Working together to enhance recovery
RECOVER Leadership
The Consortium collaborates with patients, caregivers, and community representatives across all levels of the initiative, including in national leadership roles and within local communities in study locations.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee directs the overall RECOVER Initiative strategy and ensures that RECOVER meets its scientific objectives and mission by
- leading and overseeing the operations;
- evaluating the progress of studies and advising the NIH and the Steering Committee if any changes are necessary; and
- offering recommendations to the NIH on matters regarding high-level processes, procedures, plans, and strategy.
Voting Members
Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Acting Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Immunoregulation Section Chief, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Deputy Director, Clinical Research and Strategic Initiatives, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Director, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Director, National Library of Medicine
Director, Transversa Myelitis Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Professor of Neurology and Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Director, Institute of Molecular Medicine & Maureen and Ralph Nappi Professor of Autoimmune Diseases, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Professor, Molecular Medicine and Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health
Chief of Neurology Clinical Outcomes Research and Population Sciences, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine
Director of Cardiovascular Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Professor of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
President and CEO, Chicago Foundation for Women
Program Coordinator, Office of Student Conduct at West Virginia Clinical & Translational Science Institute
Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Members
Director of Biostatistics, Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Director, NYU Langone Health Heart Failure Program
Professor of Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Research Epidemiologist, RTI International
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine
Chief of Critical Care, Boston Children's Hospital
Chair, ICU Governance Committee, Boston Children's Hospital
Chair, International Health Services, Boston Children's Hospital
Professor of Anesthesia and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Co-director, Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research, Yale School of Medicine
Division Chief, Neurological Infections & Global Neurology, Yale School of Medicine
Gilbert H. Glaser Professor of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine
Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine
Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine
Chair, Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine
Professor of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine
Chief Medical Officer and Director, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Medicine, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Acting Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Executive Director, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Observational Cohort (OC) Steering Committee
The RECOVER OC Steering Committee ensures that RECOVER observational cohort studies work toward the overall goals of the RECOVER Initiative by
- checking on progress and performance to make sure that study activities are completed on time,
- reviewing reports on the quality and completeness of study data,
- reviewing reports from the other Committees and Boards, and
- considering any new information from sources outside of RECOVER that may be relevant to the studies.
The OC Steering Committee reports to the Executive Committee as needed on
- new challenges and opportunities that arise,
- requested changes to daily operations or procedures for RECOVER studies, and
- any other issues that might impact the scientific goals and/or budget.
OC Steering Committee Voting Members
- Serena Spudich - Co-chair
- Jeffrey Burns - Co-chair
- Charles Bailey
- Hassan Brim
- Alexander Charney
- Mine Cicek
- John Crary
- Jamie Elifritz
- Aloke Finn
- Thomas Flotte
- Andrea Foulkes
- R. Graham Barr
- Rachel Gross
- Melissa Haendel
- James Heath
- Rachel Hess
- Sally Hodder
- Leora Horwitz
- Vanessa Jacoby
- Elizabeth (Beth) Karlson
- Stuart Katz
- Rainu Kaushal
- Lawrence Kleinman
- Jerry Krishnan
- Craig Lefebvre
- Emily Levitan
- Bruce Levy
- Jeffrey Martin
- Grace McComsey
- Torri Metz
- Tony Minor
- Shawn Murphy
- Jane Newburger
- Lisa Newman
- Igho Ofotokun
- Sairam Parthasarathy
- Thomas Patterson
- Ross Reichard
- Kyung Rhee
- Upinder Singh
- Jessica Snowden
- Cheryl Stein
- Melissa Stockwell
- James Stone
- Brittany Taylor
- Stephen Thibodeau
- Andrea Troxel
- David Warburton
OC Steering Committee Ex-Officio Members
- Gabriel Anaya
- Audie Atienza
- Andra Blomkalns
- Melissa Bondy
- Benjamin Chen
- April Joy Damian
- Dawood Darbar
- Ray Ebert
- Robert L. Ferrer
- Josh Fessel
- Aloke Finn
- Paul Fontelo
- Emily Gallagher
- Jennifer Gander
- Marila Gennaro
- Stephen Hewitt
- Carol Horowitz
- Sarah Jolley
- Suzanne Judd
- Barbara Karp
- Jerry Krishnan
- Sweta Ladwa
- James Luo
- Grace McComsey
- Julie McMurry
- Lucio Miele
- Sindhu Mohandas
- Janet Mullington
- Margaret Ochocinska
- Princess Ogbogu
- Michelle Olive
- Gail Pearson
- Priscilla Pemu
- James (Zach) Porterfield
- Tony Punturieri
- Jane Reusch
- Kathleen Rodgers
- Juan Salazar
- Lisa Schwartz-Longacre
- Sudha Seshadri
- Eyal Shemesh
- Vignesh Subbian
- Jun Sun
- Mehul Suthar
- David Systrom
- Barbara S. Taylor
- PJ Utz
- Tiffany Walker
- Juan Wisnivesky
- Dana Wolff-Hughes
- John Wood
Clinical Trials (CT) Steering Committee
The RECOVER CT Steering Committee ensures that RECOVER Clinical Trials studies align with the overall goals of the RECOVER Initiative by
- helping to develop and optimize the clinical trial portfolio;
- formally reviewing and providing feedback on clinical trial protocols;
- providing high level guidance to ensure the clinical trials meet their scientific objectives and mission;
- assessing scientific progress;
- considering strategies to ensure timely implementation and addressing operational challenges; and
- serving as a source of clinical, scientific, and patient input.
The CT Steering Committee reports to the Executive Committee as needed on
- status of the clinical trials being conducted,
- new challenges and opportunities that arise,
- requested changes to daily operations or procedures for RECOVER clinical trials, and
- any other issues that might impact the scientific goals of the studies.
CT Steering Committee Voting Members
- Laurie Gutmann - Co-chair
- Eldrin F. Lewis - Co-chair
- Kevin Anstrom
- Lucinda Bateman
- Marta Cerda
- Christopher Coffey
- Judith Currier
- Anne Davidson
- Brian Fallon
- David Knopman
- Barry Make
- Christine Maughan
- Susan Redline
- Cyndya A. Shibao
- Richard Whitley
- Gloria Yeh
CT Steering Committee Ex-Officio Members
- Marie-Abele Bind
- Jason Gerson
- Tracy Nolen
- Leonard Sacks
- Andrea Troxel
- Kanecia Zimmerman
The Steering Committee rosters do not include NIH noncommittee member attendees.
National Community Engagement Group
The RECOVER Initiative’s National Community Engagement Group (NCEG) helps ensure that RECOVER research meets the needs of patients, caregivers, and community members. NCEG works closely with RECOVER study leaders and other RECOVER groups to guide them on the best ways to engage with participants and the community. The NCEG is made up of patients and caregivers affected by COVID and Long COVID. It also includes people who work with communities affected by COVID, such as Black and Tribal communities.
NCEG members will
- share thoughts from the patient and community point of view about the experience of people affected by Long COVID,
- help decide what are the important research questions,
- review and give feedback on study materials,
- provide advice about the best way to collect information from participants,
- look at the study findings and think about how to share them, and
- ensure RECOVER study leaders follow the guiding principles below when engaging with the public and participants.
Guiding Principles for RECOVER’s Community Engagement
The RECOVER Patient and Community Engagement Strategy describes how RECOVER will engage people affected by Long COVID. The strategy helps ensure that we include people from all communities and backgrounds. The strategy features RECOVER’s Guiding Principles for patient and community engagement, which underpin RECOVER’s continued engagement efforts. These guiding principles are values that RECOVER will follow when engaging with people interested in joining a study, with participants, and with the public.
Inclusivity and diversity:
We will include a diverse group of people in the RECOVER study, including study staff, leaders, and participants. Our goal will be to include people of many races and ethnicities, ages, genders, jobs, education levels, incomes, U.S. locations, and those who have different health conditions. We will think carefully and often about who is not involved in RECOVER and how we can engage and involve them with respect.
Safety:
We will promote a culture of safety to ensure that Patient, Caregiver, and Community Representatives feel physically and emotionally secure, and that participants enrolling in the studies feel welcomed and engaged.
Transparency:
We will openly share information about the RECOVER study and its findings with participants and the public with the aim of fostering and maintaining trust.
Accessibility: We will share information about the RECOVER study in a way that people can easily find and understand it. We will work to limit barriers to increase enrollment to studies.
Two-way communication:
Communication between RECOVER staff and the public, including participants, will be two-way so that both groups can send, receive, and share information. We will ask participants and the public for their input and questions about the RECOVER study and will use their feedback to improve the study. Participants and the public will be able to send us their questions, and we will listen carefully and answer them. These collaborative communications will inform and contribute to the decision-making processes of the initiative.
Accountability:
We will hold RECOVER staff and leaders responsible for making sure RECOVER follows research standards and ethics, including to do no harm and to avoid re-traumatizing individuals and communities.
Collaboration:
We will work and search for opportunities for collaboration to get input and feedback through forums and discussions.
NCEG Co-Chairs
Felicia Davis BlakleyPresident and CEO of Chicago Foundation for Women
Felicia leads the Chicago Foundation for Women’s strategic efforts, investing in women and girls as catalysts for change. She has spent most of her career in public service, first as a member of the Chicago Police Department as a police officer and a violent crimes detective. Later, she served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Office of Public Engagement in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, and as Interim President of Olive-Harvey College, where she was a leader in developing, maintaining, and evaluating academic programs. Felicia was also an appointee to the Illinois Senate’s Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Awareness and Prevention Task Force and a member of Governor JB Pritzker’s Inauguration Committee. Currently, she serves on the Board of Regents for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, iHeartMedia Chicago’s Local Advisory Board, and the University of Chicago, Court Theatre Board of Trustees. Felicia is a founding member of the Chicago Foundation for Women’s South Side Giving Circle.
Project Director, Georgia Community-Engaged Research Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities
Brittany is a public health practitioner with 13 years of experience overseeing and implementing projects focused on maternal health, chronic disease management and prevention, infectious disease control, tobacco cessation, and health equity advancement. She has served in leadership positions on several grants and research projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. She has held leadership positions with the National Million Hearts Initiative, Deloitte, CDC Diversity & Inclusion Team, and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, Cardiovascular Health Leadership Council. Brittany is a graduate of the College of Charleston where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and of Mercer University where she earned her Master of Public Health. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Case Manager, Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, West Virginia University
Heather works for West Virginia University as a Case Manager for the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity. She is originally from Beaver, Pennsylvania, but currently resides in Morgantown, West Virginia. Heather is a 1995 graduate of Edinboro University. She is the mother of two, Jordan, 26, and MacKenzie, 21. She worked in social service for over 20 years, 10 of which she served as Executive Director of CASA of Beaver County, PA. Heather has a passion for advocacy and helping others, which explains her enthusiasm for her volunteer work within the RECOVER Initiative. As a PASC patient, Heather hopes that her participation in the study will help the medical community better understand why specific individuals are more susceptible to Long COVID and how to successfully treat the wide range of symptoms. In addition to her participation in the study and NCEG, Heather is also a member of the RECOVER Executive Committee and serves on the RECOVER National Community Advisory Board.
NCEG Members
NCEG members are listed with permission. This roster is not a comprehensive list of NCEG membership, as some participants prefer to contribute to the NCEG without being listed publicly and we honor their preference.
- Felicia Davis Blakley - Co-Chair
- Brittany Taylor - Co-Chair
- Heather Yates - Co-Chair
- Teresa Akintonwa
- Jamila Boyd
- Heather Elizabeth Brown
- Megan Carmilani
- Marta Cerda
- Whitney Fields
- Roberto Garcia
- Yvonka Hall
- Kevin Kondo
- Fadwa Lawrence
- Jacqui Lindsay
- Christine Maughan
- Tony Minor
- Marjorie Roberts
- Nitza Rochez
Ex-Officio, Non-Voting Members
Learn more about how RECOVER research works and the role of patients, caregivers, and community representatives.
Cores Operations Group
The RECOVER Cores Operations Group (COG) serves as a coordinating center for RECOVER governance activities by
- providing ongoing strategic and operational oversight for coordination of RECOVER Core activities,
- providing ongoing operational oversight for coordination of RECOVER sub-awards,
- evaluating reports and proposals from RECOVER Oversight Committees and RECOVER Pathobiology Task Force Committees for referral to the RECOVER Steering Committee, and
- providing a forum for resolution of issues that may arise amongst the Core investigators related to study operations.
Additionally, the COG serves as a forum for the RECOVER Cores to coordinate activities and solve problems that arise within the Consortium.
The RECOVER COG is responsible for
- providing programmatic guidance to the Consortium,
- monitoring progress toward the Consortium goals and developing solutions to any operational barriers or problems,
- evaluating recommendations and issues that arise in the Working Groups, Task Forces, or other Oversight Committees, and
- developing recommendations for the Steering Committee.
- Lisa Newman - Chair
- Frank Blanceró
- Mine Cicek
- Lauren Decker
- Jasmin Divers
- Ray Ebert
- Tonya Farris
- Valerie Flaherman
- Thomas Flotte
- Andrea Foulkes
- Rachel Gross
- Sally Hodder
- Leora Horwitz
- Beth Karlson
- Stuart Katz
- Craig Lefebvre
- Lisa Schwartz Longacre
- Shawn Murphy
- Michelle Olive
- Tony Punturieri
- Upinder Singh
- Stephen Thibodeau
- Andrea Troxel
- David Warburton
- Jordan Weyer
Oversight Committees
These groups help monitor and support RECOVER studies. This includes helping study leaders, teams, and study participants.
The Oversight Committees help make sure the research studies meet the RECOVER project goals, help researchers fix any problems, and protect those taking part in the studies. Groups will include researchers, experts, patients, caregivers, and community members.
The 6 Oversight Committees are:
Adjudication CommitteeThis group helps RECOVER leaders decide how to put study participants into different groups depending on their COVID symptoms and other tests. They also look at study results and help decide what the results mean in real life. And they help decide if harmful events have happened to any study participants. And if so, whether the events are because of the study. If they are, they help decide how those events will be reported.
Beyond the RECOVER studies, there are many other COVID studies going on around the world that are looking at COVID and its long-term effects or other illnesses that act or look like COVID. This group looks at other studies to see how they match up with the RECOVER studies and for similarities or differences in study goals.
This group works to make sure that study participants have a good experience in the study. They ask for comments, thoughts, ideas, and advice from people in the study and from community members and researchers. They also find ways for communities to take part and be active in the project.
This group makes sure that any reports about the RECOVER project are shared in a way that most people can find and understand them. They also make sure that decisions about who can be authors are made fairly. The group will review what people are reporting on about RECOVER and will help decide what study results are most important and should be written about first.
This group makes rules to double-check the quality of information collected by RECOVER and its studies. This includes making sure the study results are accurate and complete.
This group helps researchers plan, set up, and do the RECOVER studies. They make sure each study’s goals are the same and are in line with the overall goals of RECOVER. They also find ways to encourage people to join and stay in the studies.
Pathobiology Task Forces
Pathobiology is the study of why diseases happen in the body. In large research studies, a task force is a group of experts organized for a specific task. Because COVID can affect many parts of the body, we need experts in all types of diseases and body systems to help us learn why. Each RECOVER task force has experts in different kinds of health problems and body systems. One thing each Pathobiology Task Force does is keep researchers up to date on the latest science about how COVID may be causing health problems. This helps RECOVER leaders to get the best results from RECOVER studies.
Each task force includes patient, caregiver, and community members from across the country. They are like the people taking part in the RECOVER studies and can be a voice for study participants. As part of the task force, they share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and advice, including how COVID has affected their loved ones, their communities, and more.
The 12 Pathobiology Task Forces are:
Cardiopulmonary Task ForceThis group helps the RECOVER studies answer questions about how COVID may cause long-term problems that affect the heart, blood vessels, and lungs.
This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about what is similar or different among the long-term problems caused by COVID and problems caused by other viruses.
This group helps look at how RECOVER can
- answer questions about why some people are more likely than others to have long-term problems with COVID, which may be because of things such as where they live, how much money they have, or how hard it is for them to get healthcare;
- best collect information from COVID patients and their caregivers to find out how COVID is affecting them; and
- work with people and leaders from different communities to influence how the study is done and who is involved.
This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about how COVID may cause
- damage to the immune system, which would make it harder for our bodies to fight infections and other diseases; or
- problems with blood, such as blood clots.
COVID can affect many areas of the body, from the smallest parts (such as cells) to many of the major organs, such as the heart and lungs. This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about how COVID affects different parts of the body at the same time or one after another, and how this can lead to long-term problems.
This group looks at how researchers can study medications and treatments that may treat or prevent the long-term effects of COVID.
This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about what happens at each step after an infection with the virus that causes COVID. These steps include how the virus attacks cells and causes the various diseases we see after COVID infection.
This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about how people with metabolic disorders—like diabetes (high blood sugar)—may be at higher risk of long-term effects from COVID. They will also think about whether long-term effects from COVID may put people at higher risk of these types of health problems.
This group helps RECOVER studies answer questions about the virus that causes COVID. They look at how the virus causes COVID infection, how the virus is changing, and ways it may cause long-term harm to our bodies.
This group focuses on how COVID may cause changes in the brain and nerves that can lead to short-term or long-term mental health problems.
“Omics” is short for the types of science that end with the letters -omics—like genomics, the study of genes. This group will look at how RECOVER studies can do medical or scientific tests on different body systems to learn more about the long-term effects of COVID.
This group helps RECOVER researchers think about how to measure and track the long-term effects of COVID in large groups of people.