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Sandra C. Raymond

Sandra C. Raymond

Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Advisor

Sandra C. Raymond served as the Foundation’s President and CEO since 2002. During her 17 year tenure, the Foundation raised more than $120 million to support medical research and care services and stimulated more than $550 million in federal dollars to support lupus research and education.

Over the past year in an effort to ensure a strong future for the Lupus Foundation of America, Sandra and the national Board of Directors worked to identify the new leadership of the organization and on October 1, 2018, Stevan W. Gibson was appointed as the President and CEO. Sandra has agreed to stay on to support the organization in a new role as Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Advisor.

During her tenure, Sandra has worked tirelessly to elevate lupus on the nation’s health agenda.  She has testified before Congress about the needs of the field and people affected by lupus. She met with federal policymakers and numerous partners to address essential issues related to lupus research, drug development and patient care.

Under her leadership, the Foundation worked with lupus champions in Congress to establish the first-ever Congressional Lupus Caucus in the House of Representatives, advocated to create the Federal Working Group on Lupus, established the first lupus research line item in the Department of Defense and stimulated more than $75 million for lupus studies at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Working with key opinion leaders in lupus clinical research and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, Sandra initiated many scientific initiatives to overcome barriers to lupus drug development that aim to provide an arsenal of new targeted treatments for managing the disease. The Foundation also created the first online Open Access medical journal, Lupus Medicine and Science, which is administered by the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Sandra also worked with the Board of Directors and senior staff to establish numerous care services for individuals with lupus and families, including a network of nurses who speak with tens of thousands of individuals each year. The Foundation also created LupusConnect®, an international online community where people can engage with one another to share experiences and find emotional support, and established the first-ever National Resource Center on Lupus featuring more than 800 curated articles on lupus.  

Before joining the Foundation, Ms. Raymond was the founding CEO of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Under her direction, the organization became the preeminent authority on this major women’s health issue, and the disease was advanced to the top of the nation’s women’s health agenda.