Meet Our Staff
We are a team of dedicated professionals working to make improve the lives of everyone impacted by cancer.
Leadership Team
Carrie Callas
Carrie joined the Cancer Wellness Center team in 2024, bringing 20 years of leadership experience in health and human services. She is deeply committed and passionate about the Center’s mission, driven by personal experiences with cancer affecting her family and close friends. Carrie holds a Master’s in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.
Michelle Maer
Michelle joined the Cancer Wellness Center in 2023. As Director of Development, she works closely with ambassadors, participants, and organizational partners to raise support and awareness for the important programs and services the Center provides.
Savina Chacheva
Savina joined the Center in 2012 as an intake intern. Currently, she is the program director and works closely with a team of staff to bring various education and wellness programs at the Center. She also serves as the staff liaison to our Young Professionals Board, helps manage CWC’s social media and supports our community outreach efforts.
Megan McMahon, PhD
Megan joined the Center‘s clinical staff in March 2003 and became Clinical Director in 2011. She is now responsible for oversight of the Center’s licensed psychologists, social workers and professional counselors. In addition to her administrative role, she continues to do some clinical work and her interests include working with couples, implementing lifestyle change and coping with anxiety.
Susie Rosenbaum
Susie joined the Cancer Wellness Center in 2021 as its Chief Financial Officer. Her focus in managing the Center’s finances, investments and operations. She brings years of experience in helping small to mid-sized companies achieve their financial goals.
Clinical Team
Stephanie Aaron, LCSW
Stephanie joined the Center’s clinical staff in June 2022 after working with children and adults with cancer in a hospital setting. She meets with children and adults for individual counseling and facilitates several groups, including the Center’s bereavement support groups. Stephanie’s professional interests include, but not limited to, managing caregiver stress, grief & bereavement, and caring for a child with cancer.
Priscilla Andrews, MA, LCPC
Priscilla joined the Center’s clinical staff in 2007. In addition to working with people through the Counseling Program, she also facilitates the monthly Multiple Myeloma Networking Group. Her areas of interest include survivorship issues, building motivation for behavior changes, recovery from trauma, and couples work.
Nora Barquin, LCSW
Nora joined the Clinical team in May 2022. She has a deep understanding of the Latino immigrant experience. She provides counseling in Spanish. Her professional interests include supporting participants through life-changes related to cancer diagnosis, and using mindfulness to reduce and manage anxiety and stress.
She is passionate about reducing the barriers that prevent Spanish speaking families from accessing services.
Heidi Brockstein, LCSW
Heidi joined the Center’s Clinical staff in January of 2020. She provides individual, couple and family counseling and currently runs the weekly Grayslake patient support group. Her areas of interest include teaching relaxation techniques and reducing anxiety, helping individuals transition to survivorship, and coping with diagnosis for patients and families.
Lori Bumbaco, MS, RDN, CSO, LDN
Lori joined the team in 2015 and is a Board Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition. In addition to individual nutrition counseling, Lori co-facilitates Weight Loss for Wellness and Mindful Kitchen. Lori’s areas of interest include empowering survivors with reputable information, building confidence in the kitchen, and exploring how food is more than just nutrition.
Michele Hernandez, LCSW
Michele joined the Center‘s clinical staff in April of 2024. She provides individual counseling, facilitates a Women’s Support Group, and provides parenting support to those involved with the Center‘s Child Life Specialist. Some of Michele’s interests include helping adults and couples process a diagnosis, decrease stress and anxiety, and navigate difficult situations.
Dominique James, MS, LPC
Dominique joined the Center’s clinical staff in January of 2020. In addition to working with adults, adolescents and young adults through the Counseling Program, he also facilitates the Adult Child Caregiver and Spirituality Discussion Group, as well as the Center’s Bi-Weekly Writing Lab. His areas of practice include mindfulness based cognitive therapy, Internal Family Systems, Brainspotting, and relationship management.
Alana Lebovitz, MSW
Alana joined the Cancer Wellness Center in 2023 as Intake Coordinator. In this role she helps connect people with programs and services offered by the Center as well as providing information about available community resources. Alana has a background in social work and has extensive experience in community-based nonprofits organizations. Her areas of interest are building relationships and supporting families.
Sabrina Levitas, MA, LPC
Sabrina joined the Center’s clinical staff in August of 2023 after completing her clinical internship with the Center. In addition to working with individuals through the Counseling Program, she also facilitates the Young Women’s Cancer Survivor Support Group, the Co-Ed Young Adult Survivor Support Group, as well as the Parents of Children with Cancer Support Group. Her professional areas of interests include processing a diagnosis, life changes and transitions, relationship challenges, motivation for behavior change, and caregiver stress.
Mark Livshots, MA, LPC
Mark joined the Center’s Clinical staff after completing his clinical internship with the Center. He sees individuals and couples for counseling, as well as facilitates several support groups, including the Men’s Support Group and the Significant Others Support Group. His professional interests include processing a diagnosis, caregiving concerns, grief and loss, and finding meaning. As the Men’s Programming Specialist, Mark is always thinking of new ways of supporting the male participants of the Center.
Kimberly Matthews, MA, LCPC
Kim joined the Center’s clinical staff in 1998. In addition to coordinating the Support Groups Programming and facilitating a Significant Other Group, Kim provides counseling to individuals, couples and families. Her interests include health and nature, survivorship issues, stress reduction and couples work.
Elyssa Siegel, CCLS
Elyssa serves as the Center’s Certified Child Life Specialist and assists us in helping families better navigate and manage the cancer experience. As a Child Life Specialist, Elyssa facilitates activities targeted at decreasing anxiety, developing coping strategies, providing a sense of control, and fostering resiliency in both children as well as their families.
Gabrielle Wolk, PsyD
Gabrielle joined the Center‘s clinical staff in February 2022. She provides individual counseling, facilitates a Women’s Support Group, and supervises doctoral students. Her professional interests include adjusting to life’s changes and transitions, grief and loss, aging, caregiver stress, palliative care, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and existential/humanistic approaches.
Clinical Interns
Erin Bishop
Erin joined the Center’s clinical staff as a graduate intern in 2024. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, concentrating in Health Psychology. At CWC, Erin will work with individuals through the Counseling Program and co-facilitate the Center‘s Young Women’s Support Group and Bereavement Support Group. Erin’s primary areas of interest include pediatric oncology, grief and bereavement processing, legacy building, and supporting individuals impacted by a cancer diagnosis in processing this life change and supporting them through their experience.
Jacob Seiden
Jacob joined the Center’s clinical staff as a graduate intern in 2024. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. In addition to working with individuals through the Counseling Program, he also co-facilitates the Center’s Bereavement Support Group. Jacob works with individuals and groups to process and manage anxiety, consider challenges that arise in their lives and relationships, and navigate instances of grief and loss.
Development & Administrative Team
Doris Downing
Doris joined the Center as Director of Development in 2018 where she focused on building relationships with participants and donors. As Data and Analytics Manager, she brings vast experience in providing data insights to optimize the Center’s operations.
Gail Fradin
Gail joined the Cancer Wellness Center in early 2019 as the Development Manager. Gail’s focus is planning and managing the Center’s events. Gail helps the Center reach its financial goals by assisting with fundraising, building donor relationships, and increasing community awareness. She also assists with Center’s marketing and communications efforts.
Mary Jayaraman
Mary joined the Cancer Wellness Center team in 2019 after being a volunteer there. She coordinates afternoon and evening front desk staffing in addition to providing administrative support for programs.
The front desk staff and volunteers assist with inquiries and strive to make the Cancer Wellness Center a warm and welcoming place for our Participants and visitors!
MaryAnn Ng
MaryAnn joined the Cancer Wellness Center in 2024. As the Accountant and Gift Management Specialist, she works closely with the Data and Analytics Manager and Chief Financial Officer. Her primary responsibilities are to ensure the integrity of the financial records and donor database. MaryAnn is enthusiastic about the opportunity to handle the financial and data management needs of the Center.
Emily Long
Emily joined the Center’s development team in 2024. As the Grants Manager, Emily serves the Center by developing and nurturing relationships with grantors and key stakeholders. Emily is passionate about communicating impact through storytelling to highlight the importance of the Center’s services to the community.
Dymond Redd
Dymond joined the CWC team in 2022. She is focused on communications and fundraising support. She is also motivated to to raise awareness about the Center.
Lisa Roudabush
Lisa joined the Center in 2019 as a Client Services Associate, providing administrative support to the participants both virtually and in person. In 2023 she moved into a new role as the Program Associate and now assists the Program Team in developing and implementing new and existing programs and classes. She continues to maintain her relationships with our participants, while using her previous experience to provide them with valuable and thoughtful programing.
Lauren Tenenbaum
Lauren joined the Cancer Wellness Center in 2023 as a morning and afternoon Client Services Associate. She provides administrative support for programs that take place in-person and virtually. As part of the front door staff, she strives to make the Cancer Wellness Center a warm and welcoming environment for our visitors.
Jeff Thomas
Jeff serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Cancer Wellness Center. In this position, Jeff is dedicated to establishing and nurturing connections within the community. He actively engages with nonprofit organizations, healthcare partners, and community-based entities, ensuring that the Cancer Wellness Center remains responsive to the evolving needs of its participants. Through attentive listening and proactive outreach, Jeff works to amplify the center’s impact and support its mission.
