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Community Health Leaders

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By Editorial Team

5 min read

In order to stay up to date on latest treatments, drug discovery, clinical studies and how to cope with hidradenitis suppurativa every day, HSDisease.com brings you frequent articles, points of view and advice from health leaders and experts.

Current health leaders

Gabriella Birzh

Gabriella Birzh is a 22 year old paralegal from New York City who hopes to attend law school in the near future. She was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa when she was 18 years old, after months of various doctors misdiagnosing her. Read more.

Cooper

Cooper Corvus (Or Coop, as their friends call them) is a chronically ill & disabled activist with a passion for advocacy, true crime, heating pads, and vegan junk food. They are a non-binary queer who uses She/They pronouns and lives in Toronto, Canada with her 4 rescued pets (2 cats and 2 dogs). Coop is a passionate person who loves music (She plays 10 different instruments) movies, art, and any book she can get her hands on. Read more.

Tamien Elder

Tamien Elder is a patient leader with a unique health journey who knows what it’s like to manage multiple health disruptions. Diagnosed with HS in her teenage years, followed by seborrheic dermatitis in her early twenties, it wasn’t until the age of 31 and subsequent diagnosis of Endometriosis in 2019. Read more.

Jasmine Espy

Jasmine "IVANNA" Espy is a journalist and filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan residing in Los Angeles County, California. IVANNA is a 27-year-old living with Hidradenitis Suppurativa. She was diagnosed at the tender age of 11. Since then, it's been her desire to spread awareness and advocate for the community. It's taken her over a decade to be able to speak out about living with HS, but she is finally here. Read more.

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Selina Ferragamo

Selina Ferragamo is a 25 year old librarian from Long Island, New York. Although she’s suffered from Hidradenitis Suppurativa since high school, she only first found out what it was when she needed to get her first surgery for it at age 22. 3 surgeries later, she still is suffering from HS and hopes to speak out about her experience living with it. Read more.

Chaz Frazier

Chaz Frazier is a sports broadcasting graduate from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Read more.

Chelsea Freund

Chelsea is like many patients with autoimmune diseases; where one lurks, others tag along as well. She was diagnosed with HS in 2017 after struggling and having symptoms for 9 years. She has had nearly every treatment listed for HS, and has a somewhat funny story about the “blue light.” Read more.

Mandira Harinath

Mandira Harinath is a 32-year-old freelance writer from India. She likes to write about topics related to health, nutrition, and lifestyle. Raised by a single mother and maternal grandmother, Mandira grew up in Bangalore, Karnataka. Read more.

Shatece Haynes

Shatece Haynes is a freelance writer, content creator and HS advocate currently living in Illinois. Even though she started developing symptoms of hidradenitis suppurativa back in 2010, she didn’t receive an official diagnosis until 2019. Read more.

Jessica Mangiaracina PA-C

Jessica Mangiaracina is a Dermatology Physician Associate practicing in Westchester New York. She diagnoses and treats general dermatologic disorders, conducts full body cancer screenings, performs skin biopsies, melanoma imaging, suturing, and wound care. Read more .

Brandi McCall

Brandi was diagnosed with HS around 25 years old, but remembers flaring as early as 16 years old. With an ever growing interest and passion in Eastern medicine she chooses to treat her stage 3 HS solely through acupuncture, herbs, and diet. Read more.

Crystal Moore

Crystal Moore aka Crystal Summerz is a content creator and activist. She was diagnosed with Hidradenitis Suppativa better known as (HS) at 12 years old. Then diagnosed with ADHD at 15 and type two diabetes at 28. After each of her diagnoses her life was altered a bit. Read more.

Isela Nataly

Isela is an HS warrior born and raised in Phoenix, AZ. She was 13 when symptoms began, but was not diagnosed until she was 17. Now in her mid-20’s, Isela is a social worker and victim advocate in her community. Read more.

Chelsea Perry

Chelsea is a holistic lifestyle blogger and Hidradenitis Suppurativa advocate who uses social media to bring awareness to chronic illness. With a Bachelor's degree in Public Health from the University of South Carolina, Chelsea's passion for health and wellness inspired her to create an online social platform to inspire others. Read more.

Rebecca Quinn

My name is Rebecca Quinn & I’m 24 years old and from a small village in county Donegal in Ireland. I have suffered from Hidradenitis Suppurativa since I was 13 years old but I didn’t receive I diagnosis until I was 21. Read more.

Kathryn Shusta

Kathryn Shusta is a social worker and health advocate. She is 28 years old and has had Hidradenitis Suppurativa since she was 10. Kathryn was diagnosed by a dermatologist when she was 17 years old and it was a huge relief to have a name for these symptoms. Read more.

Meera Thirtha

Meera Thirtha is a single mother and lives in India. When she was in her late thirties her husband passed away. With an ageing mother and a young daughter to care for, Meera had to work full-time to support the family. Read more.

Joey Torre

At the age of 18 was the age when Joey was diagnosed with Hidradenitis Suppurativa. Now, with more than 14-years of living with HS along with trying almost everything under the sun in hopes to attempt to properly manage this horrible life-long illness, Joey finally feels as if he has somewhat of a good grip on controlling his condition. Read more.

Former health leaders

Keevin Collier

Keevin Collier Sr. discovered his passion for the outdoors at a young and impressionable age. This connection to the outdoors kept him out of trouble as a teen and still influences his life's work today. In 2009 Collier was diagnosed with "HS" (Hidradenitis Suppurativa), a skin disease that lands in top 5 most painful conditions affecting xx number of people globally. Read more.

Tia Ivy

Tia Ivy is a patient advocate that has helped educate HS patients and bring awareness to the disease since 2018. In addition, Tia has used her experience to promote HS awareness in several social media campaigns. Read more.

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