Meet our Board of Directors

Christopher K. Ralston, JD, is a partner and practice coordinator in the New Orleans litigation practice at Phelps. Mr. Ralston handles a range of commercial litigation and focuses in the areas of antitrust law, business torts, trade secret litigation and contract disputes, tax litigation, securities litigation and arbitration, direct selling, and intellectual property litigation. He also serves as a part of the firm’s appellate practice, having had successful appeals at all five of the Louisiana Courts of Appeal as well as at the Fifth, Tenth and the Federal Circuit of the federal Courts of Appeal. He earned his law degree from Tulane Law School and his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary. After law school, he served as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon.

Mr. Ralston’s work in the legal field has received recognition in numerous forms: In 2012, he was named to the New Orleans City Business Leadership in Law Hall of Fame; in 2016, he received both the Federal Bar Association’s New Orleans Chapter President’s Award and the Louisiana State Bar Association’s President’s Award; in 2013 and 2016, he received the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s President’s Award; and in 2021, he received the David A. Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association. Mr. Ralston is recognized by many peer review publications, including Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Louisiana Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, Marquis Who's Who in America for Excellence in Law, and New Orleans Magazine.

After recognizing the devastating impact of diabetes in New Orleans, Mr. Ralston joined the ADA’s New Orleans Community Leadership Board (CLB) in 2009, and he has served as Chair of the CLB since 2014. He has served in several national and local volunteer roles, including as Chairman of the ADA’s National Board of Directors from 2021-2022 and on the National Board of Directors since 2018. In 2011, Mr. Ralston was awarded the ADA’s National Chair’s Citation, the seventh time the honor was bestowed in the ADA’s history, for raising awareness about the prevalence of diabetes in Louisiana through his walk of 300 miles in 10 days across Louisiana.

Charles D. “Chuck” Henderson is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Diabetes Association® (ADA).

Chuck joined the ADA in January 2020 after spending 24-plus years in for-profit sectors and volunteering in the non-profit sector. Philanthropy and Sales/Fundraising are threaded through the fabric of his DNA. Chuck comes to the ADA from Champion Life Safety Solutions where he was CEO and President. Before that, he was a Field Sales Executive running multi-billion-dollar territories across the country for Dell Healthcare, Common ground Marketing (including executing special events in the field), and Viacom. His professional skill set and success, coupled with his passion and desire to give back, make this a perfect time to lead a non-profit organization. He is passionate about spending the balance of his career in a space that will make a significant impact on the lives of millions across the country.

Chuck is skilled in building trusted and collegial working relationships, relationship selling/fundraising, driving productivity, leading, and supporting change-management initiatives. He has deep experience developing best-of-breed, solution-selling leaders who think as strategic business partners, with a culture of winning as a team and over-delivering results.

A native Texan, Chuck has a strong commitment to his family, community, and church. An avid golfer, Chuck is also involved with his alma mater, Texas A&M where he serves on boards and leverages his professional skills to raise money for the school in different capacities. When he is not working on fundraising for A&M causes, he is working on raising capital funds for his church, where he serves on the Board of Trustees. Chuck is married to his beautiful wife Courtney, and together they have a bright teenage daughter, Charlie.

An ardent cyclist, Robin sets the healthy-living-standard for his colleagues by regularly traveling on two wheels. His daily commute takes him across the mighty Columbia River, to and from his home in Washington state. As a senior vice president at Moda, Robin leads the organization’s key Medicare and Medicaid departments. He is also responsible for Moda’s major state accounts, including the Oregon Educators Benefit Board, the Public Employees Retirement System, the Public Employees Benefit Board, and all strategic Systems of Care initiatives. 

Among his many innovations at Moda, Robin was the founder and continues to be the chairman of the Board of the Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (EOCCO) and the co-founder of the Portland Metropolitan region’s Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Integrated Delivery System (OHSU IDS). Combined, the organizations serve over 120,000 Medicaid members. Both organizations were formed to operate under a global budget incorporating value based payment methodologies, to have accountability for meeting specific quality metrics, and to recognize and address social determinants of health. Robin also established the NW Prescription Drug Consortium, pooling prescription drug purchasing and lowering costs, especially for the uninsured and underinsured, throughout Oregon and Washington. A graduate of Oregon State University, Robin is also a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Dr. Rita Rastogi Kalyani is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She has a national and international reputation as a clinician-investigator conducting epidemiological and patient-oriented research focused on the geriatric and cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Dr. Kalyani’s work has led to fundamental discoveries regarding the development of skeletal muscle loss, physical disability, and frailty in diabetes. She has spearheaded studies investigating sex differences in cardiovascular disease and diabetes which have influenced primary prevention guidelines. Dr. Kalyani has served as PI or Core Director for multiple research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

A graduate of Harvard College, she completed all of her medical training at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Kalyani has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including a pivotal review on contemporary treatments for type 2 diabetes published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She founded and serves as Director of the Diabetes Management Service for the Johns Hopkins Total Pancreatectomy Islet Auto Transplant program.

Dr. Kalyani has been a dedicated ADA volunteer for two decades and served on multiple committees. Notably, she was Chair of the ADA’s Professional Practice Committee, responsible for overseeing the ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes—2018. Dr. Kalyani has served as President of ADA Maryland’s Community Leadership Board. She was previously on the editorial board of Diabetes Care and is currently an Associate Editor for British Medical Journal Open Diabetes Research & Care.

Dr. Kalyani has coauthored two award-winning books for people with diabetes and  is Editor-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Patient Guide to Diabetes website. In recognition of her dedication to public awareness in support of the field of endocrinology, she was the recipient of the Endocrine Society’s Laureate Award for Outstanding Public Service in 2022.

Joshua J. Neumiller, PharmD, CDCES, FADCES, FASCP is Vice-Chair and Allen I. White Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy at Washington State University and Lead Pharmacist Researcher at Providence Medical Research Center in Spokane, Washington. Josh is past Editor-in-Chief for the ADA journal Diabetes Spectrum, co-Editor for the ADA book Medications for the Treatment of Diabetes, and author of Practical Insulin. Josh has served on multiple ADA committees and work groups and notably served as Chairman of the ADA’s Professional Practice Committee from 2018–2019, whose primary responsibility is revising the ADA Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes each year. Josh’s clinical, research, and service interests involve improving uptake and use of guideline-directed medical therapies in people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease, and he is an investigator with the Center for Kidney Disease Research, Education and Hope (CURE-CKD). Josh was recently named the 2024 ADA Outstanding Educator in Diabetes Award for his work in diabetes care, research, and education.

James’ broad health care experience spans a wide array of outpatient provider services for chronic diseases to life sciences venture capital. He is a managing partner for a life sciences venture capital fund and sits on the Board of Directors for a variety of innovative healthcare companies that aim to improve health equity and access for underserved communities. James is an advocate for combining innovations in healthcare technology with changes to public health policy in order to transform healthcare. He is currently the chair of both the ADA Innovation Committee and the ADA Finance Committee. 

Mario is CVS Health’s SVP and Chief Supply Chain & Logistics Officer. He is responsible for developing and executing the company’s strategy to transform their supply chain network to become America’s premier health and wellness destination. He leads a team of 10,000 colleagues in transportation & logistics, distribution center operations, inventory management, omnichannel fulfillment, network strategy & engineering, and profit protection servicing 10K stores and millions of customers.

Mario has more than two decades of experience in roles of increasing responsibility, primarily within the Healthcare industry—from MedTech to Life Sciences to Retail/Pharmacy. He has extensive leadership expertise driving business transformation globally including in the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Europe. 

Mario has led many different functions throughout his career, including P&L responsibility, with companies such as Target, Becton Dickinson, Danaher, and Integer Holdings, taking on roles in product development, product marketing, engineering, manufacturing, global sourcing, global planning, quality assurance, and project/program management. He has been instrumental in M&A due diligence and integration, bringing years of experience in technology transfers, new site start-ups, site consolidations, and site expansions across the globe.

Mario holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Systems Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico, and a master’s in engineering from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Mario has lived in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States. He loves to travel and has visited more than 70 countries around the world, exploring and learning from different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. Mario is a huge basketball fan, loves spending time with his wife and kids, and enjoys scuba diving while on vacation with his family. 

Born and raised in Mexico, Mario is very proud of his Spanish and Latin American heritage and is committed to helping others advance their careers just like his mentors have inspired him.

Dr. A. Enrique Caballero is an Endocrinologist, Investigator and Educator. He is the Director of International Innovation Programs in the Office for External Education at Harvard Medical School (HMS) where he leads the development of education programs that benefit health care professionals and patients around the world. He is Associate Professor of Medicine at HMS. 

He is also the Director of Latino Diabetes Health in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension and Associate Scientist in the Division of Global Health Equity at the Brigham and Hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA. He is the Immediate Past Chair for the Health Care Disparities Committee at the American Diabetes Association. 

Dr. Caballero has had a strong and long commitment to help underserved populations. He founded the Latino Diabetes Initiative at the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Diabetes Program within the Spanish Clinic at the BWH, both affiliated with HMS.

His research interests include type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and management in racial/ethnic minorities. He has been a co-investigator of the National Diabetes Prevention Program, the LookAhead Program and the Diabetes Education Study, all sponsored by the NIH.  

Dr. Caballero has written numerous publications on diabetes in high-risk populations, the connection between diabetes clinical outcomes and social determinants of health, as well as the management of cardiometabolic disease. He is also a reviewer for multiple prestigious medical journals and is Associate Editor for Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, the official journal of the International Diabetes Federation. 

He has received local, regional, national and international recognitions and awards. Dr. Caballero is the recipient of the 2009 “Alberto Houssay” award by the National Minority Quality Forum, the 2011 award by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. He is also the recipient of the 2022 Harvard Medical School Harold Amos prestigious award that recognizes exemplary work on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Health Care. He is the recipient of the 2023 American Diabetes Association’s Outstanding Educator in Diabetes Award and the 2024 Endocrine’s Society Outstanding Educator Award.

Amy Hess-Fischl is an advanced practice dietitian, diabetes care and education specialist, and certified pump trainer for over 25 years. She has worked at the University of Chicago in the departments of pediatric and adult endocrinology working directly with people with diabetes of all ages for the past 18 years. 

Dr. Mandeep Bajaj is the vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine and a professor of medicine and molecular and cellular biology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is the chief of the Section of Endocrinology at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, as well as medical director of the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center Diabetes Program and Baylor Medicine Endocrinology and Diabetes. Dr. Bajaj is a medical graduate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and received his fellowship training in endocrinology and diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. 

Dr. Bajaj is a reputed clinical and translational researcher in obesity and type 2 diabetes and has over 100 publications. His patient-oriented research work has delineated the metabolic and molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. He is currently the editor in chief of British Medical Journal (BMJ), Open Diabetes Research and Care, published jointly by the ADA and the BMJ Group. He has served on the ADA Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee, Finance Committee, and the Research Grant Review Committee. He has been awarded the Master Clinician Lifetime Award as well as the Fulbright & Jaworski Faculty Excellence Teaching Award by Baylor College of Medicine.

Rodica Busui, MD, PhD, is the Jordan Schnitzer-endowed chair in diabetes; professor and division head of endocrinology, diabetes, and clinical nutrition; director of the Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Health Center at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR; and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan.

Her research interests involve chronic complications of diabetes, including diabetes-related neuropathy, diabetes-related foot complications, cardiovascular disease, diabetes-related kidney disease, and novel technologies for diabetes management. She has been principle investigator (PI) and/or member of the Steering Committee in many landmark diabetes clinical trials, including ACCORD, DCCT/EDIC, PERL, BARI- 2D, GRADE, DEVOTE, REPLACE-BG, WISDM, MOBILE, SOUL. She is the chair of the NIDDK Diabetes Foot Consortium and a PI of Breakthrough T1D (former JDRF) Center of Excellence. She has also designed and leads several NIH- and industry-funded investigator-initiated studies to unveil disease-modifying agents for diabetes complications, and on the use of diabetes technologies to improve patients’ outcomes and diabetes care delivery.

Dr. Busui has published 350 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, as well as chaired the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA’s) 2017 Statement on Diabetic Neuropathy, the 2022 ADA/American College of Cardiology Heart Failure in Diabetes Consensus, and was the ADA’s 2023 president for medicine and science. She received awards for her research and advancement of diabetes care from many organizations, including the ADA, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the Fulbright Foundation, Harvard Medical School, the Romanian Diabetes Society, and the University of Michigan.
 

Sean Pittman is the senior attorney and managing partner of Pittman Law Group, P.L., which specializes in the areas of government, administrative, education, and corporate law. Sean represents a diverse client list of private citizens, local governments, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Sean serves as trusted legal counsel to cities, counties, hospitals, banking institutions, aviation and port authorities, universities, industries, corporations, and various professional associations.

As a local government lawyer, Sean represents Florida counties and municipalities before the Florida Cabinet, Florida Legislature, and other tribunals. As an administrative lawyer, Sean has a strong understanding of the Florida Administrative Procedures Act, advising clients on matters before the Department of Administrative Hearings and various State of Florida boards and agencies. 

Sean received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science in 1990 and earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1994 from the Florida State University (FSU) College of Law. While at FSU, Sean’s leadership qualities led him to become the student body president and two-time chairman of the Florida Student Association Board of Directors, and member of the Florida Board of Regents. In 2021, in recognition of his many years of work and service, Sean was selected to interview for and ultimately became a semi-finalist for the Presidency at Florida State University.

Sean served as the 2018–2019 president of the Orange Bowl Committee (OBC) and currently serves on the OBC Board of Directors. Sean also serves on the National Football Foundation’s Board of Trustees, the Big 10 Equality Coalition formed by Commissioner Kevin Warren, is a member of the Florida State University Hall of Fame Committee, and is the founder and chairman of the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Sean most recently served as general counsel of the National Bar Association and was presented the 2022 Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Lawyer of the Year Award by the National Bar Association.

For his contributions to the Orange Bowl Committee and his tireless efforts to bring Glades Pioneer Park to Palm Beach County, Sean was awarded with special recognition by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission in 2019. Sean was also selected to serve on the FSU Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2018 and the Jim Moran Institute Advisory Board. In 2017, Sean was inducted into the Tallahassee Barristers Legal Hall of Fame and in 2015, Sean received the Distinguished Member Award for Leadership Florida. In 2022 Pittman Law Group was awarded the Seminole 100 award in recognition as one of the fastest-growing alumni-owned businesses by the FSU Alumni Association. During the Spring 2022 Alumni Awards ceremony, Sean received the FSU Alumni Association and Omicron Delta Kappa’s Grads Made Good Award.

For his philanthropic endeavors, Sean was presented the 2016 Heman Sweatt Award by the National Bar Association, the Tallahassee Servant Leadership Award by the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and the Founders Award in 2014 from the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Sean is the former Chairman of Children’s Home Society and has served on the boards of the Apalachee Center, Leon County Civic Center Authority, United Way of the Big Bend, and Children’s Campaign. Sean committed $100,000 to the Smokey Hollow Historic Neighborhood and in 2010, Sean contributed $100,000 to the Florida State University College of Law to fund the Sean Pittman Scholarship for minority students. 

The Tallahassee Democrat named Sean one of the “Top Twenty-Five Most Influential People in Tallahassee” and featured him in the article, “Capitol Clout” for being a significant political insider within the constantly changing environs of Florida’s State Capitol. Sean was ranked twice as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Florida Politics” by Influence magazine. Florida Trend magazine says Sean is “one to look for” in the new wave of politics in Florida and lists him as a “Must Know Contact” in Tallahassee. He was also included in Florida Trend’s “Top 500 Business Leaders in Florida.”

Sean is a co-host of the popular television talk show The Usual Suspects, airing on one of the highest watched CBS affiliates in the country. On the show, he analyzes and provides commentary on the latest happenings in state and national politics. Sean also hosts his own radio show and podcast series, The Sean Pittman Show, which is widely acclaimed for its meritorious guests and significant insights into politics, business, sports, and more. In recent years, Sean has also made appearances on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, while also being published in USA Today, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Palm Beach Post, and more.

Francisco Prieto was born in Chicago, IL as one of nine children of Jorge and Luz Maria Prieto. He has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago and received his MD from the University of Minnesota in 1980. He trained in family medicine at the University of Arizona, serving as chief resident in 1983 before serving three years in the National Health Service Corps. He has practiced in Sacramento, California since 1986. 

Dr. Prieto has been a longtime volunteer for the ADA, including serving as president of the Sacramento Community Leadership Board.  An avid bicyclist, he also chaired the Tour de Cure^® committee and currently serves as the chair of the ADA’s National Advocacy Committee. In 2004, when California passed a citizen-led initiative to fund stem cell research, State Treasurer Phil Angelides named him to serve as a patient advocate member of the Independent Citizens Organizing Committee, the governing board of the new state agency created by the initiative, The Calif. Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). 

Dr. Prieto served two eight-year terms at CIRM, where he was a member of the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group, the Grants Evaluation Working Group, and chaired the Evaluation Subcommittee.  Dr. Prieto and his wife, Yolanda Valle, MD, have two wonderful children, Miguel and Marisol.

Rhodes B. Ritenour is a native of New Market, Virginia in Shenandoah County, and is the Vice President for External and Regulatory Affairs with Bon Secours Health System. He represents the system in Virginia before local, state, and federal governments, in communities it serves, and to corporations; he also provides regulatory legal counsel and manages governance, serving as the corporate secretary of the Richmond Market Board.

Prior to joining Bon Secours, Rhodes served as the Deputy Attorney General of Virginia for Civil Litigation. Before joining the OAG, he was a partner in the Richmond office of LeClairRyan, where he focused on intellectual property litigation, regulated industries, and counseling campaigns and elected officials. He served as the firm’s Hospitality and Tourism Industry Team Leader and was a member of the Energy Industry Team. 

Preceding his time in private practice, Ritenour clerked for U.S. District Judge Jackson L. Kiser in the Western District of Virginia, served in the Policy Office of Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner, and worked in the Press Office of Vice President Al Gore. 

Ritenour earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia. He serves on the Virginia Business Council, and the Boards of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Lead Virginia (Immediate Past Chairman), ChamberRVA, and The Richmond Forum. He is a former Board member of Longwood University, the Virginia Bar Association, the Washington Commanders Charitable Foundation, the Virginia Museum of Frontier Culture, projectHomes, Venture Richmond, the River Road United Methodist Church Council, and served on the Virginia State Bar Professionalism Faculty.

A Type-I diabetic since the age of five, he has served the diabetes community in several roles with the American Diabetes Association, including as Chairman of the ADA National Board of Directors in 2024. Rhodes and his wife Alana are co-founders of TheDiabetesSupportGroup.org, a national on-line diabetes community, and have published two children’s books in their series, The Adventures of Rhodes and Alana.

He lives in Henrico County with his wife and two spirited children.

Patti is a certified diabetes care and education specialist and registered dietitian, currently working as diabetes staff development coordinator at St. Luke’s Hospital Diabetes Care Program in Duluth, Minnesota. Patti was a member of the ADA Nutrition Science Review Committee and the writing committee for the 2019 ADA nutrition consensus statement. She currently serves on the Science and Health Care Executive Council and has served on the ADA Professional Practice Committee and ADA Scientific Sessions Committee. She is a past chair of the Diabetes Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is a frequent author and international speaker on nutrition and diabetes education topics. Patti has a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Minnesota, a Bachelor of Science degree in applied nutrition from the Pennsylvania State University and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics. She lives in Cloquet, Minnesota with her husband Tom.

Gretchen Youssef, MS, RD, CDCES, program director of the MedStar Diabetes Institute is an experienced Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) and Registered Dietitian who serves diabetes clinical, education, and quality improvement initiatives across the MedStar Health System. Her areas of interest and expertise include diabetes self-management education and medical nutrition therapy to improve health outcomes, and translational research addressing diabetes primary prevention and best practices for type 2 diabetes care management. She served as program manager in the MedStar Health Research Institute’s National Institutes of Health Diabetes Prevention Program. She also has led the MedStar Diabetes Institute’s system-wide ADA Education Recognition Program since it was established in 2000. In this role she coordinates the MedStar Health diabetes self-management education program, working with endocrinologists and CDCES across 10 diabetes self-management education and support sites and primary care and diabetes care practices. She has also been engaged in the development and conduct of the Diabetes Boot Camp research for patients with type 2 diabetes. In this study she provided diabetes education/medical nutrition therapy and support trial conduct and was co-manager and co-lead for the Diabetes Boot Camp/ Pathway pilot study. She is presently responsible for transition of the Diabetes Boot Camp/Pathway into standard of care and clinical practice in the MedStar Health System.

She is committed to improving the lives of people with diabetes, especially those patients who are challenged by low health literacy, socioeconomic, and mental health barriers which often prevent them from receiving optimal care. Finally, she is an active member of the ADA, serving as President, Health Care and Education in 2019, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists from 2021 to 2024.