Community Health Leaders
In order to stay up to date on latest treatments, drug discovery, clinical studies and how to manage endometriosis very day, Endometriosis.net brings you frequent articles, points of view and advice from leading health leaders and experts.
Current health leaders
Amber Blackburn, RN
Amber Blackburn is a Registered Nurse turned blogger and patient advocate for those with chronic illnesses. She was forced to leave the workforce after ten years as a nurse; this gave her the patient medical experience and perspective. Read more.
Alene L. Brennan, RYT
Alene Brennan overcame decades of health challenges and multiple autoimmune diseases – including endometriosis – through integrative healing. The experience of seeing just how powerful – and empowering – diet and lifestyle can be, changed the course of her health, life and career. Alene pursued the field professionally and now serves as a Nutrition Coach supporting others with migraines and autoimmune disease. She takes a “Less Pharm, More Table” approach to manage health. Read more.
Laken Brooks
Laken Brooks is a PhD English student at the University of Florida where she studies the intersections between technology, art, and healthcare. She grew up in a family of paramedics and ER nurses. Some of her interests include LGBTQ+ identity, disability, healthcare access in rural environments, health technologies, and storytelling. Read more.
Isabelle Carpenter
Isabelle is a half Taiwanese/Chinese illustrator based in Philadelphia. They graduated from Pittsburgh's Creating And Performing Arts School as a visual art major with a specialty in painting. Read more.
Kimberli Davino
Kimberli is a 30 something year old living with her husband and two fur babies by the beach. For as long as she can remember, she has struggled with health issues. The worry of ‘maybe I am just crazy’ crossed her mind numerous times, after leaving doctors’ offices with no answers. It was not until March of 2017 where she received the news “You do indeed have endometriosis”. It angered her that something she researched for so long, trying to get doctors to look at, went unnoticed for years. Read more.
Leanne Donaldson
Leanne lives in Kentucky where she writes about living well with chronic illness on her blog, Smiles and Sundays. Diagnosed with endometriosis in her 20’s, she has since been blessed with 3 children who keep her very busy. Read more.
Jessica Duffin, WHC
Jessica Duffin is a podcaster, writer and founder of This Endo Life. Endometriosis robbed Jessica of her education, business and two careers. Throughout her life, she had endured a constant pattern of fatigue and burnout, eventually having to walk away from each chapter of her life, exhausted and assuming she too weak for the path she had chosen. Read more.
Jessa F
Jessa F is a writer based in the UK. Her first period came with a bang and a prolonged hospital stay. She spent years seeking answers from doctors, who performed every single test possible, concluding each time that it was “probably stress”. It was only until her thirties that a friend with endometriosis mentioned how their symptoms sounded very similar. Read more.
Shireen Hand
Shireen has lived with endometriosis since the age of 12. Now in her 30's, unable to work due to her health, Shireen juggles daily life and motherhood with writing over at EMLWY (Endometriosis: My Life With You). Read more.
Rebecca Ironside, MSPT
Becca Ironside is a physical therapist who specializes in the muscles of the pelvic floor. She fiercely promotes urinary, bowel and sexual health for all genders and loves writing as much as she does listening to the stories of others. Read more.
Laura Kiesel
Laura Kiesel is a freelance writer/journalist living in the Boston area. She has written for many well-known media outlets including The Guardian, The Atlantic, Salon, Healthline, Headspace, Harvard Health blog and others. Read more.
Christina (Endo Warrior) Koch
Christina Koch (Endo Warrior) spent 16 years of her life enduring crippling menstrual pain with various doctors telling her that this was normal. After suffering a miscarriage at the age of 28, she developed abdominal pain which resulted in a laparoscopy. Read more.
Katrina Martin
Katrina is a queer nonbinary person who is passionate about advocating for queer, trans, and nonbinary folks with endometriosis. Katrina was first diagnosed with endometriosis in 2009 and has since had four surgeries for the condition. In 2020, they were diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis and had a bilateral oophorectomy as well as a bilateral ovariectomy. Read more.
Brooke Morton
Brooke Morton is a freelance writer and realtor based in Orlando, Florida. She has been dealing with endometriosis since 2005, and shares her experiences so that others feel less alone in their journeys. Read more.
Chris Robson
Chris lives in southeast England with his partner who has endometriosis. They manage the condition as a team, support each other through its challenges, and work together to find ways to improve its symptoms. Read more.
Keri Wiginton
Keri is a journalist with a focus on health and wellness. Now in her 40s, she was surgically diagnosed with endometriosis when she was 24, more than a decade after her period pain started. Read more.
Amanda Workman
Amanda Workman’s experiences with endometriosis started when she was only 14 years old. When her symptoms started, it was during a time period that doctors did not believe somebody so young could even have Endometriosis. Read more.
Former health leaders
Jessica Barnack-Tavaris
Jessica is a psychology professor who studies the psychosocial aspects of reproductive and sexual health. She earned her PhD in Experimental Social/Health Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Her current interest areas include attitudes toward menstruation, menstrual stigma, infertility, and the transition from infertility to motherhood. Read more.
Joanie Cox-Henry
Joanie Cox-Henry is a journalist and endo warrior who resides in Boca Raton, Florida. With more than 17 years of experience as a professional writer, Joanie has interviewed everyone from Jack Black, Kelly Osbourne and Joan Jett to Matt Damon, Adam Sandler, and Donald and Melania Trump. She regularly contributes to Endometriosis Foundation of America’s blog, The Blossom, Today Parenting, South Florida Parenting magazine, Delray Newspaper and many others including publishing her own parenting blog, Motherloading.com. Read more.
Fela M'tima Dunfee
Fela M’tima Dunfee is a 27 year old artist and writer from Chicago, IL. She was diagnosed with endometriosis at age 23. In the years following, she underwent handfuls of complex surgeries because of the extent of the disease. It had covered and intertwined organs like the bowels, bladder, uterus, ovaries, and diaphragm. Read more.
Meredith East-Powell, BHSc
Meredith is an accredited practising clinical nutritionist with a Bachelor of Health Science Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine. Meredith is also a qualified yoga teacher. Following Meredith’s endometriosis diagnosis in 2014, she improved her health through laparoscopic surgery, diet, yoga and meditation. Read more.
Janet Geddis
Janet Geddis, also known as The Migraine Girl, is a business owner as well as a longtime migraine patient advocate and essayist at migraine.com. She recently began writing for psoriatic-arthritis.com as well. In addition to writing about her struggles with chronic disease, Janet is a health consultant and professional speaker.Read more.
Erin Glace
Erin Glace, MSPT, PRPC, BCB-PMD. Erin is the clinical director of the Physical Therapy and Urodynamics departments at Urology of Virginia. She is a graduate of the University of Florida with her bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy and a graduate of Old Dominion University with an advanced master’s degree in Physical Therapy. Her sole focus of treatment is pelvic floor dysfunction and she has worked with the doctors at Urology of Virginia since 2000. Read more.
Andrea Gray
Andrea is 38 and lives in Lubbock, Texas. Andrea was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis at the age of 20. She has dealt with this disease her entire adult life and wants to share with others how she has coped (sometimes poorly) and what treatments she’s tried. Read more.
Thelma Griffin
At the age of 31 and childless, Thelma began having abdominal pains much worse than those during her menstrual cycle. Her OB/GYN’s examination revealed a mass and surgery was scheduled. At each consecutive checkup, the mass had grown just as Thelma’s fears had. Read more.
Maisha Z. Johnson
Maisha Z. Johnson is an award-winning writer who believes in honoring each person's unique path to healing. She has worked with survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence in the Bay Area. Read more.
Liz R. Lebowitz, RN
Elizabeth R. Lebowitz is a Registered Nurse for over forty years. She has worked in busy metropolitan Medical Centers in a variety of Nursing and Administrative positions. Her professional career began as a staff nurse, went on to be a Nurse Recruiter and Employment Manager of a large city hospital, to more recent position as the Lead School Nurse for a Long Island School District. Read more.
Lia Rone
Lia spent 14 years with misdiagnosed pain caused by Endometriosis. After seeing commercials on TV and reading about symptoms in magazines and online articles, she decided to ask her doctor about the possibility of being an endometriosis patient. Read more.
Skye Scarbrough Adv Dip Nut, Grad Dip Obesity, EDOC
I am a mum, stepmum, passionate wholefood cook and nutritionist. I am Australian, but have been living in Santiago, Chile for the last decade. I speak English and Spanish. Through my studies I have experience in integrative, human and public health nutrition. I currently work in private practice, mainly with women. My practice focuses on preconception, infertility, pregnancy and post-natal nutrition and health support. Read more.
Dr. Audrey Sheridan
I am a board-certified OBGYN doctor-turned-caretaker for my dad. I decided to pursue a medical career after a college year abroad in Nepal showed me the need for accessible, compassionate and thoughtful healthcare, especially for women. It’s been my privilege to have my patients share their stories with me. Read more.
Marisol Velez
Marisol Velez is a health writer in Philadelphia. The tremendous resilience of the human spirit as well as her love of research and multiculturalism led to a background in clinical psychology. Her experiences with endometriosis have motivated her to focus her writing on women’s health and sexual wellness. Read more.
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