John is a patient living with COPD whose 2005 diagnosis led him to become active in patient advocacy. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for the US COPD Coalition, and for EFFORTS (an international COPD support group), the Governing Board for the COPD Patient-Powered Research Network of PCORI, the Board of Directors of Right2Breathe, and is a state Captain for the COPD Foundation. John sits on peer review as a Consumer Reviewer for Department of Defense medical research funding and is a Patient Co-investigator on peer support studies for Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as well as a Research Advisor at Breathe Chicago/University of Illinois Chicago School of Medicine.