Our Team
KAVYA VELAGAPUDI, MSW
Executive Director and Board Member
Kavya is the Executive Director and Board Member of the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation. Since 2015, Kavya has been involved with the organization providing fundraising and management support.
She is a fundraising and management professional with 15 years of experience generating revenue and resources for various nonprofit organizations. With a Master's in Social Welfare and a concentration in Non-Profit Administration & Policy Advocacy, Kavya has a unique blend of development, management, and clinical skills. Before launching her independent fundraising consultancy Honu Fundraising, she was the Development Director of the International Museum of Women, now part of Global Fund for Women, in San Francisco.
Before joining the Museum, Kavya was the Western Region Director of Starlight Children’s Foundation in Los Angeles overseeing all development, communications, and program services in Starlight’s Western Region.
LISA YEN, NP, NBC-HWC
Director of Programs & Outreach
Lisa Yen was a nurse practitioner hospitalist for over 12 years prior to her husband’s diagnosis with advanced, metastatic pancreatic NET in January 2015. She brings a unique perspective to the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation as a medical professional and a caregiver.
Once a regional support group, LACNETS has grown into a national NET patient advocacy group that now supports the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation, founded by Dr. Richard Warner.
As the Director of Programs & Outreach, Lisa curates educational content for the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation’s virtual and in-person events, podcasts, annual conferences and symposiums, video resource library and Clinical Trials Guide. She facilitates patient and caregiver support groups and a support line. She has developed a peer mentorship program (NETCONNECT), a health coaching program and wellness retreats. Lisa also co-created NET VITALS with LACNETS founder Giovanna Joyce Imbesi and City of Hope’s Dr. Daneng Li.
In addition to developing content, Lisa attends national and international medical and scientific conferences to stay apprised of the latest in NET advances. She collaborates with NET experts, researchers, partners and patient advocates to improve access to education and care. Her passion is to help improve the quality of life for those affected by NET.
Lisa was the recipient of the 2020 Monica Warner Award. She serves as treasurer on the executive board of INCA. She is a member of the NANETS NETPact Committee.
Lisa earned a BA in psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois, a BSN from Loyola University of Chicago, and an MSN from UCLA’s School of Nursing’s Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Through Vanderbilt, she became a Nationally Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and is currently on the Vanderbilt and VA faculty, where she trains healthcare professionals and health coach trainees.
Watch Lisa and her husband Tom describe how they made decisions in this 2017 LACNETS video.
TAYMEYAH AL-TOUBAH, MPH, CCRP
Interim Program Director
Taymeyah Al-Toubah, MPH, CCRP, is an experienced clinical research professional with more than a decade of work in academic medicine, oncology, and neuroendocrine tumor research. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Psychology and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, where her thesis work led to one of her first publications in neuroendocrine tumors.
From 2018 to 2023, Taymeyah served as the primary neuroendocrine tumor coordinator at Moffitt Cancer Center, managing clinical trials, leading the GI research team, and supporting retrospective and non-interventional studies. She later became Senior Project Manager of the NET program, overseeing protocol development, database creation, manuscript preparation, and a master database of more than 10,000 NET patients. She has authored more than 45 manuscripts, presented at ENETS and NANETS, serves on the NANETS Board of Directors, and is a co-founder and member of the medical advisory committee of FLaNET Carcinoid Community.
In 2025, Taymeyah began medical school in Italy as she continues her path toward becoming a physician-scientist focused on advancing care for people with neuroendocrine cancer. In 2026, she joined the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation in a special support role, contributing to NCF’s educational programs and resources for patients, caregivers, clinicians, and the broader NET community.
HEATHER DAVIS
Director of Community Engagement
Heather Davis joined the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation as a NETCONNECT mentor in 2019 after finding LACNETS (now NCF) to be an invaluable collective for curated educational resources, medical experts and experienced support for her mother, Shaunie Davis, who lived with functional, metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors from 2012 to 2024.
As Director of Community Engagement, Heather connects patients, caregivers, and leading medical specialists to deliver essential, relevant resources. She brings over two decades of professional account management experience in advertising and marketing, combined with 12 years of first-hand experience as her mother's primary medical advocate.
Heather firmly believes that fostering knowledge, open communication, and active collaboration enhances both the quality of care and the overall quality of life for individuals navigating this complex and insidious disease. She’s dedicated to turning adversity into advocacy by helping others bypass pitfalls of misinformation and misunderstanding of neuroendocrine cancer.
Heather continues to be inspired by the exceptional patient and caregiver community she supports, brilliant, zealous healthcare providers and her mother’s legacy of living with courage, grace and gratitude despite cancer.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DONNA GAVIN
Board President
Donna Gavin is the sister of LACNETS founder Giovanna Joyce Imbesi and has been a board member of GeneratePossibility.org/LACNETS (now the Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation) since 2009.
Donna is dedicated to impactful work and has many years of experience in non-profit management and leadership.
With a background in finance and law, she has served on boards and constituent groups of non-profit organizations for over 20 years. She is currently a senior grants administrator and paralegal at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York, a scientific research institution and National Cancer Institute designated Cancer Center. Donna holds a BA from Williams College and a diploma in paralegal studies from New York University.
MARY DONLEVY
Board member
Mary Donlevy joined the LACNETS Board in 2020. She brings the patient perspective as she has been thriving despite living with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor since 2005. She has been close friends with LACNETS Founder Giovanna Joyce since 2010 and involved with LACNETS (now Neuroendocrine Cancer Foundation) since then.
Mary has served as a NET CONNECT mentor and Advisory Committee member. She has been actively involved in the monthly meetings and virtual NET support groups.
Mary received her Bachelor's Degree in Communications from University of San Diego and has over 10 years of medical and sales training. Her passion is to help those dealing with this difficult diagnosis and still enjoy a very full and active life. She is the mother of four children, two of which are identical twins, born after her cancer diagnosis. Mary enjoys ocean swimming, yoga and traveling with her husband and children in her free time.