Meet our Founding Board Members
Foundation Board Members
Linda Steele
Founder & Chief Scientist | linda.steele@immunocure.org
Linda Steele is the founding scientist backing up ImmunoCure. She has a degree in both Biology and Chemistry, and has always straddled the two disciplines throughout her career. Unfortunately, Steele lost both of her parents and best friend to cancer. She has felt the helplessness that friends and family feel while their loved ones experience the disease. After losing her best friend, Steele started ImmunoCure and has been building up the foundation since. Steele splits her free time between the great outdoors and inside her painting studio. She enjoys hiking, camping, yoga, gardening and traveling.
Please follow Steele’s blog (link to blog page), as she will be updating us weekly about her research and experiences in the lab!
Joe Comparato
President & CEO | joe.comparato@immunocure.org
Joe Comparato is the President and CEO of ImmunoCure Foundation. Comparato grew up in Chicago and planted roots in Kansas. That is where he met Linda Steele, Chief Scientist, and got involved in ImmunoCure Foundation. Comparato has seen cancer destroy the lives of family, friends and associates. “I believe it’s time to rid civilization of this horrible disease. As we like to say Fuck Cancer… so here we go,” said Comparato. In his free time, Comparato enjoys traveling to the mountains, playing music and coaching soccer.
Billy Melvin
Vice President & Director of Sponsorships and Corporate Partnerships | billy.melvin@immunocure.org
Billy Melvin is a guitarist with Better Off Dead, which is a cover band of Grateful Dead. He is from Pennsylvania, and now resides in Kansas City. After meeting and running around the same social crowd as Linda Steele, Melvin and Steele realized they couldn’t stop bouncing ideas off of each other. Melvin enjoys soliciting sponsorships for larger events and plans on bringing this passion to the team.
Todd Bysfield
Director of Legality | todd.bysfield@immunocure.org
Todd Bysfield has worked as an attorney for 25 years helping people create and run small businesses. For the last several years specializing in real estate, title work on over 2,000 houses the day of, or the day before auction which helped a company acquire 300 houses in just over 2 years. Additionally, Bysfield has handled lease drafting, purchase contracts and evictions over 100 properties. Bysfield oversees collections and property management for this portfolio from June 2014 to present. Aside from being a licensed attorney in Missouri and Kansas, Bysfield also has a Missouri sales and broker license.
Zoe Bysfield, mother to Maddox and Connor, wife to Todd, dealt with breast cancer from the day before Maddox, now 10, was born. It evolved into stage 4 six months after Connor, now 8, was born. Zoe flipped off stage for stage 4 cancer for over 6.5 years, and passed away June 5th, 2018. By working with ImmunoCure, Todd and children want to help eliminate cancer during their lifetime.
Mariana Nieto
CoDirector of Events | mariana.nieto@immunocure.org
Mariana Nieto was inspired by her friend, Zoe Bysfield, who hated different cancer research organizations. Bysfield opened Nietos’ eyes to not support big corporations that do not benefit cancer patients and survivors. Nieto has gotten involved with ImmunoCure because she loves the idea of being a part of a grassroots movement, and inspiring others to open their eyes to support a change. Nieto was raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, but has planted roots in Lawrence. In her free time, she loves to cook, travel, and has recently started doing 5K’s to support other charities.
Mike Hannah
Media & CoDirector of Events | mike.hannah@immunocure.org
Mike Hannah was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Hannah has always been passionate about music, and has made a career where he is responsible for booking musicians for his company. He got involved with ImmunoCure because he has been close to different cancer patients in his life and decided that the treatment out there just isn’t cutting it. Hannah wants to devote time toward ImmunoCure to help find and support a new approach to cancer research and a cure. In his free time, Hannah loves to play music and fish.
Regina Oxford
Board Treasurer | regina.oxford@immunocure.org
Regina Oxford is originally from Junction City, KS and then graduated from Kansas State University with a BS in Accounting. Oxford moved to Lawrence, KS in 1988.
Oxford got involved with ImmunoCure because she has been friends for many years with Linda Steele. She believes success for ImmunoCure would be such a great gift to the people and families that are trying to beat cancer. Oxford’s mother died three years ago from Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a blood disease similar to leukemia. She did one round of chemotherapy and her health drastically deteriorated. She could have possibly benefited from the type of treatments that ImmunoCure is trying to develop.
In her free time, Oxford likes to play with her grandchildren and her dogs. She is a huge live music fan and goes to as many concerts and festivals as she can.
Melinda Ball
Board Cyber Security | melinda.ball@immunocure.org
At 18, Melinda Ball was introduced to the world of holistic healing through acupuncture. She next found deep inspiration for yoga and committed herself to the practice. Ball firmly believes in yoga’s profound lesson of cultivating strength and openness on and off the mat. She leads a class regularly at OmTree Shala in Downtown Lawrence and offers a campus session, Yoga on the Hill, open to all Kansas University Faculty & Staff. In addition, she instructs classes within a couple departments at KU. Outside yoga and class instruction, Ball is an Analyst for Access Management which is a unit within Security and Compliance in the department of KU Information Technology.
Scientific and Business Advisory Board Members
Cory Phillips
You may know Cory Phillips as an amazing soulful singer and songwriter, but did you know he is also a scientist? Phillips is currently working on his PhD in Geography and Atmospheric Science.
Cory is never shy about offering his opinions and is help in launching The ImmunoCure Foundation has been immense. Cory has a passion for the environment and engineers statistical modeling of global warming changes.
AnneMarie Chilton
AnnMarie is not just a chemist with over 20 years of experience, but is also a local business owner. Yoga and coaching are her passions.
AnnMarie has generously donated her time to guiding The ImmunoCure Foundation to finding cures. AnnMarie’s protein knowledge is invaluable for creating new experiments and forging new discoveries.
Chel Rich
Yes, Chel Rich the drummer is also a successful entrepreneur and business own. He has generously volunteered his wisdom to help us launch The ImmunoCure Foundation!
Chel lost both his parents to cancer, so he is all too familiar with the heartache of watching helplessly why others suffer without a cure.
Ryann Dori Waller
Serving on this Advisory Board is especially meaningful for Ryann. Over the years she has lost several of her close family and friends due to cancer. Her late mother, Dr. Mary Clark Waller, spent her career overseeing histopathology and conducting research for cures for cancer and HIV.
Ryann Waller is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Cornerstones of Care, she has a passion for giving back to the community and serving others, so she actively serves on multiple local and state-level boards.
Get in Touch
Have a question? Want to get involved? Send us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
OR email us at info@immunocure.org