journal of Nursing, as well as an article written about her by Berton Roueche for New Yorker magazine. She helped found the Wilson's Disease Association in 1982 and served as its President for ten years. She has also served as Vice-President and Treasurer.
Mary L. Graper, Vice President of Scientific Affairs
Milwaukee, WI
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mary has over 25 years experience as a volunteer leader, and is recognized for her creativity, organizational and leadership skills. She holds a B.S. degree in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She owns and manages investment real estate in Wisconsin along with her husband. Two of her three children are Wilson's patients. Mary joined the WDA Board of Directors in 2000.
Steve Walsh, Treasurer
Boulder, Colorado
Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado and has a daughter with WD. He went to college at the University of Colorado and graduated with a B.S. in finance.
Members of the Board
Marianne Collins
Marianne has been very interested and somewhat involved in the WDA since late 2010 when her youngest son, Alex, was diagnosed with Wilson's at the age of 21. She has been on the Core Committee for the WDA Big WOW and has held Big WOW walks in the Raleigh/Durham area for the past 3 years. She has a passion for raising awareness and funding for Wilson's.
Marianne has a BS in Zoology from NC State University and a Masters of Clinical Laboratory Science from Duke University. She was a clinical laboratory scientist at Duke University Medical Center in Hospital Labs where she ironically performed laboratory testing including ceruloplasmin, liver function tests and serum and urine copper levels for Wilson's Disease patients back in the 1980s. She recently retired from NC State as a Strategic IT Manager in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. Student Health is one of the departments she supported, diagnosed two students with WD, as she was instrumental in bringing awareness of Wilson's Disease to the doctors on staff due to personal friendships with the doctors.
Patti Paulin
Jeanne A Friedman, LCSW
Kew Gardens, New York
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Judi Keller, Executive Director
Board Members At Large
Drew Katz
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Drew Katz created his Foundation as a vehicle to support causes near to his heart. The Drew A. Katz Foundation is dedicated to supporting programs and organizations that provide a direct and measurable benefit in many challenging areas including but not limited to organizations addressing medical, educational, social, emotional, and cultural needs of those less fortunate. Since its inception in 2003, the foundation has contributed in excess of $1,000,000 to over over 225 non-profit organizations.
Mr. Katz is currently a board member of the International Board of Covenant House, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, and Wilson Disease Association International. He is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council at Stanford Law School. He is a former board member for Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts, Inc. He is the co-chairman for the annual Garry Maddox – Drew Katz Celebrity Bowling Classic. Since joining as co-chairman, in 2000, this event has raised over $3,000,000 for the Youth Golf and Academics program as well as for The Drew A. Katz Foundation. In January, 2010, Drew Katz, along with Tibet House US, began the groundwork to organize a global peace summit that will be hosted by the Dalai Lama and the Honorable Mayor Cory Booker, to be held in Newark, New Jersey, in May, 2011. Mr. Katz has served as a mentor to inner city youth for seven years in Manhattan through the Grand Street Settlement House's J.U.M.P. program.
Since 1999, Drew Katz has served as Chief Executive Officer of Interstate Outdoor Advertising, Inc. headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Mr. Katz is also a principal of Foster Interstate Media, Inc., a California-based company. Prior to successfully leading its sale to Och-Ziff Capital, Mr. Katz was the principal owner of Metro Lights, a national out-of-home media company. Mr. Katz began his outdoor advertising career in 1996 when he worked as a business development specialist for Transportation Displays, Inc., then the largest U.S. transit-based outdoor advertising company and now a subsidiary of CBS.
Mr. Katz graduated from George Washington University in 1993 and received his J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1996. He has worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark, New Jersey and for the Philadelphia Public Defender's Service. He resides in New York City and Philadelphia.
Patti Paulin, RN
Canton, Michigan
Patti Paulin has worked at University of Michigan for 30 years, 20 years in Neurosurgical ICU and floated to ER as a contingent Nurse. She has worked for the last 10 years in Liver Transplant Clinic and have been the Wilson Disease Nurse Coordinator.
