Community Health Leaders

In order to stay up to date on latest treatments, drug discovery, clinical studies and how to manage psoriatic arthritis every day, Psoriatic-Arthritis.com brings you frequent articles, blogs, points of view and advice from health leaders and professional medical experts.

Current health leaders

Davinia Ayala

I cannot remember the first time I had symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. When I was a child, I was always ill or recovering from a fall, I was quite clumsy. I remember going to the doctors a lot and not being well, it was just normal to me. My immune system wasn’t very strong and I had a tendency to have tonsillitis whenever my defenses were low. At that time, I was given many injections and lots of antibiotics. Read more.

Abigail Covert

Hi, I’m Abigail Covert! I’ve had Atopic Dermatitis for my whole life, and my mother has had Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis when I was 4, but it went away after a few years of following a modified diet and prescription creams. Read more.

Cynthia Covert

Cynthia Covert was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis in 2003. She founded her blog - The Disabled Diva - in 2013 where she shares how living with multiple chronic illnesses has changed her life. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends at Disneyland and helping the disabled plan a magical Disney vacation. Her goal is to help others like her find new ways to do what they love and to remind them that they are not alone. Read more.

Catherine Dolan

Catherine Dolan is a moderator for Psoriatic-Arthritis.com and PlaquePsoriasis.com. While she has had psoriasis for as long as she can remember; the severity and type of which has varied throughout the years. As her psoriasis has always been with her in some shape or form, she has come to feel that it is part of her. Read more.

Leanne Donaldson

Leanne Donaldson is a contributor and a moderator for Psoriatic-Arthritis.com. She has lived with varying degrees of skin conditions, aches and pains, and moderate hearing loss for the past several years. It is only with her diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis that the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. She writes on her blog, Smiles and Sundays, about family life and parenting with a chronic illness. Read more.

Clair Gardiner

Clair Gardiner is a moderator on Psoriatic-Arthritis.com and PlaquePsoriasis.com. A few years after being diagnosed and suffering from severe plaque psoriasis, she found herself on the verge of becoming a recluse. She never wanted to leave the house as the pain and embarrassment were insurmountable. Knowing what it feels like to live in pain 24/7 drives her to help people find something that works for them. Read more.

Elizabeth Medeiros

Although she wasn’t formally diagnosed until age 12, Elizabeth Medeiros likely had psoriatic arthritis since she was a toddler. However, that hasn’t stopped her in pursuing her passions - writing and art. At the age of 15, she started her blog The Girl with Arthritis. Now, a college student, she’s studying product design and hopes to create medical devices for people with chronic pain. Read more.

Jaime Lyn Moy

Jaime Lyn Moy’s first encounter with psoriatic arthritis was actually in the role of caretaker of her son who was diagnosed at age five. Three years later, she would receive her own diagnosis. It’s this family connection that sparked her to create A Spot of Hope, blog as a way to reach out to patients and parents of children with psoriatic disease. Read more.

Aimee Perez

After having psoriasis for ten years Aimee was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis at 22 years old. She was undergoing a routine examination during a drug research trial and it felt like the diagnosis came out of nowhere. Aimee thought the daily pain shee was experiencing was normal. Read more.

Jim Snedden

Jim Snedden is a Patient Advocate, Mentor and Social Ambassador with the National Psoriasis Foundation. He also blogs at aWildAndFlakyGuy.com and can frequently be found on twitter at @NPFjim and Instagram @NPFjim. Read more.

Diane Talbert

Diane Talbert has had psoriasis for more than 50 years and psoriatic arthritis for about 20 years. However, she was not diagnosed with PsA until 10 years ago. Her struggle with these conditions has continued since her initial diagnoses, but she has learned how to better manage the condition. Read more.

Vickie Wilkerson

Vickie Wilkerson was 33 years old when psoriasis presented itself. Now 16 years later she still deals with active plaque psoriasis. As she likes to say "psoriasis is just the gift that keeps on giving" meaning six years ago it developed into psoriatic arthritis as well. Read more.

Melissa Withem-Voss

Melissa Withem-Voss started out with PsA suddenly in February 1996. She developed PsO six months later. She has had all forms of Psoriasis including; Plaque, Guttate, Scalp, Palmer Plantar, and Pustular. At one point she was 97% covered in lesions and was Erythrodermic. Read more.

Former health leaders

Annelyse Andal

I am Annelyse, I am 24 years old, I have Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. But I refuse to be defined by these illnesses because they are only a part of me. I may be slowed down, but I refuse to be hindered. I intend to thrive on my own terms, heal at my own pace, and cheer on everyone else's healing as well. Read more.

Alisha B

Alisha has dealt with psoriasis since she was 7 years old but was only recently diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. At the start of her psoriasis diagnosis, she hid in shame afraid of what people would think of such a visible disease. As a result, she was inspired to create her blog, Being Me in My Own Skin. Read more.

Donica Liu Baker, MD, FACR

Donica Liu Baker, MD, FACR is a board-certified rheumatologist practicing the art of medicine in her beloved hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. With roots in the field of Kinesiology, she developed an early passion for helping patients improve their mobility, which evolved into an interest in arthritis and autoimmune diseases. Read more.

Kim Clune

At 8 years old, Kim Clune was told that she mustn’t wash well enough to have skin like hers. The shame of that did not abate, even after a diagnosis of psoriasis proved the theory wrong. Kim now aims to quell the needless shame by sharing ideas with and learning from others about caring for one’s self with love. Read more.

Janet Geddis

Janet Geddis, also known as "The Migraine Girl," is a business owner as well as a longtime migraine patient advocate and essayist at Migraine.com. She recently began writing for Psoriatic-Arthritis.com as well. In addition to writing about her struggles with chronic disease, Janet is a health consultant and professional speaker. Read more.

Jack Gevertz

Jack is a contributor and moderator to the Plaque Psoriasis community, and a moderator for the Psoriatic Arthritis community. He has suffered from psoriasis since he was 11. Read more.

Julie Greenwood

Julie Greenwood has lived with psoriatic disease since 1991. She is passionate about sharing her story, educating others about psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and about patient advocacy. Read more.

Heidi Hedquist

Heidi Hedquist’s life was changed by psoriatic arthritis more than 15 years ago when both her best friend and that friend’s son were diagnosed. Consequently, she has spent the last several years learning about the disease through watching her loved ones achieve incredible things as advocates and inspirations to others living with the PsA. Read more.

Holland

Holland is a writer, marketing consultant, dog mom, and patient advocate. She’s lived with Crohn’s disease and Psoriasis for the majority of her life. Psoriatic Arthritis made its debut in her life, in 2012, during a particularly bad Crohn’s and Psoriasis flare. The only problem was no one knew what it was or what to do about it. Read more.

Brittany Ineson

With her most recent diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, Brittany is eager to delve into her condition and, once again, share her experiences throughout her journey. Read more.

Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson is a fitness professional based out of New York City. Along with training clients both in-person and online, Ryan is a writer and co-founder of Sons Of Strength, alongside his brother, Eric. Together, they are the dynamic duo of the fitness industry. Read more.

Joel Nelson

Joel has lived with arthritis most of his life, with the onset when he was just 11 years old. He has had psoriatic arthritis since his twenties and ankylosing spondylitis since his teenage years. Read more.

Vicki Nowell

Vicki Nowell is a moderator and contributor for PlaquePsoriasis.com and Psoriatic-Arthritis.com. She was diagnosed with guttate psoriasis in her late teens. Despite having initial success with topical treatments and phototherapy, her psoriasis returned. In her other life, she co-moderates a Facebook psoriasis group while working as a microbiologist in the field of molecular diagnostics. Read more.

Carrie Ricketts

Carrie Ricketts was diagnosed in 2016 with psoriatic arthritis and would currently describe her disease as mild. Upon being diagnosed with PsA, she became interested in researching PsA and upon doing so was unable to find much information about patients with mild disease activity. Read more.

Sean Rodman

Sean Rodman is a contributing writer for Psoriatic-Arthritis.com. He first developed psoriasis in his early 20s in the form of a couple of very small patches on his arm and behind his ear. In his late 40s, he was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis after a bout of bronchitis that resulted in body pain that refused to go away. Looking back, he feels he likely first developed psoriatic arthritis in his 30s but didn’t recognize the signs. Read more.

Porscha Simmons

Porscha is a Poet. Multi-genre writer and native Washingtonian diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis in late 2019 after a two-year search for answers about her chronic pain and fatigue. Porscha wrote about her path to diagnosis in the Anthology. Read more.

Regular contributors and moderators at Psoriatic-Arthritis.net are offered compensation for their contributions to the Psoriatic-Arthritis.net community. If you are interested in joining our team, please contact us at contact@psoriatic-arthritis.net