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About Us
Beth Miller, President I have a B.S. in Child Development and Family Science (CDFS) with an Early Childhood and Kindergarten Education license. I have close to twenty years teaching experience and recently added an elementary education license to my resume. Recently, I was asked to be President of a newly forming charity to support research and families with the autosomal dominant form of osteopetrosis. What were my qualifications for the job and why would I be interested in taking on this project? The reason for this is that I have become a self-trained expert of this disease out of necessity. My education of osteopetrosis has been building over the last forty-two years. My (deceased) maternal grandmother, mother, aunt, sister and two sons are all affected by this dominant form of osteopetrosis. Much of what I have learned I have learned from personal experience, by watching my family members cope with this rare genetic disease. I have been exposed to people with this disease my entire life. I am a genetic carrier of this disease. Ten years ago my oldest son was diagnosed with osteopetrosis. Within the same year my second of three sons was also diagnosed. That year I decided it was time for me to become the student again. I began studying everything I could about this disease, so that I could become a competent decision-maker for my sons. I was well aware that because of the rareness of this disease that this would be no easy task. There is not a lot of readily available information for people with osteopetrosis. My goal as the President of IOA is to give this disease a voice. I plan to drive education and research towards finding a greater understanding of bone metabolism and developing medications to treat patients with osteopetrosis more effectively. It is also my hope to provide a place for patients diagnosed with osteopetrosis to turn to for understanding and knowledge. Ashley Gettinger, Executive Director Ms. Gettinger graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington in December of 2005 with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. After graduation, Ms. Gettinger accepted an assistant position in the lending department at Pedcor Bancorp where she was quickly promoted to Credit Officer in January of 2007. During the past two years, Ms. Gettinger has spent much of her free time serving on the March of Dimes WalkAmerica & Real Estate Awards committees. As a member of the 2006 Real Estate Awards committee, she was part of a team that raised over $90,000 in one evening to fund research for the prevention of premature birth & birth defects. Ms. Gettinger joined the IOA team as Executive Director in July of 2007 where she will use her non-profit experience as well as her experience with osteopetrosis in order to raise money to fund research for treatments and an eventual cure for ADO. |
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