Steering Committee

When Jenny Ahlstrom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010, she was grateful for all the great work being done in myeloma, but saw gaps in support, tools, and funding that she believed could help patients navigate their disease and accelerate a cure.

She created the CrowdCare Foundation and the Myeloma Crowd with three goals: 1) educate and support patients, 2) use data to hasten a myeloma cure, and 3) fund critical research.

The Myeloma Crowd programs include: Myeloma Crowd website (with over 700,000 unique visitors per year), Myeloma Crowd Round Tables, Myeloma Coach (over 100 Coaches), Myeloma Crowd Radio (140 shows to date), Muscles for Myeloma, HealthTree.org (over 5,900 patient participants), and the Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative (funding five investigator projects). The HealthTree platform is first-in-class software that both supports myeloma patients over the lifetime of their disease but also aggregates patient data to rapidly answer critical research questions that could lead us to a cure. 

Rafael Fonseca, MD, is a hematologist who specializes in the care and research of multiple myeloma and related conditions. He is currently the Getz Family Professor of Cancer and a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Arizona, and Chair of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Fonesca is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. He also serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He is a frequent reviewer of grants and sits on the SPORE grant review panel.

Dr. Fonseca earned his medical degree at Universidad Anahuac, Mexico. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami, Florida and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Rochester, Minnesota.

Jacob K. Kettle, PharmD, BCOP, is currently the pharmacy manager for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and ambulatory infusion unit at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. Prior to his administrative work, Dr. Kettle spent more than a decade in oncology clinical practice both at the University of Missouri and the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Kettle also serves as an adjunct clinical professor for the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy, is a member of the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ Clinical Affairs Committee and serves as Chair of the Health Network of Missouri’s Oncology Task Force.  

Dr. Kettle received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2007, graduating summa cum laude from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy. He completed a pharmacy practice residency at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a hematology/oncology pharmacy residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

 Dr. Kettle has published original research in multiple peer-reviewed journals, and he was the 2011 recipient of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association Basic Science and Clinical Research Literature Award. In addition, Dr. Kettle has spoken nationally on emerging hematology and oncology topics, including oral antineoplastics and immunotherapy.

Kristina Rua, BSN, RN, OCN, ONN-CG, is currently the director of oncology navigation for Sarah Cannon’s East Florida Division. As an oncology nurse navigator, her focus has been on breaking down barriers to care, and ensuring accessibility and availability to timely delivery of services. Throughout her career she has spoken nationally on topics including role delineation for oncology nurse navigators, women’s health, and oral oncolytics. Focused on improving patient care, she has crested and implemented protocols and process maps for navigation programs, infusion departments and specialty pharmacies, with a focus on oral oncolytics.

Kristina is a graduate of Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, and is currently finishing her master’s in nursing with a focus on clinical systems leadership at the University of Arizona.