Joan Provizer, Robert Kacick and Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D. Join Scleroderma Foundation Board of Directors

Two chapter board members and a researcher who sat on the Foundation’s peer review committee have been selected to join the Scleroderma Foundation’s Board of Directors. Joan Provizer, of Michigan, and Robert Kacick of Chicago along with Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D., were appointed at the board’s December meeting. Their three-year terms take effect Jan. 1, 2007.

Joan Provizer

Robert Kacick

Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D.

Joan Provizer
Provizer is a former schoolteacher who has been affiliated with scleroderma for the past 20 years. She began her involvement in 1986, when she was appointed a board member to the Michigan Chapter. Three years later, she was named Michigan’s chapter president.

In 1997, Joan was an advisor to what was then known as the United Scleroderma Foundation. She also served the national foundation, working on development, chapter relations and research committees.

After her presidential term expired in Michigan, Joan worked as a consultant from 1993–2003, overseeing chapter events and programs. In 2004, Joan became the state’s director of patient services. Last month, Joan received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Michigan’s recent gala.

Robert Kacick
Robert has been involved with scleroderma more recently, raising funds for research, support and education. As a current member of the Greater Chicago Chapter board, he was a key member of a committee that oversaw the planning of the 2004 National Gala. He has also worked on a national level in development operations.

Robert’s daughter Kimberly Barber passed away as a result of scleroderma in 2004.

An executive vice president with a moving and storage company since 1985, he is a member of the Chicago Real Estate Organization and the International Facility Managers’ Association.

Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D.
Dr. Bostwick is an assistant professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary, allergy and critical medicine and the Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease at the University of Pittsburgh. She has been extremely active within the scleroderma community, and has been a keynote speaker at the Foundation’s National Conference as well as many chapter events. She has been a grant reviewer on the peer review committee since 2005.

Dr. Bostwick is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Society for IGF Research and the American Thoracic Society.

She is a graduate of the American University of Beirut, receiving both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and Tulane University, where she received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology. She also received a post-graduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

“Each individual brings a set of skills and talents that will serve the board well. Most importantly, they are dedicated to furthering the Foundation mission,” said Joseph Camerino, Ph.D., board chair. “On behalf of the board, I am confident they will make significant contributions to the board and look forward to working with each of them.”