Our Team
The founder, physicians, researchers, and advocates behind Texas Lyme Alliance's work across the state.
"Texas Lyme Alliance's mission is to advocate, educate, and legislate for congenital and pediatric Lyme families' right to health through fundraising for a treatment for all."
Our goal is to connect resources to patients and the medical community to improve the quality of life for those we serve.
Founded in 2020
Texas Lyme Alliance is a science-based nonprofit whose mission is to advocate for congenital Lyme families' right to better health and treatment for all.
Top priorities:
- Work on legislation to protect doctors and ensure patients have the highest standard of care.
- Fund research for effective treatments that can treat our most vulnerable populations, kids and expectant mothers. We would then have a treatment for all.
- Network with the medical community to encourage more Lyme specialists to be trained to treat complex illness and immune system dysregulation.
- Attract new researchers to the field of tick-borne diseases.
- Launch programs to educate families, doctors and medical schools, K-12 programs, and communities with up-to-date science.
- Provide resources to patients and the medical community.
Standard of care shouldn't depend on your zip code.
Every priority on this list points to the same goal: a Lyme-literate medical community that Texas families can actually reach, wherever they live.
Reaching families across Texas
Kristina Petterson Bauer
Founder & Executive Director, Texas Lyme AllianceKristina Petterson Bauer is the Founder and Executive Director of the Texas Lyme Alliance, Texas State Lead for the Center for Lyme Action, an International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society Ambassador, and an Integrative Lyme Coach. She's a Lyme patient and advocate for more than four decades, who has dedicated her work to advancing research, improving access to care, educating communities, and advocating for policies that better serve patients and families affected by Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Through collaboration with healthcare professionals, researchers, patients, and policymakers, Kristina is committed to ensuring that no patient is left behind.
She holds a B.S. in International Business from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition Health Program in 2023. Now a certified trauma-informed coach, she shares the program that helped her and her four congenital Lyme children, all in remission since 2013, recover.
Kristina has produced over 50 expert interviews and podcasts on Lyme and coinfections, available on YouTube and all podcast channels. She founded several private Facebook support communities, including Kristina and Michelle's Stem Cells!, the Disulfiram Experience for Lyme Support Group, and Texas Lyme Alliance Advocacy Group, and regularly hosts support groups, educational luncheons, and workshops on prevention and disease management.
Our Board & Team
Joy Sablatura
Vice PresidentJoy serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors. She has been a mentor for Kristina and many other patients and advocates for over a decade, and serves on our leadership advisory board. She is the original co-founder of the Texas Lyme Disease Association and has advocated for patients for decades. Joy has traveled to Germany for a CDC-sponsored conference and met Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, the researcher for whom Borrelia burgdorferi is named, and stays in close touch with Lyme practitioners across the country.
Dr. Ronald Wilson
Medical LeadDr. Ronald Wilson graduated from Harvard University in 1968. In 1970 he received his master's degree in immunology and bacteriology, researching HLA antigens. In 1974 he graduated from the University of Utah medical school, and in 1975–1976 served as chief of clinics at Tooele Army Depot, Utah, responsible for 4,000 workers. He was awarded a Certificate of Outstanding Achievement by James Weir, MD, Major General, for formulating protocols for medical support of chemical agent munitions disposal (SALT 2).
From 1981–2011 he practiced OB-GYN in Denton, Texas, delivering 6,000 babies. He retired from OB-GYN practice and returned from 2004–2019 to diagnose and treat tick-borne illness, especially Lyme, treating over 5,000 Lyme-afflicted patients. From 2017–2019 he served as President of the ILADS Educational Foundation. Dr. Wilson now serves as an advocate, volunteering to triage patients and refer them to practicing Lyme-literate physicians as needed.
Michael Wittstadt — Naturopath
Integrative Medicine LeadThe founder of Villa mediGrün is among the pioneers who made use of stem cells in the treatment of Lyme disease. He is partly responsible for the positive outcomes and favorable reputation stem cell treatment has gained in the Lyme community.
He received his education as a naturopath from the Erich-Ausmeier-School for Natural Medicine (Hochheim, Germany) and has worked in natural medicine for over 10 years. Michael serves on our board to bring his knowledge of integrative medicine to help steer us toward meeting the needs of our complex community.
Dr. Carol Kankwende
Lead Operations and ResearchDr. Carol Kankwende is a global health strategist specializing in data-driven health systems transformation. Over the past decade, she has worked with international donors, governments, and implementing partners to strengthen HIV and public health programs across Africa and the United States, translating complex health data into strategic decisions that improve program performance and patient outcomes.
Her expertise spans global health strategy and policy analytics, supply chain and treatment access analytics, health program monitoring and evaluation, and AI applications in healthcare. She now brings this extensive operational leadership experience to improving care for vector-borne disease patients across Texas.
Hadis Hosseinzadehnaseri
Lead Public Health StrategistHadis is a public health professional with a Master of Public Health degree and over seven years of experience in vector-borne disease surveillance, mosquito control research, environmental health, and community outreach. She collaborates with multidisciplinary teams supporting CDC and Texas A&M research initiatives, and works closely with local and state health departments on public health and vector management programs.
Her active involvement with the American Mosquito Control Association and regional public health networks supports collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and strategic development for Lyme disease education, surveillance, and funding initiatives.
Major (Ret) Anders Karlsen
Director of Veteran & Military ImpactAnders is a decorated combat veteran and United States Air Force Academy graduate who flew C-17s, MQ-1 Predators, and MQ-9 Reapers before tick-borne illness cut his career short. He now advocates nationally for tick-borne disease solutions, serves as an ambassador for the Air Force Wounded Warrior (AFW2) Program, mentors service members dealing with tick-borne illness across all branches, and reviews for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) with HHS's Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.
Netira Sandoz
Lead AdvocateNetira leads the TXLA support group in the San Antonio area and drives patient advocacy efforts. She is pursuing a degree in public health and nonprofit management at Southern New Hampshire University, and works for both Texas Lyme Alliance and the Center for Lyme Action. Diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2022 after two years of being told it didn't exist in Texas, she now focuses on raising awareness and influencing policy change so other families can avoid the same diagnostic delay.