Susan Waters, EDM, CAE is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Patients.  Dr. Waters has worked for professional associations for more than 30 years, and specializes in governance, board leadership development, strategic planning, and conflict management and trust building. She is president of Sextant Consulting and formerly served as chief executive officer of the San Francisco Medical Society, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the California Society of CPAs.

Charles Bond, Esq. is the founder of the American Association of Patients.  He has over 32 years experience in health law and policy, as a health care strategist, and as a writer.

Deryk Van Brunt, Ph.D. is senior vice president and most recently served as CEO and Chairman of eMedicine, a medical publishing company. Van Brunt teaches health informatics at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, and conducts research in the area of personal and community health information systems. He has authored articles and commentaries on health information management and communication technology, and serves on several health committees and advisory boards.

Karen Donelan, Sc.D. is the senior policy analyst.  She  is alsoSenior Scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. She is affiliated with the MGH Cancer Center and the MGH Institute of Health Policy.  Dr. Donelan is a survey researcher whose focus has been on assessments of health systems and services by consumers, patients, health professionals, employers, payers and other health stakeholders. She has led research efforts in more than 20 nations and health systems and has published extensively in major medical and health policy journals.

Larry Krames, M.D., is a retired otolaryngologist who recognized the need for illustrated, patient-centric, behavior-based education.  His lifelong interest in art, coupled with this need, led him to found Krames Communications over 30 years ago.  Dr. Krames’ comic-book like educational works are distributed to over 40 million patients and healthcare consumers each year.