Leadership

Lamekia Davis serves as Executive Director of the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation, bringing more than 20 years of leadership experience across Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations. Driven by a lifelong commitment to advocacy, empowerment, and community impact, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals and families navigate challenging circumstances and access critical resources.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Lamekia held leadership roles in the nonprofit and healthcare sectors, including serving as Executive Director of Chicago operations for The Community Blood Center and supporting stem cell transplant recipients through the Icla da Silva Foundation. She is also the founder of the Heyy Girl Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on mentoring and supporting at-risk and homeless youth.

At MACF, Lamekia is focused on expanding awareness of GVHD, strengthening community partnerships, and ensuring patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and advocates have access to the education and support they need. For more about Lamekia’s journey and vision for the Foundation, read her “Meet Our New Executive Director” story on our website.

Dr. Matt Kalaycio, M.D., F.A.C.P., is a hematologist and oncologist currently serving as the Vice-Chairman of the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. With a prolific career at the Cleveland Clinic spanning over three decades, he has held numerous leadership roles, including Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program. Beyond his clinical leadership, Dr. Kalaycio is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

Dr. Kalaycio’s academic background includes a medical degree from West Virginia University and a fellowship in Hematology, Medical Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Cleveland Clinic. He is a widely recognized expert in myeloid malignancies and chronic leukemia, having edited textbooks such as The Biologic Therapy of Leukemia and authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Additionally, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Hematology News. He remains an active member of various professional organizations, including the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

J.R. is a highly accomplished Certified Orthotist (C.O., B.O.C.O.), Certified Safety and Health Official (CSHO) and executive with over 40 years of experience in the Orthotics and Prosthetics profession. He offers a unique blend of clinical expertise, large-scale operational management, and regulatory oversight.

Throughout his career, J.R. has demonstrated a consistent ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, manage fiscal budgets, and navigate complex healthcare legislative environments. His background spans clinical practice, manufacturing, international consulting, and high-level board leadership.

He is an ALL/Stem Cell Transplant/GVHD survivor, and in his spare time, he loves to cook, enjoy live music, travel, and do outdoor activities as well as participate in aquatic aerobics. He lives in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife and has an adult son and daughter close by.

Marti Cowden is formerly a community volunteer, caregiver and the mother of two accomplished daughters. Currently, she is the Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation, a family Foundation that bears her daughter’s name.

After attending Slippery Rock State College, Marti began her career as a travel agent arranging travel for the executives of a major tire company. Subsequently, she operated a branch of the travel agency. She then became a volunteer giftware buyer at two local gift shops. One is located at a major mansion that is on the national register of historical buildings. The second was as the giftware buyer at a hospital gift shop. While there, she and her co-worker tripled sales. In addition, she twice served as president of a local women’s service organization, and as president of the local bar association auxiliary.
Most recently, in 2025, Marti participated on the judging panel of the Incyte Ingenuity Award.

Marti took on the role of full-time caregiver in 2001, when Meredith was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. As such, she was able to give Meredith the support and care that she needed. Marti’s goal was to make Meredith’s journey as positive and comfortable as possible.

Since 2007, Marti has assumed a number of very important roles with the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation including the day-to-day operations, bookkeeping, strategies and planning for the fundraising events, and generally recruited and managed the volunteers. As a result of her managerial skills, along with the efforts of the GVHD event coordinator, and the GvHD Symposium Planning Committee, the National Symposium has become a “go to” meeting for the dissemination of the latest improvements and treatments for the management of cGVHD.

 Ashlee Cramer is an educator, entrepreneur, and caregiver advocate with extensive experience supporting families affected by cancer and rare diseases. She began her career as a professional dancer before transitioning into early childhood education and business ownership.

In 2014, her husband, Patrice, was diagnosed with Large B-Cell Lymphoma, and she became his primary caregiver while raising their three children and managing the family’s income. Following his passing in 2016, Ashlee developed and launched Zumbini, a multinational early childhood music and movement program created in partnership with Zumba Fitness.
In 2019, she earned certification as a “Happy for No Reason” trainer, based on the New York Times bestselling program by Marci Shimoff. Her work increasingly focused on resilience education, family support, and community engagement.

Ashlee’s advocacy deepened in 2020 when her son Michael was diagnosed with Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma, requiring a bone marrow transplant and resulting in chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). She became his full-time caregiver and began documenting their experience to support other families navigating cancer and transplant recovery.

Together, Ashlee and Michael created the podcast Michael and Mom Talk Cancer, along with a companion website, blog, and YouTube channel. They lead support groups for cancer survivors and caregivers and speak regularly within the cancer and GVHD community.

Ashlee is the author of the 2025 children’s book Michael, the Boy Who Danced on the Waves, published by Bell Asteri Publishing, which shares her son’s cancer journey in an accessible format for young readers. She is currently developing a caregiver manual to further expand resources for families facing complex medical challenges.

Dr. Lyn Haselton is the Director of Operations for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Northeast Ohio Medical University and has spent over a decade leading research and education programs in academic healthcare settings. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Health Prevention Science from Kent State University, a master’s degree in healthcare administration, and is passionate about improving healthcare delivery and advancing health equity. Dr. Haselton has been a member of the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation since 2016, serving in various roles including as National GvHD Symposium Director, where she helped bring together patients, families, and experts around a shared mission.

In her free time, Dr Haselton enjoys watching her two daughters perform in Irish Dance and they love to travel and try new foods as a family!

Meredith A. Cowden is the namesake of the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation—a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting people living with graft vs. host disease (GVHD). She is also the executive director of the GVHD Alliance.

A 25-year AML and bone marrow transplant survivor who has lived with both acute and chronic GVHD for over two decades herself, Meredith’s passion for this work is a result of both her lived experience with the disease and a deep desire to help others.

Prior to transitioning to the Board of Directors, Meredith served as the executive director and before that, director of patient advocacy for the Foundation, working with organizations around the world to raise awareness for GVHD. A nationally-renowned public speaker, she’s presented extensively at medical conferences globally, served in advocacy and advisory positions with numerous health organizations, and authored / co-authored several articles in prestigious medical journals.

In recognition of the tireless efforts of Meredith, her parents, and the Foundation’s dedicated board of directors and staff, the MAC Foundation has been honored with several distinguished awards, including the ASTCT Public Service Award and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Lifeblood Award of Advancement.

Additionally, as a licensed professional counselor, Meredith also runs her own private psychotherapy practice—Up/Root Counseling—in Cleveland, OH, and holds a BFA in Fine Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art. An artist to her core, she loves integrating art therapy into her counseling practice and teaching other GVHD survivors how to utilize creativity as a healing modality.