Community Team

Welcome to Health Union's Community Team. Our Community Team is made up of a diverse group of employees of Health Union who bring you engaging, accurate information about living with chronic and terminal health conditions. The Community Team partners with the Editorial Team to provide clinical content that helps people live better with their condition. Meet your Social Health Network team below.

The SocialHealthNetwork.com Team

Joanna Bodner

Joanna Bodner received her bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in communications from Central Connecticut State University. Before joining Health Union in 2016, she worked in the healthcare industry for over a decade. Now, at Health Union, she utilizes her strong passion for building positive relationships and connecting with others by finding a common ground to boost awareness in every segment of those with challenging health conditions. Joanna resides in Connecticut and enjoys spending time with her 3 children, husband, and 2 dogs.

Julie Croner

Julie holds a BS in business administration, management information systems from West Virginia University, is an American Association of Drugless Practitioners Certified Holistic Health Coach, and is a certified yoga instructor. After a career in IT consulting was put on hold, Julie found the world of patient advocacy and realized her life’s work was to advocate for all advocates. In 2020, Julie was named to the MM&M 40 Under 40 class of healthcare marketers and won the 2021 Reuters Events Global Pharma Awards Patient Champion: Patient Advocate award. When she’s not working to empower the patient voice, you can find Julie jamming out to Celine Dion (or Disney songs), attempting to fit in a yoga sesh between 4 kids, trying a new recipe, or enjoying life in Pittsburgh.

Bridget Gawinowicz

Bridget received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Drexel University and uses her experience in chronic disease management and smoking cessation counseling to help empower patients living with illness. Before joining Health Union, she created patient education materials that made health information accessible to patients of all literacy levels. She believes that patients are the most important part of the healthcare team and that empowering them will undoubtedly lead to better health outcomes.

Ilana Jacqueline

Ilana serves as Health Leader Director of Community at Health Union. She is also a patient, an advocate, and the author of 2 self-help books. Prior to joining Health Union, she worked as the Manging Director for Global Genes and the Director of Patient Advocacy at Face2Gene. She is passionate about advocating around women’s health, rare disease, and medical gaslighting.

Laura Kompanik

Laura has more than 15 years of experience working in medical communications, where she focused her strengths on cultivating meaningful, enduring relationships with patients. Laura strives to leverage her previous experience, skills, and personal love for people to develop and maintain a safe and supportive environment for people whose lives are impacted by cancer and other health conditions. When not working, Laura enjoys spending time with her husband, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 3 cats.

Meet our SocialHealthNetwork.com Community Health Leaders
Meet our Editorial Team
Meet our Medical Review Board

Community Team

Kate Abernethy
Michael Boren
Minel Cannucciari
Anthony Carrone
Patty Day
Rachel DiStefano
Allison Echols
Kelsey Ford
Gabby Formica
Jaclyn Gallagher
Courtney Getty
Jacqueline Gottlob
Liz Green
Reggie Hall
Crystal Harper
Matt Harrison
Sara Hayes
Colleen Heavens
Kayleigh Hill
Kailah Holmes
Audrey Innerst
Pam Jajko
Amanda Jones
Laura Kompanik
Kyler Koons
Danielle Kraft
Jess Lipkin
Kelly McNamara
Sanjana Mehrotra
Kelly Miller
Pamela Munnelly
Megan Norton
Torie Pappas
Corene Pettit
Amna Rizvi
Carolyn Rotella
Misty Roussa
Lauren Ruffalo
Sam Sarube
Abby Schmidt
Kathy Smyser
Samuel Taylor
Margot Tishberg
Alexa Vecchione
Sarah Wallin
Kristine Zerkowski
Brian Zimorowicz

Community Experience Coordinators

Melissa Arnold
Chelley Avicolli
Jill Brodie
Kimberly Broughal
Julie Byers
Richard Faust
Donna Flood-Amaya
Lori Duffy Foster
Jessica Hall
Doreen Hribar
Beth Huffman
Latoya Juniel
Christine Laaksonen
Cody Leach
Jake Maxwell
Katherine Moakes
Lauren Mullin
Debra Philip
Erin Rush
Erin Tirney