BHC is fortunate to have a professional and dedicated volunteer Board of Directors who are the stewards of the efforts and talents of those who built and sustain this organization and are responsible to represent the needs and values of the BHC Community. On this page, BHC provides the biographical sketches of its board leadership and directors.
Mary Sue Rominger
Chair
Rominger completed a BS degree in chemical engineering at Colorado State University. She started volunteering for BHC in 2014 with a focus on building awareness on youth impacted by ME/CFS and POTS and has served as BHC Board Chair since 2017.
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Rominger retired from her professional career when her 14-year-old child become very ill and debilitated. After consultations with many doctors across the nation, no real improvement until her child was diagnosed and treated for ME/CFS and POTS by Dr. Bateman. That started a slow and steady improvement in her child’s health. Rominger determined to help with this devastating illness and, in appreciation of Dr. Bateman, helped BHC host a provider and a patient conference and later joined the BHC Board of Directors. Along with her board duties, she continues as a volunteer helping produce events, including live-streamed education meetings and other content for the BHC YouTube channel.
Rominger is passionate about all aspects of helping those impacted with ME/CFS and FM. As chair, she is guided by BHC’s mission to improve the lives of patients everywhere, not only with the work of BHC’s clinical and research efforts, but through education for patients and medical providers as well.
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Ted Kaly
Vice Chair
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Kaly and his family moved to Utah in 1980 to start an independent manufacturer’s representative firm. He retired in 1999. His long-standing commitment to BHC is fueled by the catastrophic, debilitating change that one of his children has gone through suffering with ME/CFS for over 20 years. His son was working on his PhD when he became ill with ME/CFS and was unable to complete his studies and fulfill his lifelong goal of being a college professor. It is impossible for Kaly to describe how debilitating this illness can be. He is committed to BHC’s work of raising awareness at all levels, providing support and treatment options for patients, and conducting research toward diagnosis and treatment for ME/CFS and FM. Most of all, Kaly wants to help BHC provide hope for those afflicted with this debilitating, currently “incurable” illness.
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Veldon Sorensen
Treasurer
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Dr. Sorensen commitment to BHC is primarily in support of his spouse, Diane, who lives with fibromyalgia and is a dedicated volunteer for patient support and education herself. She has inspired his interest in service and helped shaped his goal to broaden the general understanding of the issues that families and spouses face considering these conditions. Dr. Sorensen also supports research that covers a multi-faceted approach to living and thriving with the conditions of ME/CFS and FM.
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Sharon Hunter Donnelly
Secretary
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Donnelly grew up outside of Boston and eventually moved to Utah in 1996 to begin her career with HealthInsight Utah as a healthcare analyst. She had several leadership roles through 2020 including the management of projects and grant proposals for business development which included services to outpatient practices and national consulting services. Key HealthInsight contributions included work with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Beacon Community Project and Regional Extension Center programs and tests of using the ECHO™ model in improvement initiatives.
In 2014, after several years of struggling with unexplained pain and fatigue, Donnelly was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at the Bateman Horne Center. Having the correct diagnosis led to treatments that enabled much improved symptom control and in turn a much greater ability to function. She strongly supports BHC’s mission to close the diagnosis gaps and increase knowledge of effective treatment options in ME/CFS and FM. Donnelly has four grown children and two grandchildren.
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Susan Taylor-Brown, MPH, PhD
Susan Taylor-Brown, MPH, PhD is a patient advocate and lived experience community member serving on the BHC board. She is a social work academician, clinician and researcher with 36 years of experience. She secured her graduate training in social work and public health from Catholic University of America (MSW) and University of Pittsburgh (MPH, PhD). Susan’s faculty appointments include University of Rochester Medical School, Syracuse University, Eastern Michigan University, and Georgetown Medical School. BHC provides evidence-based clinical care and research while providing education to clinicians and people living with infection-associated complex conditions (IACCs). Susan is dedicated to advancing BHC’s exemplary services and increasing access for others. Since 2012, Susan has lived experience with ME/CFS and its many co-morbidities.
Peggy Rosati Allen
Peggy Rosati Allen, MS, CNM, WHNP is a patient advocate and medical educator on the BHC Board and a retired assistant clinical professor and faculty practice nurse-midwife with the University of Utah College of Nursing. She completed a BS degree in nursing from the University of Wyoming, an MS degree and certification as a women’s health nurse practitioner from UC San Francisco, and post-master’s certificate in nurse-midwifery from the University of Utah. Allen has led educational efforts and published articles and materials with a focus on the impact of ME/CFS on youth and women during childbearing years.
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Allen is a California native, married, and has 3 children, one of whom became suddenly ill with ME/CFS at the age of 12. She has tremendous empathy for the suffering and challenges faced by individuals and families affected by ME/CFS and is keenly aware of the misunderstandings about ME/CFS among lay and healthcare communities. Allen is passionate about trying to do her part to educate others about the realities of ME/CFS, with the ultimate hope of increasing societal support, compassion, and equity and access to quality health care for affected individuals.
Allen’s prior volunteer efforts with the Fatigue Consultation Clinic and BHC include building awareness of the needs of the ME/CFS pediatric population, moderating panels of youth living with ME/CFS and FM, and providing testimony on the educational challenges of youth with ME/CFS at an NIH/CFSAC conference. Her article, “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Implications for Women and Their Health Care Providers During the Childbearing Years”, was featured in the 2008 Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health and received an award for its contribution to clinical practice and the literature.
Now retired from her professional roles, Allen continues the role as a parent helping her daughter with ME/CFS navigate young adulthood. She is aware of a whole new set of challenges that face affected individuals and their families in this phase of life and illness. Allen hopes that her involvement with the BHC Board can help create change desperately needed to improve the lives of those profoundly affected by this illness.
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Deborah Keye, MMSc, PA-C
Deb Keye, MMSc, PA-C, brings her medical knowledge and passion for high quality patient care to the BHC Board. She is a 1996 graduate of the Emory University PA Program and has 28 years of clinical experience in various fields of medicine as well as participating as a sub-investigator in NIH-funded clinical studies in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. She has enjoyed teaching and mentoring Emory PA students in the past as well as speaking at the national AAPA conference about pediatric asthma. She has publications in PA journals that include pediatric asthma and premenstrual dysmorphic disorder. Currently, she is working in general internal medicine that allows her to see patients in the office as well as make house calls and assisted living visits. Her philosophy of medicine utilizes the holistic biopsychosocial model approach and emphasizes educating and empowering patients to be active participants in their medical issues.
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Deb worked at BHC (previously Fatigue Consultation Clinic) with Dr. Lucinda Bateman from 2001-2007 and learned important history-taking skills and thorough assessment of complex fatigue and pain issues. After leaving BHC, she utilized these skills to assess and treat ME/CFS and fibromyalgia patients in family practice for ten years and is continuing to do so in her current internal medical practice. These skills have become invaluable in assessing complex fatigue and pain patients during the pandemic and post-pandemic era as she hopes to improve the quality of life in ME/CFS and Long COVID patients. Now that she is an empty nester as her son moves away to college, she is excited to join the governing board of the BHC as a way to give back to the community. Her hopes are that more primary care providers will take advantage of the high-quality educational lectures/videos on the BHC website and take on helping these patients that need high quality care.
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Luke Hansen
Medical Student
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Hansen met his wife Megan while rock climbing. They both grew up in Colorado Springs and studied at the University of Utah after moving to Utah with their golden retriever, Cosmo. In May of 2020, after a period of time caring for his mother in Colorado after the death of his father, they returned to Utah. During a hike with their friends, Hansen noticed that the issues Megan had been having that resulted in previous visits to neurologists and cardiologists accelerated after the hike and she had her first recognizable crash. Struggling with basic personal needs and recognizing similar struggles from BHC patients, Megan was enrolled with BHC as a patient. With a proper diagnosis and treatment routine, she is starting to improve. Hansen is a committed advocate of the BHC organization and brings many unique perspectives to the BHC Board.
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Jessica Turner
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Turner is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. She and her husband, Jay – also a dedicated support and advocate, are both committed to helping BHC fulfill its mission. They have built a successful marriage and family around (and despite) the devastating effects of her ME/CFS. They have three wonderful children who are their joy in life. Turner is a vital and strong representative voice of the patient population as a board member and remains truly committed to improve the lives of people living with the harsh reality of FM and ME/CFS.
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Paige Zuckerman, M.ED, CMHC
Paige Zuckerman, M.ED, CMHC is a patient advocate and veteran mental health clinician and disability psychology specialist with eighteen years in multiple roles. She brings her skillset to the BHC Board. Paige received her graduate training in Educational Psychology at the University of Utah and has worked for the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, The Department of Psychology, Red Willow Counseling & Recovery and now as a Director for NovumHealth. She is passionate about the mission of BHC in fostering visibility, evidence and clinical best practices for underserved chronic illnesses. Paige is a person living with autoimmune illness herself and wishes to serve the advancement of science and practice of care for these conditions.
Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career - the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.