About Us

Our Dedicated Team Focused on Helping Brain Tumor Patients

Brain Tumor Support Group

SUPPORT

HOPE

COURAGE

Board Members

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Our Board

SBTF Board members have all been touched by a brain tumor diagnosis. As a result, each is dedicated to raising funds for brain tumor research. Also, each member works diligently to provide support and outreach for those in the brain tumor community.

We know the feeling of isolation, confusion, and fear. We understand the importance of being hugged, and we treasure the talents of those who are good listeners.

We are your SBTF Board of Directors, diverse in background but all focused on the same outcome. We are patients, we are healthcare providers, we are caregivers, we are researchers. We work in a voluntary, unpaid capacity, and we are consumed with our mission to find a cure for brain tumors.

We are proud to serve you and to be of service to you.

Officers and Staff

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Kelly Turner
SBTF President –

Kelly Turner is a member of the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation’s Board of Directors. She has been on the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2012 and currently serves as our Board President since 2020.

Kelly is a graduate of North Carolina State University and holds an Industrial Engineering degree. Employed in the textile industry with Milliken & Company for eight years, following the birth of her first child, she made the transition to a full-time parent. Ms. Turner has been familiar with brain tumors and their impact since 2007 when her mother was diagnosed with a GBM. After a 16-month period of radiation, chemo, and clinical trials, her mother passed in September 2008. Ms. Turner began as a Race for Research team captain and quickly became one of the foundation’s top fundraisers and advocates.

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Kelly Turner
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John Herman
SBTF Vice President –

John has served on the SBTF Board of Directors since 2018, elected to serve as SBTF Secretary in 2020 and then elected to Vice President in 2021. As Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Tempest Aero Group (a general aviation manufacturing company), John lost his wife Karen to brain cancer in 2007. From diagnosis to death only six months elapsed. Just three weeks prior to Karen’s passing, John’s family found Race For Research and formed team Karen’s Legacy and he team has remained in the top fundraising positions ever since.
Before Karen’s passing, she told the family “no other families should ever have to go through what we went through” and she asked her family to continue to work with the SBTF and to help bring an end to brain tumors and brain cancer. Despite his 40 years of business experience and having served on several industries (and nonprofit boards) in the past, John’s invaluable talent and expertise cannot compare to his “desire to serve” with the SBTF. As John so eloquently stated, “Anyone can give money and raise money, I have done both for the SBTF and now I want to give something that cannot be replaced – my time.”

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John Herman
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Lindsey Murray
SBTF Secretary –

Lindsey Murray joined the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation Board of Directors in 2020 and was elected as Secretary in 2021. She became an advocate in 2017 when her Dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor (Inoperable GBM) and lost the battle after only 7 months. She initially became involved with SBTF in learning the role of primary caregiver and was beyond thankful for the life-changing support the foundation provides to both patients and caregivers. She is passionate about enabling SBTF corporate sponsorships to continue the foundation's vital support to those affected by a brain tumor. Lindsey holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Columbia University. She currently works in corporate venture consulting for startups designing early stage innovative concepts.

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Lindsey Murray
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Suzanne Boeren
SBTF Treasurer –

Suzanne is a member of the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation’s Board of Directors and serves as an SBTF Officer. As an SBTF Officer, she has held the position of SBTF Treasurer since 2013. Suzanne is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, where she received her BA in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems.

Her special interests involve spending time with family, quilting, bowling, and a plethora of other hobbies. An employee of Deli Provisions since 1999, and subsequently with Atlanta Deli Provision Company, she has been a member of the SBTF Board since 2004. During her junior year in college, Ms. Boeren was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Removal of the tumor occurred in November 1998 and she has been an active brain tumor advocate ever since.

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Suzanne Boeren
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Geri Shaffer
Executive Director

After a career in the medical device industry which spanned 31 years, Geri was enjoying retirement when the SBTF came knocking. The Foundation was in a growing phase and was searching for their first-ever part-time employee. The Foundation, governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors, was searching for a "face" of the organization and someone who could answer phones and reply to emails. More importantly the Foundation was also looking for an individual who was passionate about serving others. Geri said yes in 2012 and she continues to serve us today. Similarly, to all those who serve on the SBTF Board of Directors, Geri's life was impacted by a diagnosis of a family member which resulted in brain scans and treatments which altered life not only for the patient but for the caregivers. Geri, a passionate, and compassionate individual, who has walked in similar shoes to yours, is at work behind the scenes caring for this organization and helping to drive it forward and fulfill the dreams of the Warshaw Family, founding fathers of the SBTF in 1995.

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Geri Shaffer
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Joy Basham
Support Staff

Joy was diagnosed with a brain stem glioma in May 2013 and in August of that same year, she had surgery to resect the tumor. During her journey to find her neurosurgery team, she saw a flyer at Emory promoting the SBTF Brain Tumor Support Group. Weeks after her initial brain surgery, she found herself at an SBTF support group meeting a medical mess and hopeless. Since then, she has had 26 procedures in the last 7 years to correct many deficits left from the initial brain surgery and during that time she has been a part of countless support group meetings. She has had the opportunity to serve on the Board of the Foundation and from there, a staff position opened. As Joy will tell you, the support group meetings saved her life and the Foundation allowed her to find a new purpose in carrying out the SBTF mission to end brain tumors!

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Joy Basham
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Sharita Lang, Associate Executive Director

Sharita Lang has been instrumental in garnering change for organizations for over the last 20 years. Having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in public administration, she has utilized her expertise to reshape the foundations of organizations to ensure their success and the accomplishments of those they serve. Sharita’s life was transformed early by the diagnosis of a close relative similarly to all of those who serve on the SBTF Board of Directors. Dedicated to continuing the excellent reputation of the SBTF, Sharita is committed to keeping the mission of offering Support, Hope, and Courage while together, we find a cure for all diagnosed with a brain tumor. 

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Sharita Lang
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Liz Stubbs
Creative Director

In my creativity amplifying workshops & in my art + photography, I explore themes around light, inner journeys and living our YES—creating space for people to re-connect with their expressive freedom, championing their spirit + energy. I see portraits as a visual expression of our inner voice, enabling us to truly see—in our fragments & wholeness—our radiance.

My greatest privilege & joy is to celebrate the art of a person, what lights us up from within. When we see ourselves through that lens, we bloom, transforming how we show up in life.

I bring to my photography, writing and creating a background in psychology, decades of experience as a writer, publishing several books, and as a Creative Director and Director/Producer for corporate, broadcast and PR, working with celebs & amazing people with inspiring stories from all walks of life. 

I am grateful to have studied with master photographers I admire David Alan Harvey, Sam Abell, Jay Maisel and Peter Turnley. My images have been selected for internationally juried exhibitions and hang in private collections.

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Liz Stubbs

Board Members: (In Alpha Order)

THE HISTORY OF THE SBTF

The Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation was incorporated in 1995.  Our Founders, the Warshaw family, were in search of brain tumor resources in the Atlanta, GA area after their son was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Their persistence to identify and locate resources resulted not only in our Incorporation, but in the establishment of our mission to fund brain tumor research with the hope of advancing curative treatments and improve the quality of life for brain tumor patients and their families.

We received our IRS Non-Profit determination letter in May of 1995, the same letter recognized the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation as a public charity.  Since inception, and to this day, the Foundation is led by an all-volunteer Board of Directors who serve in an uncompensated capacity. Each member has been impacted by a brain tumor diagnosis as a patient, a caregiver, or as a brain tumor related medical clinician.

The directives from our Board strive to ensure that all decisions result in the maximum allocation of funds for brain tumor research grants and support services. While we do not offer direct financial support to individual patients, we do support patient programs.

Our brain tumor support group meetings are designed to give patients, as well as their families and caregivers, access to information and resources. These can help them navigate the brain tumor journey.  Our Voices of Hope Academic Scholarship program provides provide individuals, whose life has been impacted by a brain tumor diagnosis, the opportunity to pursue post-secondary education at an accredited college, university, or technical school. 

Our annual fundraising activities, as well as support year-round from our donors have enabled us to fund scientific research and investigator-initiated clinical trials. Read more about our impact on brain tumors.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Our Scientific Advisory Committee members are involved in discussions which seek out and identify opportunities in which the SBTF might collaborate, or partner, with other organizations to identify, uncover, collect, and review research grant proposals. The Committee strives to identify which research grants proposals contain the most promising research pointed to deliver effective treatments for results. The Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation has no obligatory financial affiliation with a research institution or organization. We don’t care who finds the cure, just that a cure is found.

From the President

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SBTF President Kelly Turner

I’m Kelly Turner, your SBTF President. My journey with brain tumors began in 2007 with my mother’s Glioblastoma diagnosis. After a 16-month battle, it ended the way many GBM journeys end, with her death. After this devastating loss, I wanted to find a way to continue the fight against brain tumors. I became involved with the SBTF as a participant in the Race For Research 5k. I created a team and became a team captain. About four years later, I found my way to the Foundation’s Board of Directors. This year, I am honored to continue to serve as your president; this is an amazing organization. 

The SBTF is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit voluntary health organization and public charity. Our primary mission is to improve the quality of life for brain tumor patients and their families and to provide funding for research so that a cure for brain tumors can be found. SBTF Board members are volunteers; we come from different backgrounds and have regular jobs and regular daily stresses. We are current patients, healthcare professionals, and survivors. We are those touched by a friend or family member’s diagnosis, and we are those who support the SBTF’s mission. It is our common dedication to the SBTF that brings us together and enables us to succeed.

Since its creation, the SBTF has funded almost $3 million in research grants. This funding resulted from the success of our annual fundraisers, featuring the Race for Research, which is held each fall in Atlanta, Georgia. Event registration, individual donations, gifts of securities, employer gift matching, and personal fundraising, as well as the ever-important support and sponsorship by local corporations, enable us to fund brain tumor research.

In addition to raising funds for research, the SBTF offers support groups led by a nurse practitioner. Our support groups offer a safe and supportive environment for patients and families to share their experiences and receive support. The SBTF also strives to educate the brain tumor community by providing regular research updates and making available resource information for those affected by the disease.

We provide support, hope, and courage to those impacted by brain tumors. We offer a Voices of Hope Scholarship to students entering college who have themselves been or family members diagnosed with a brain tumor. In addition, we provide patient support services to patients in the midst of treatment.

It is you, our fellow advocates, who have enabled this organization to support the brain tumor community’s necessary emotional, informational, and scientific needs. We deeply appreciate your invaluable contributions.

To learn more about the SBTF, speak to a member of our board or volunteer, please contact us at (786) 505-SBTF or via email at info@sbtf.org.

With hope for a cure,

Kelly Turner
2020-2022 President, Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation

Stewardship

The SBTF Board meets monthly in a face-to-face setting either in person or via web conference. Our Board members are not compensated for their service and complete an annual Conflict of Interest document. Financial statements are reviewed by a CPA who also prepares and files our annual IRS 990 Form. EIN 58-2166144

Of A Dollar 2021

Our Stewardship

The Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation strives to assure at least $0.65 of each dollar is spent directly on programs including research grants, scholarships, support groups and patient initiatives.

Our lifetime average is $0.80 per dollar directly funding our programs.