COTT contributors, staff and inspirational leaders
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Carl Weixler, President
Executive Committee Member
Carl started his involvement with the bleeding disorder community at the age of 4 when he met with the Governor of Kentucky to discuss a “hemophilia program” for the state. He is a Past President of HFA and the Kentucky Hemophilia Foundation. He served as Chair of the KY Hemophilia Advisory committee and on numerous advisory boards for governmental agencies and manufacturers. He has been a public speaking advocate here and abroad. He is currently a member of the board of directors for the Committee Of Ten Thousand. Carl is very passionate about his: community, family and God. If you’ve ever met him, you know he says… “I woke up this morning and was NOT in hell or the hospital, it’s a Good Day!”
Ray Dattoli - Vice President
Original image source: Hemophilia Federation of America VIA Facebook
Executive Committee Member
Ray participated in clinical trials for cryoprecipitate and factor VIII concentrates as a young child. His involvement in these trials taught him the importance of helping his community, and drove him to be an advocate as an adult. Ray has now been in advocate for over 20 years. He was on the Board of Directors for the Texas Central Hemophilia Association from 93’ to 99’. He co-founded the Texas B-HIV (Blood-HIV), served as an advocate in Washington DC and was involved in the effort pass the Ricky Ray Act. Ray was also one of the original coordinators for the Men’s Advocacy Network of the National Hemophilia Foundation (MANN) from 93’ to 04’. In 2000 Ray joined the Hemophilia Federation of America. Ray started with COTT around 2006, in 2010 former president Corey Dubin asked him to be on COTT's Board of Directors.
Chad Blair, Treasurer
Executive Committee Member
Chad first started advocating for the bleeding disorders community when he was 7 and spoke at a meeting with the Red Cross and FDA. He has been involved with a Summer camp for boys with bleeding disorders, first as a camper then as a counselor for the past 20 years. Over that time he has served as a Board Member, Secretary of the Board and is currently Past President. Chad served on the Board of Directors for the Bleeding Disorders Association of the Southern Tier for several years where he acted as a coordinator for the Blood Brotherhood Program as well as chairing the advocacy committee. Chad's educational background is in forest biology and is passionate about science in general. His favorite quote is "In order to do what's right in the word, you must first know how the world works, then what is right."
Larry Allen
Larry Allen came to the COTT Board in 1999, at which time he was a member of the U.S. Health & Human Services Department's Advisory Committee On Blood Safety & Availability. Larry was appointed to bring the Sickle Cell community to the regulatory table. COTT soon became aware of the lack of blood safety education or grass roots information in the Sickle Cell community. Larry Allen was then asked to join the COTT Board of Directors, and has remained an active member since then. Larry has two children afflicted by Sickle Cell. He continues to be a vibrant member of the COTT landscape.
Michael Allen
Michael is a 27-year-old man with Sickle Cell disease, in a family with three children over two generations with Sickle Cell disease. He Is a Government Major and cut his grassroots teeth in Cleveland Ohio. Climbing the ladder by volunteering for the local Democratic Party, first handing out fliers and registering voters, then working his way up to eventually being asked to be assistant to the Campaign Manager for an Independent candidate, Terri Hamilton brown. Brown was running for the first County Executive seat of Cuyahoga County. He worked for COTT from 2013 to 2018 managing the office and representing COTT as a Sickle Cell Advocate. He is representative of another recipient community dependent on this nation’s blood supply to maintain a relative modicum of health and wellness as well as quality of life. He was asked to be on the Board of Directors in 2018.
The Board Spiritual was implemented in the mid 1990s. It was done to honor and celebrate the lives of the many COTT Directors who have passed into the spirit world as a result of the AIDS/blood epidemic. What the men and women of COTT call, the hemophilia holocaust. No disrespect meant to holocausts of the past, however, for us at COTT, the preventable deaths of three generations of persons with hemophilia in a decade, over 50 percent of the entire American hemophilia community, can only be termed a holocaust. The community has been physically, emotionally and economically devastated by this preventable nightmare that is the result of corporate avarice and indifference, government inaction and in general, silence from the medical community. The Board Spiritual is part of our commitment to never forgot our lost loved ones and to always celebrate their lives and our own, always remembering for COTT, Action=Life. More...