Georgia State Representative Kim Schofield, serves Georgia’s 63rd House District, representing parts of Southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Hapeville, South Fulton, and Union City. First elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2017, she is recognized as a leading voice in public policy, health advocacy, workforce development, and community empowerment. With more than two decades of experience in public service and health equity initiatives, Rep. Schofield is known for transforming lived experiences into impactful legislation that advances healthcare access, Lupus awareness, environmental health, women’s reproductive rights, economic mobility, and protections for underserved communities.

At the State Capitol, she serves as Secretary of the House Urban Affairs Committee and sits on the Health, Industry and Labor, Small Business Development, and Creative Arts & Entertainment Committees. As a legislator living with lupus, she chairs the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness and has spent more than 17 years supporting lupus research and public health initiatives with Emory University School of Medicine.

Jason Cobb MD has been a Professor of Medicine and Eminent Physician at Emory University School of Medicine in the Renal Medicine Division since 2011.  Dr. Cobb is passionate about the care of patients with lupus nephritis.  He has a glomerulonephritis clinic at Emory University Hospital Midtown which serves predominantly lupus and other autoimmune disorder patients. He is active in lupus nephritis research and actively recruiting for a NIH funded lupus nephritis kidney biopsy study. Also, he is passionate about education and serves as the Program Director of the Emory University Nephrology Fellowship Program, and faculty advisor for the Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Program (KDSAP) and Black Men in White Coats at Emory University. He serves as the chair of the American Society of Nephrology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Dr. Cobb is a native of Washington, Georgia, and a graduate of Morehouse College and Emory University School of Medicine.  

Dr. Jagindra N. Mangru is a rheumatologist, board certified in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology and medical director of Cumming Rheumatology and Arthritis, LLC in Cumming, Georgia. As a rheumatologist he treats and advocates for patients with lupus and other inflammatory diseases. Dr. Mangru is a member of the medical advisory board of the Lupus Foundation of America, Georgia Chapter (LFAGA). He is also a past president of the Georgia Society of Rheumatology (GSR). He was recently named one of Atlanta’s Top Doctor in Rheumatology for 2025.

He is a graduate of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Hospitals and Clinics. During his fellowship training he received several awards including the Pfizer Scholars in Pain Management Award, Abbott Immunology Rheumatology Scholarship, Centocor Health Outcomes in Rheumatic Diseases (CHORD) Fellowship Award, and enlistment in “Strathsmore Who’s Who 2003-2004” and “Guide to America’s Top Physicians 2004.” He is the 2019 recipient of the Mary Cann Achievement Award from The Lupus Foundation, Georgia Chapter.

Publications include articles in drug monitoring in autoimmune disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, suprascapular nerve entrapment syndrome and psoriatic arthritis. He also participated in several national and international pharmaceutical trials including those for osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

Memberships include the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, American College of Rheumatology, Georgia Society of Rheumatology, American Medical Association and Georgia Medical Association.

J. Christopher Reed is a lawyer, lobbyist, patient advocate, writer, and public speaker whose work focuses on public health and health policy. Diagnosed with lupus at age 16, he has lived with the disease for more than three decades while overcoming multiple serious organ-system complications. Despite these challenges, Reed earned a bachelor's degree with honors from Georgia State University and a law degree from Tulane University.

After an 18-year career in public and private litigation, he shifted his professional focus to healthcare advocacy and policy. He has served as a healthcare lobbyist on behalf of women of color, held numerous roles with the Lupus Foundation of America Georgia Chapter, and co-led the chapter's Lupus Advocacy Day for more than 14 years. For 5 years, he chaired the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness, state-funded initiative housed within the Georgia Department of Public Health. He has collaborated with numerous organizations and universities on projects aimed at increasing minority participation in clinical trials.

He currently works part-time as an associate with Mark Anthony Scott, LLC while he undergoes dialysis for End Stage Renal Disease. He leads a support group for men living with lupus and the Georgia Lupus Nephritis Support Group through the Lupus Foundation of America. He writes for Lupus.net and he recently contributed his story to the publication Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Basic, Applied, and Clinical Aspects. 3^rd edition (Academic Press, 2026).