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Join Mighty founder Mike Porath and Debbie Drell, the Director of Membership Services at NORD, to discuss how the rare community is evolving in a new era. They'll discuss "going virtual" from support groups and telehealth to research, conferences, and more.
Mike is the founder and CEO of The Mighty. He got his start in journalism at ABC News, where he was the network’s first overseas digital reporter and was awarded the Society of Professional Journalist’s top honor for his reporting in Kosovo.He has held a variety of writing, editing, producing and executive roles at media companies including ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times and AOL.Mike is also on the board of directors and fundraising chair of The Dup15q Alliance, a non-profit organization that supports people with Dup15q syndrome like his daughter.
Debbie Drell
NORD
Debbie serves as the Director of Membership at the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). In this role she oversees NORD’s membership programs, which support the collective and individual needs of rare disease patient organizations, patients, and advocates through education, research, advocacy and mentorship. She brings to the organization over 22 years of leadership in nonprofit public health education, awareness and advocacy. Prior to joining NORD, Debbie spent 13 years with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, a NORD member organization. During that time, she led the growth of the organization’s network of support groups from 80 to nearly 300, developed new services personalized to the diversity of patients and caregivers, and convened the largest gathering of pulmonary hypertension patients in history. Debbie has represented the patient perspective on several national platforms, including as a guest on National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show. She has served as a member of the board of trustees of the American Thoracic Society, a 115-year-old medical society with a global membership of 16,000 pulmonologists, critical care and sleep disorder researchers, clinicians and other medical professionals. An accomplished public speaker, she has presented extensively at colleges and universities on women’s health issues, delivered speeches on caregiving across the country, including at Johns Hopkins University events, and moderated panels at the World Orphan Drug Congress European and American meetings. A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Kent, for Debbie, her dedication to the rare disease community is rooted in a deeply personal connection. She was inspired to enter the field after her older sister, Alex, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension.