Staff Spotlight: Jeff Cornett Celebrates 25 Years at HoG

Horizons in Hemophilia, November 2015

By Nichelle Sims, JD, Associate Director of Research & Advocacy

On October 16^th, the HoG staff gathered to celebrated Jeff Cornett’s 25^th anniversary at Hemophilia of Georgia. Jeff currently serves as the Vice President of Research and Public Policy. Throughout his remarkable tenure at HoG Jeff has served in many vital roles. Staff members celebrated Jeff with a Florida-themed (Jeff’s home state) luncheon, where we gleefully reminisced about all of the passion, laughs, and fond memories Jeff has brought to HoG through the years. From Jeff’s beginnings as the Training and Research Coordinator, he reflects on his 25-year journey, “Working at HoG has never gotten boring; there have always been new and challenging things to do. It has been a great experience helping clients and serving client families through generations. I have grown up and grown old with this great group of coworkers and I really appreciate the familial work environment.”

HoG is so appreciative of how Jeff has humbly committed so much of his life’s work to the bleeding disorder community. Jeff came to HoG in 1990 to coordinate CDC-funded research on adolescent boys with hemophilia and HIV. Because of his background as a professional trainer, he secured contracts from the CDC to develop training curricula for hemophilia care providers throughout the U.S. on a variety of topics. He also became HoG's advocacy voice and was also instrumental in helping our clients gain access to settlements from the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund.

As part of the management team, Jeff has led the agency in achieving its goals in the areas of training, research, and advocacy. Jeff developed and oversees all aspects of the multi-million dollar Hemophilia Clinical Scientist Development Grant program and the Gene Therapy Clinical Trial Grant program. Most notably, Jeff coauthored The Hemophilia Handbook and La Guía de Hemofilia and authored The vWD & Platelet Disorder Handbook – recognized around the world as the easy-to-read “manuals” of bleeding disorder care. Jeff also coordinated translation of both publications into Spanish and eventually moved all into one online resource.

Additionally, Jeff has successfully lobbied the Georgia General Assembly to ensure that all Georgians with inherited bleeding disorders have access to factor concentrate. At the beginning of each year Jeff leads a client group to the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) Washington Days advocacy event to meet with U.S. Senators and Representatives. Jeff also initiated HoG’s efforts in the World Federation of Hemophilia Twinning Program that provided technical assistance to hemophilia organizations in Chile, Honduras, and Bolivia. These cross-country collaborations proved extremely effective and led to HoG and the Honduran Hemophilia Association receiving the “Hemophilia Organization Twins of the Year” award in 2007 in recognition of the accomplishments they made working together.

Since its inception in 1992, Jeff has overseen the growth of Camp Wannaklot from 28 campers to more than 160. Jeff has also graciously served as a camp counselor at Camp Wannaklot for 23 years and never hesitated to fully participate in all the camp activities with the campers. Jeff recalls that he has spent more than six months of his life sleeping at Camp Twin Lakes; a fact he considers a great accomplishment, and he would not have it any other way.

Even more, Jeff has built coalitions with other advocacy groups, and conveys the wealth of knowledge and expertise of someone who has traversed the complex health care system on behalf of Georgians with diverse health care needs for years. Vice President of Programs Ruth Brown says, “Jeff is uniquely suited to each aspect of his role at HoG. He is very knowledgeable about research and has driven the organization’s contributions to research efforts. He’s a passionate advocate who never forgets our underlying mission, and I’ve always been impressed that he can articulate client and agency needs to any audience. I’ve enjoyed working with Jeff for many years and credit him with helping HoG become a leader in the bleeding disorder community.”

Jeff earned a Master of Science in Nursing in Public Health Leadership from Emory University and has spent his career dedicated to enriching the lives of people with bleeding disorders in Georgia, across the nation, and around the world. All of his wonderful and tireless efforts led Jeff to be named Advocate of the Year by NHF in 2010, as well as an NHF “Hero” in the bleeding disorder community. Recently in 2015, Jeff was the first recipient of the Georgians for a Healthy Future Linda Smith Lowe Health Advocacy Award, which is awarded to an advocate whose exemplary work advances access to quality, affordable health care in Georgia. HoG CEO Maria Manahan says, “He has been a strong voice for quality and affordable health care for the hemophilia community in Georgia for over 25 years. Jeff has championed policy changes which have improved access for the community we serve and is very deserving of this award.”

Congratulations Jeff! We are all so proud of you and the important work you continue to do to achieve policy changes and equitable access to health care for everyone in the bleeding disorder community.  HoG and the entire bleeding disorder community are immensely grateful for your 25 years of passion, dedication, and service to us all. You are truly an extraordinary advocate, manager and mentor.