Kristin received her Bachelors in Business Administration from Mississippi State University in 1996 and her MSM from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2001. Kristin began a successful career in sales and marketing in 1997, holding jobs in large business sales with BellSouth Mobility and BellSouth Business Systems. She was previously employed as the office manager at John David Blankenship, DO. After serving as the President of the PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome (PHTS) Foundation part-time, Kristin realized that moving the PTEN community’s needle to accelerated research and better care would require a full-time effort. She chose to dedicate her full attention to the foundation. Kristin is active in her community and is passionate about health and fitness; she teaches indoor cycling, completed numerous races, including two marathons and multiple triathlons. Kristin currently serves on Alabama’s Rare Disease Advisory Council and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s IMPACT Advisory Board; her peers have twice recognized her as a Global Genes Champion of Hope, and she is a WEGO Health Patient Leader Hero Finalist.

Kristin’s PTEN (Cowden Syndrome) journey began after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009 and breast health issues, and a family history of breast cancer. Kristin researched her health concerns and later learned that she has a rare and likely under-diagnosed disease known as “Cowden Syndrome.” She was relieved to have a diagnosis, yet overwhelmed wondering what would come next. Kristin realized that many physicians in her community had very little knowledge of Cowden Syndrome and that getting a diagnosis is difficult; that coupled with a lack of educational information about PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome (the umbrella disease for Cowden Syndrome), motivated Kristin to start the PHTS Foundation in 2013. As a five-time cancer survivor and member of the PHTS Foundation team, Kristin works to raise funds for PHTS research, to educate the public about the PHTS, and the lack of research funding for this rare but under-diagnosed hereditary cancer syndrome. The PHTS Foundation is a patient-run organization dedicated to developing programs to accelerate PTEN research and supporting the PHTS community.