Board and Staff

In 1996, Donora’s youngest son was diagnosed with Sickle Beta-Thalassemia and in 2004 he was cured. He is one of the few children who are blessed to have a matched donor through his brother. However, there needs to be cure for all children, not just some children. Donora intends to use her position as a board member to spread awareness to all who will listen in hopes of one day finding that cure.

I am 27 years old, a wife, homemaker, pre nursing school student, and mother of two children diagnosed with sickle cell disease. I joined the board of directors with hopes of becoming an instrumental part of the betterment of children’s lives who suffer from the effects of sickle cell disease. My mission is to bring awareness to the community in hopes of one day finding a cure. Living everyday seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mahogany Thaxton is the Director of Operations for RK Property Investments and O’Hara Harbor with years of experience as nonprofit Director before rejoining the for profit world. Mahogany’s passion for helping others has led her to take on leadership roles with local nonprofits including the Children’s Sickle Cell Foundation, On the Spot, New Pittsburgh Collaborative, Junior League of Pittsburgh, and Three River’s Community Foundation Building Change Convergence where she co-chaired the 2011 Youth Leading Change committee.

When she joined the CSCF board in 2013, she was blown away by the accomplishments CSCF has made in the last decade, both locally and globally, all starting with grassroots activism. Motivated by the infectious enthusiasm of the dedicated staff, Mahogany happily accepted a place on the board. “Andrea and Michael are like shining stars, always bright and bringing hope to children and their families living with this painful disease.” After learning more about sickle cell and the toll it takes on the children and families living with it, Mahogany knew her problem solving and fundraising skills would be helpful. She currently serves on the Board Development committee and is the chair for the 2015 Living Well with Sickle Cell Walk. She wants YOU to be a champion for change and start a walk team today!

Kim retired from Alcoa in May 2014 where she was the Talent Manager for the Corporate Human Resources organization. She was responsible for working with leaders to help drive improvements in Alcoa’s annual talent review and succession planning efforts, and to support key initiatives to improve organizational development. Prior to her position as Talent Manager, Kim was a Senior Human Resources Business Consultant providing strategic HR services to Resource Unit leaders and employees.

Kim began her career in Alcoa’s Global Information Services organization where held various information technology leadership and project management roles in the application development, infrastructure and architecture functions. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Business and Psychology and an M.S in Information Science.

Kim is honored to work with the Children’s Sickle Cell Foundation and to continue community service work that supports women, children and families in the Pittsburgh area.

Dr. Kato is a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and he serves as director of the Adult Sickle Cell Center of Excellence. His research interests are in sickle cell disease, especially disorders of the blood vessel wall that may contribute to pulmonary hypertension. He takes care of adults with sickle cell disease, and leads clinical and laboratory bench research to learn the causes of pulmonary hypertension and other forms of vascular dysfunction and to develop new treatments to improve or prevent it. He has a highly collaborative team of clinical and laboratory researchers and a group of motivated, committed patients that enables us to make progress in this research.

Patient Powered Registry

Children’s Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization