PANDAS/PANS Advisory Council Members

Council members

State ex-officio member

• Elaine Gabovitch, MPA
  PANDAS/PANS Advisory Council Chair | Commissioner’s Designee
  Director, Division for Children & Youth with Special Health Needs
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Public members

All Advisory Council members have lived experience caring for a family member with PANDAS/PANS or professional experience treating or working with people with PANDAS/PANS.

Council member seats are listed below as they appear in the legislation.

Council member	Affiliation	Council seat
Margaret Chapman, MSN, PNMHCNS-BC	Psychiatric Nurse Mental Health Clinical Specialist—Board Certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry PANS Center	Child psychiatric practitioner
Karen Colwell	Massachusetts Coalition for PANDAS/PANS Legislation	Appointed council member
Sylvia Fogel, MD	Harvard Medical School Lyme & PANS Treatment Center	Appointed council member
John Gaitanis, MD	Hasbro Children’s Hospital Brown Medical School	Health care provider/medical specialist
Sheilah Gauch, LICSW, MEd  PANDAS/PANS Advisory Council Co-Facilitator	Dearborn Academy Massachusetts Coalition for PANDAS/PANS Legislation	Special Educator Administrator
Melissa Glynn-Hyman, LICSW	Private Practice working with P/P families	Licensed social worker
Lisa Grisolia	Look. Foundation	Representative, MA non-profit advocacy organization
Kathleen Maher, MS-PHNA, RN	Massachusetts School Nurse Organization	Representative of a MA professional organization for school nurses
Melissa McCormack, MD, PhD	Wholistic Pediatricians	Pediatrician
Mark Pasternack, MD	Massachusetts General Hospital for Children	Physician specializing in infectious diseases
Michelle Pinto, MSN, RN, CNEn	Massachusetts Coalition for PANDAS/PANS Legislation University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth	Parent of a child with PANDAS/PANS
Blake Poggi, MA, CCC-SLP	Mending Minds Foundation National Alliance for PANS/PANDAS Action	Appointed council member
Jennifer M. Vitelli, MBA  PANDAS/PANS Advisory Council Co-Facilitator	Look. Foundation Massachusetts Coalition for PANDAS/PANS Legislation	Parent of a child with PANDAS/PANS
Kyle Williams, MD, PhD	Massachusetts General Hospital for Children	Medical researcher
Yujuan (Julia) Zhang, MD	Tufts Medical Center	Health care provider/medical specialist