
The volunteer board of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan in Ann Arbor has added four new members. The new additions include Dr. Charles Bloom, chief medical officer at Health Alliance Plan; Jeff Chandler, executive vice president of VTC Insurance Group; Dr. Silas Norman, chair of the foundation’s scientific advisory board; and Debra Zivian, decade long supporter of the foundation.
Bloom, a Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine graduate, leads the development and implementation of clinical and operational programs at HAP while also overseeing its health care and quality activities. He has received numerous awards for both his clinical and academic work during his more than 20-year career, in which he’s held multiple leadership roles in emergency medicine.
On top of his work at VTC Insurance Group, Chandler has volunteered on the foundation’s Kidney Ball executive committee for several years and served as event co-chair in 2017 and 2018. A University of Michigan graduate, Chandler and his family know kidney disease well. His mother is a kidney cancer survivor, and his wife Alicia, who recently donated one of her kidneys to a friend with kidney disease, had her grandfather pass away due to kidney disease. He was one of the first people to use an in-home artificial kidney machine, a precursor to dialysis.
Norman, who studied medicine at Wayne State University, has served on the foundation’s scientific advisory board for more than 10 years and is currently providing leadership on the the foundation’s large grants from the CDC and the National Council on Aging. He currently practices at the University of Michigan and serves as a board-certified transplant nephrologist, interim medical director for kidney and pancreas transplantation, and an associate professor at the U-M medical school.
Debra Zivian has been involved with the foundation, specifically the Kidney Walk at the Detroit Zoo, for more than 10 years. Her son Danny, who has chronic kidney disease, has raised more than $100,000 through the kidney walk fundraiser, making him the top fundraiser in both Michigan and the nation. Zivian has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a deaf and hard of hearing endorsement from Eastern Michigan University, and a master’s in inclusionary education from the University of Detroit Mercy.
“We are so fortunate to have this kind of talent, expertise, experience, and compassion to add to our board,” says Linda Smith-Wheelock, president and CEO of the foundation. “Each one of these extraordinary members of our community will bring a unique perspective to the work we do preventing kidney disease and caring for those who live with it.”
The NKFM serves the entire state of Michigan and has offices in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids.