Our Team.
Karyn Bishof, B.S., FF/PM
President & Founder, Director of Advocacy
March 2020 Longhauler, Florida
Bishof is the founder & president of the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project. As an indigenous single mom infected with COVID-19 very early on in March 2020 while working as a Firefighter/ Paramedic in South Florida, she was one of the first in the world to develop Long COVID and consequentially, it's associated conditions, such as, but not limited to, Dysautonomia, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, leaving her unable to work. Bishof firmly believes in comprehensive cross-community, cross-illness advocacy and education and is something she ensures is part of the foundation of C-19LAP. Bishof has a background in science, medicine, education, and is now a patient. This puts her in a unique position as an advocate fighting for millions of newly chronically ill and disabled people. Bishof is committed to ensuring no one in the Long COVID community is left behind and that we continue to fight to prevent more people from developing Long COVID and it's associated conditions.
Bishof was selected by the NIH to serve on the RECOVER Initiatives Ancillary Studies Oversight Committee and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Long COVID Research Fund. Bishof received the Amelia Moore Sparkle Award for Compassionate Advocacy from Dysautonomia Internation in July 2022.
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Netia McCray
Director of Education
March 2020 Longhauler, Florida
McCray is an educator whose global non-profit organization, Mbadika (bah-GEE-kah), has helped thousands bring their ideas to reality through leveraging STEM. For over 10 years, Netia has worked to demystify STEM in order to make it accessible to typically disadvantaged groups. As a March 2020 Longhauler, she has witnessed first hand the short and long term devastation that Long COVID has brought to not only her community but to communities worldwide. Netia believes knowledge is power and being able to obtain appropriate care and support starts with equitable access. Through her work with C-19 LAP, she utilizes her educational background to demystify Long COVID and recovery for communities like hers that shouldered the burden of the COVID pandemic.
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Rebecca Jacobs
Director of Community Support
March 2020 Longhauler, New Jersey
Jacobs is a Bilingual Therapist at The New York Center for Children, where she provides trauma-focused individual and group therapy to children, adolescents, and adults in both English and Spanish. Jacobs also conducts bilingual trainings to parents and to professionals on identifying and addressing child abuse and intimate partner violence, as well as supporting traumatized youth. Previously, Rebecca worked in the NYC child welfare system through preventive services and with non-profit organizations providing training in psychiatric medication management for physicians treating children. In addition to her Master's of Social Work, Jacobs is a certified Spanish-language interpreter and has provided medical interpretation services in hospital settings, and has advanced training in mandated reporting, crisis response, and substance use counseling. Jacobs hopes to support her fellow longhaulers in accessing the services and support they so desperately need.
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Michael Clark
Treasurer, Director of Finance
March 2020 Longhauler, Maryland
Clark is an accounting and finance executive and a certified public accountant with over a decade of experience working in biotechnology and Big 4 public accounting. As a March 2020 COVID-19 Long Hauler and a patient at two academic hospital COVID-19 Rehabilitation Clinics, he has experienced first hand the challenges long haulers face in finding proper care and treatment as well as the opportunities available for recovery and rehabilitation. His COVID-19 story has been featured in multiple media outlets and he aims to leverage his story and his voice to advocate for COVID-19 longhaulers and other chronic illness patients that face similar ailments in order to help the millions of sufferers find treatment, dignity, support, and recovery in their journey.
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