Leadership: Staff

K. Kimberly McCleary is the Association's president & chief executive officer. Kim directs the Association's research, public policy and communications programs all of which are focused on making CFS widely understood, diagnosable, curable and preventable. She serves on the Association's Board of Directors. With over two decades of service to the CFS community, Kim has met with scores of federal legislators and public health officials; she has made numerous presentations at CFS workshops and conferences and has written many articles on research and public policy related issues. Kim has appeared on television, radio and in print publications as a leading authority on CFS and she has served on many expert committees for private and public institutions. Kim was instrumental in uncovering $12.9 million in misspending by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention on its CFS program; she helped develop a policy ruling from the Social Security Administration that recognized CFS as a disabling condition, and she fought to create and sustain a dedicated federal advisory committee to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on CFS research and education. Kim currently serves on the AABB’s interorganizational XMRV Task Forces.

Prior to joining the CFIDS Association’s staff in early 1991, Ms. McCleary was vice president of a healthcare management consulting firm. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a native of upstate New York, a wife, and mother of two. She was honored by Redbook magazine as a “Mother and Shaker” in healthcare and has received other awards and formal recognitions for her work on behalf of the CFS community.

“From the Desk of Kim McCleary” monthly feature from Research1st News

Kim Almond,who joined the Association in May of 2000, is the Association's Operations & Network Administrator. In addition to handling The Chairman's Circle, and meeting planning duties, Kim manages the look and content of www.cfids.org and directs the Association’s online development efforts. In 2002 Kim launched the Association's e-newsletter, Research1st News, formerly known as CFIDSLink.

Kris Hopkins began her tenure in September 1990 as a temporary employee assisting the Association with its 1990 research conference in Charlotte, NC. As the Association has grown over the past two decades, so have Kris' responsibilities and contributions. Today, Ms. Hopkins serves as chief financial officer, and provides vigilant and responsible stewardship of the Association's financial resources.

The Association’s newest member, Kyle Kenney, will be serving as a Science Communications Intern for the summer of 2012. Kyle is an Industrial Engineering major at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a native of Charlotte, NC.

Joining the Association in 1996, Gloria Smith served as a part-time office assistant, but she has since become the Association’s Office Manager and BioBank Coordinator. Gloria is responsible for directing the myriad of the day-to-day office duties, including data entry and processing, the organization of in-house mailings; and since 2010 she has been consenting individuals and healthy controls for the SolveCFS BioBank.

Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD, earned her doctorate in virology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and worked in public health research on infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 17 years before joining the CFIDS Association of America’s staff as scientific director in 2007. She has more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications on topics including human immunodeficiency virus, human papillomavirus, cervical cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. Dr. Vernon has initiated and participated in numerous international and multidisciplinary research collaborations and she now leads the CFIDS Association’s research program. As scientific director, she is responsible for the peer-review and management of research projects funded directly by the Association, including maintaining a network of the funded investigators. She organizes and hosts symposia and other formal opportunities for scientists to exchange information and build collaborative networks, including a meeting held in September 2009 at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health titled, “From Infection to Neurometabolism: A Nexus for CFS Research.” She has built several innovative collaborations with other institutions, including the Biological Information Research Network (BIRN), an NIH-sponsored initiative, and the Genetic Alliance BioBank.

Dr. Vernon continues efforts to build strong collaborations with CFS research groups and investigators worldwide, documenting the breadth and depth of studies across multiple disciplines and identifying gaps and opportunities that warrant prioritization. She serves as a subject matter expert in numerous settings, including scientific proceedings, policy meetings, media interviews, development activities and conferences for health care professionals and patients. Dr. Vernon has made dozens of invited presentations at scientific proceedings and has writes regularly for several publications to inform and educate different audiences about CFS and the research efforts under way. She is a member of the board of directors of the International Association of CFS/ME, a professional organization of CFS researchers and clinicians.