Key People
Jessica Biggs, MPH
Health Equity Program Development and Outreach Specialist
As our Health Equity Program and Outreach Specialist, Jessica Biggs, MPH, has joined the Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformations. Her work includes listening to Black patients to help us understand your diagnostic and care challenges, building a community of Black patients to optimize support and disease knowledge, working with other organizations and media to increase awareness of CCM in the larger Black community, and evaluating the Alliance’s programs and Centers of Excellence with a DEI lens to improve care.
Kandance Weems Norris
Alliance to Cure Board Member
Kandance has been involved with the Alliance to Cure since 2006, when she attended her first family conference after experiencing a cavernous angioma hemorrhage and related seizures. Her lesion is considered inoperable. This is Kandance’s second stint on our Board, previously serving from 2010-2013. Kandance is a McKinsey and Company attorney, business law professor, and executive recruiter. She graduated from Spelman College, Harvard Law, and Harvard Business School. Kandance assists the Alliance to Cure with legal matters and advises on health equity initiatives. She lives in Durham, NC, with her husband and son.
Kimberly Foley, MD
Alliance to Cure Board Member
Dr. Foley is a Critical Care Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pulmonary Disease specialist practicing in Bermuda, Brooklyn, NY, and eastern Pennsylvania. She has served on the Alliance to Cure Board of Directors since 2019, joining soon after her diagnosis. Dr. Foley has been found to have a mutation of the CCM1 gene. Her young daughter has since been tested and also has the mutation. Dr. Foley has been advising on clinical matters.
Connie Lee, Psy.D.
President and CEO
Connie Lee is the founding President of the Alliance to Cure. Connie is a licensed clinical psychologist and the mother of a daughter with multiple cavernous angiomas. Connie’s personal story with cavernous malformation began in January 2000. At that time, Connie’s 4-month-old daughter Julia received brain surgery for a significant hemorrhage and hydrocephalus caused by a cavernous malformation. Dr. Lee founded the Alliance to Cure in 2002. She has guided the organization from its beginnings as a support group to its current role as the driving force for research, legislation, and patient care. You can reach Dr. Lee at clee@alliancetocure.org.
