RSVP: Reserve your seat by registering

WHEN: Tuesday, October 21, 2014
TIME: 1:00 pm Eastern time
WHERE: Your computer, iOS or Android device

Because of strong efforts by food allergy parent advocates in the last 3 years, 40+ states allow schools to stock epinephrine for emergencies. However, states can and should do more. In 2015, will states strengthen laws by requiring schools to stock this life-saving medicine?  Whether you are a novice advocate or an experienced change agent, the field-tested advocates joining us for this panel discussion will have powerful tips you can use. They led and assisted campaigns to require epi stocking in schools in California, Nevada and more. 

Join Charlotte Collins, JD, Senior Vice President of Policy and Programs for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA); Caroline Moassessi, parent advocate and food allergy blogger; and Larissa Kaczaniuk, Advocacy and Outreach Manager for AAFA, as they discuss and inspire you to get involved in the advocacy movement to keep children with food allergies safe and healthy at school.

The webinar will also introduce AAFA’s new tool kit for advocates:  Making An Impact on Anaphylaxis.

This webinar is made possible through a sponsorship by Mylan Specialty.

About Our Speakers

Charlotte Collins, JD is Sr. Vice President of Policy and Programs for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). Before joining AAFA, she was an Associate Professor in the George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services, teaching graduate courses in public health, law, policy and management. Ms. Collins received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and was former counsel in the health care policy practice in the Washington DC office of a national law firm. For over a decade, she worked with advocates to expand health coverage for the uninsured in the State of Tennessee, acted as general counsel, and ran government relations for a safety net hospital system in Memphis. 

Collins directs AAFA's state advocacy promoting access to epinephrine at schools. Currently, she authors AAFA's annual State Honor Roll of Asthma and Allergy Policies for Schools, serves on the Coordinating Committee of the National Institutes of Health's National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and the Public Policy Committee of the American Thoracic Society. In 1995, she won the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. In April 2006, Modern Healthcare magazine named her as one of the nation's Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives.

Caroline Moassessi is co-founder of the Nevada Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Alliance and currently is the author of the food allergy and asthma blogsite Gratefulfoodie.  She is active within the food allergy and asthma patient communities as a parent and patient advocate.  She was the lead advocate for mandated stock epinephrine law in the State of Nevada, which was 4th in the Nation to mandate stock epinephrine. 

She is currently sits on the American Lung Association (ALA) National Social Media Work group, past National Advocacy Work Group member and is past Secretary/Treasurer for the American Lung Association of the Southwest region and is past chair of the Board of Directors for the American Lung Association in Northern Nevada.  Caroline co-founded the non-profit, Northern Nevada Asthma and Food Allergy Parent Education Group, and serves as president, in addition to being a founding member of the National Allergy and Anaphylaxis Council. 

Caroline has a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and has traveled the world as a trainer in this industry. She lives in Reno with her husband and two children.

Larissa Kaczaniuk is the Advocacy and Outreach Manager at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). She manages the organization’s public policy campaigns, in addition to coordinating outreach to advocates, patient speakers, and AAFA’s network of educational support groups.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral and Community Health from the University of Maryland, College Park.