Meet Our Board

Who We Are

Mary Lorusso DiBara

President and co-founder-Mary Lorusso-DiBara

Mary Lorusso DiBara has spent her entire professional career in non-profit management. Now retired, she founded and was president of a company specializing in fund raising and grant writing. She has served on numerous nonprofit Boards, most recently serving as the president of the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester; and was a founding board member of the Central Mass. Lyme Foundation. She has co-facilitated a Lyme support group in the Newport RI area, and is a patient advocate working primarily in Rhode Island.

She has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Counseling Psychology.

Mary is passionate about helping individuals and families who are affected by Lyme disease and other vector-borne illnesses. She has chronic Lyme and several co-infections. But even before she was diagnosed, Mary sought help for her younger sister Darlene who, like so many other Lyme patients, was misdiagnosed for years. Who could have imagined when she finally found a Lyme-literate doctor to help her sister that she, too, would be diagnosed. And who could have imagined that several other family members . . . brother, nieces, and nephews . . . would also be diagnosed. One brother has severe cognitive impairment resulting from Lyme and co-infections.

In her role as a founder and President of the NELAD Resource Foundation, she has dedicated her “retirement years” to being a vital resource for those struggling with Lyme and Associated Diseases.

Darlene DiBara O'Connor

Vice President and co-founder-Darlene DiBara O'Connor

Darlene DiBara O’Connor is a Wraparound Coordinator for Worcester Public Schools. A former Wellness Coordinator and Education Coordinator for Mass Audubon in Worcester, Ma, she is also a certified Massachusetts educator with 30+ years of experience. Darlene was proudly a Conference Committee Member, Speaker Coordinator, and presenter for the Central Mass Lyme Foundation for several years. She has given interviews for the local newspapers, media, and Netflix, for a documentary about chronic illnesses.

Over the years, Darlene, has delivered numerous talks about Lyme and its associated diseases for schools, church groups, nurses, and other health care professionals.

In 2016, Darlene, along with other advocates, testified at the Massachusetts State House in Boston to assist in passing a law to ensure that Lyme patients would receive necessary antibiotic treatment coverage beyond 30 days. Inspired by her own families’ struggles, and the crucial need for more knowledgeable and experienced Lyme literate therapists, she is pursuing a new career in the mental health field-focusing on trauma therapy.

Compelled to assist individuals and families who are afflicted by these insidious diseases, she and her siblings have pridefully launched this Northeast regional, 501c3 foundation for Lyme and other related illnesses. Even though Darlene is a chronic Lyme survivor herself, shepassionately and gratefully continues to assist and support her numerous family members,including her two sons, on their path to wellness and prosperity.

Michael DiBara

Board Member and co-founder-Michael DiBara

Michael DiBara grew up in a small Central Massachusetts town where his appreciation for the outdoors began. As a teenager, he enjoyed riding mini-bikes on trails

around the Wachusett Reservoir and searching for edible mushrooms

in the serene woods with his father and brother.

These Massachusetts’ experiences led him to get a BS in Business Administration at Worcester State University.

As an environmental professional, he earned his master’s degree in public administration as a 2002 recipient of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Fellowship for Excellence in Public Administration at Suffolk University in Boston.

He enjoys spending quality time with his family, hiking, gardening and beekeeping.

Sheila Statlender

Board Member-Sheila Statlender

Sheila M. Statlender, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in-practice for more than 25 years in Newton, Massachusetts. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Massachusetts Psychological Association and the

National Register of Health Providers in Psychology.

Dr. Statlender specializes in the impact of chronic illness, including academic, vocational and personal adjustment issues. She provides supportive counseling and assistance with healthcare advocacy to many patients

diagnosed with tickborne diseases and their families.

She is the co-author of “Lyme and tick-borne diseases: A primer for mental health practitioners,” published in a refereed journal of the American Psychological Association (https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000163).

Dr. Statlenderis a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), an organization comprised of healthcare professionals committed to the comprehensive understanding, study and treatment of Lyme and other tick borne diseases, and has presented at a number of professional conferences. She helped to develop a training program sponsored by the Lyme Connection and the Leir Retreat Center in Ridgefield, Connecticut, designed to educate mental health professionals regarding the impact of Lyme and other tick borne diseases.

Dr. Statlender has been very involved in legislative efforts in Massachusetts. She represented ILADS as a governor-appointed member of the Commission to Conduct an Investigation and Study of the Incidence and Impacts of Lyme Disease in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which issued its report in 2013. As a member of the Massachusetts Lyme Legislative Task Force, she worked closely with the legislature to enact physician protection legislation in 2010. In July, 2016, she was actively involved in the successful passage of a Lyme disease treatment coverage bill.

Dr. Statlender also has been active on the federal level. She served as a member of the Access to Care Services and Support to Patients Subcommittee of the Health and Human Services Tickborne Diseases Working Group (2018-2019), and again as a sub-committee member of the secondHealth and Human Services Tickborne Diseases Working Group in 2019-2020. She participated as a Consumer Reviewer for the Congressionally Directed Department of Defense Tick-Borne Disease Research Program - FY18.

On a personal note, Dr. Statlender and her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, reside in Framingham, Massachusetts. They are the parents of three adults who were treated for disseminated Lyme disease as children.

Michelle Scavone

Board Member-Michelle Scavone

Michelle Scavone is a director of NELAD, Northeast Lyme and Associated Diseases Resource Foundation. She has been self-employed as a PA Accountant/IRS tax agent for over 30 years and has owned additional businesses with her late husband, such as a utility contracting construction company for 10+ years, and a shirt design business. Her specialty is working with small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Michelle is a director of Timothy Scavone Jr. Memorial Foundation Inc. and is a secretary and director of Kids Club Inc., which are also non-profit 501C3 organizations.

She is also a proud co-founder and treasurer for 'Be Love Ministries Inc.', an additional nonprofit, which is a Christian Ministry, 2022. Michelle is now volunteering at the Worcester House of Correction for her Christian Ministry.

She and her husband were both diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Her husband passed away in 2020, after suffering for a very long time from chronic Lyme and Babesia. After educating herself, she devoted her time to finding out what her husband was ill from, while she began researching and studying as much accurate info as she could find out about Lyme and its associated diseases. During this process, she discovered that her husband’s illnesses could be traced back to a tick bite from 2014.

It was also revealed that Michelle also has Lyme disease but continues to become better with several treatments prescribed and monitored by her Lyme practitioner. She has helped several people get a proper diagnosis of Lyme and its associated diseases and has now dedicated her life to helping others who suffer from these diseases. She is a devout Christian and is fulfilling God’s will in helping others.