Medical Advisory Board
Our Fitness Leaders
Board of Directors
With the sponsorship of the fitness center where he worked, the San Francisco Bay Club (and its parent company, Western Athletic Clubs), in 2003 Chris worked with Regan Fedric, a fellow certified trainer, and Garrett Smith, MD, an oncologist at UC San Francisco Medical Center, to establish the IMPACT program. IMPACT (Integrating Medical Professionals and Certified Trainers) grew to help over 200 people living with cancer to receive exercise training in San Francisco and Marin County during its successful 5-year run. A philanthropically funded program, IMPACT’s success and growing reputation inspires and informs Sunflower Wellness today.
Although greatly missed, Chris’ friends, family, clients and colleagues honored his efforts and vision by founding Sunflower Wellness, a San Francisco-based non profit dedicated to bringing exercise program design and instruction to people living with cancer. From Chris’ initial idea of writing an exercise manual, the seeds were planted and now any one of hundreds of Sunflower clients might work with a trainer or participate in a yoga class in the same week—feeling better than when they came in the door. His wish has become our mission.
Chad Stose, M.A., is an Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher and has over 600 hrs of training in the Anusara lineage. His primary teachers who have nourished his practice include, Todd Norian, Bruce Bowditch, Darren Rhodes, Sianna Sherman, John Friend, and Douglas Brooks. Chad has been a Vipassana meditator for over 12 years in both Goenka and American traditions. His background in both biology and culture studies infuse his teachings.
Board of Directors
Bunny began her nursing career in Philadelphia, graduating from Mercy Medical Center, after which she joined the US Navy, stationed in Pensacola. She has practiced nursing for over 45 years, including twenty years of operating room management, and has continued to work beyond her official “retirement” in 2007.
Carrie was born and raised in Marin County, CA. She holds a BA in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and a Master's degree in Strategic Corporate Communication Management from University of Southern California. Much of Carrie’s graduate field work focused on creating strategic communication plans with several nonprofits in the Los Angeles area. Additionally, Carrie’s graduate studies explored organizations and working professionals donating their skills and time via virtual teams and tools to nonprofit organizations that needed help. Carrie is currently the Controller for a real estate development company in Marin County.
Kris is a Senior Investment Associate with RBC Wealth Management in San Francisco, focusing exclusively on socially responsible investing. His team consults on over $1 billion in assets. He holds a Bachelors degree from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Arizona State University.
Anne received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Smith College in 1984. She was granted a teaching fellowship award and served as associate professor of Dance in the Five College Dance Department established by Smith College, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts. Anne focused her academic career in dance pedagogy, choreography, concert production and the development of new training techniques that would address dance injury prevention. Anne received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College in Theater Directing and Dance. She is also an alumna of Mount Holyoke College where she began her undergraduate studies in 1975 as a Christian Herter Memorial Scholar.
Our Fitness Leaders
Board of Directors
The Roots of Sunflower Wellness
Sunflower Wellness was established in October 2004 in direct response to the need for promoting and providing exercise among people living with cancer. Receiving a cancer diagnosis is typically catastrophic. Although research supports the positive effects of exercise during and post treatment, patients and medical professionals typically lack the expertise for creating an effective and sustainable exercise program. This is where the Sunflower Wellness's exercise programs come in.
Our Inspiration
Like most great stories of invention, it was a matter of identifying a need and filling it. Christopher Goad, ACSM, ACE, was an accomplished certified personal trainer who wrote a cancer and exercise manual in 2002 after having undergone chemotherapy himself. He was involved in several research studies at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute in Washington, DC, where he was deeply affected by what he learned from the researchers and in particular, his fellow patients. His experiences motivated him to apply his training background to develop a project to expand the availability of personal training and exercise coaching for those suffering from cancer and the often overwhelming side effects of its treatments. At that time, the full benefits of exercise for people living with cancer were only beginning to be discovered.
With the sponsorship of the fitness center where he worked, the San Francisco Bay Club (and its parent company, Western Athletic Clubs), in 2003 Chris worked with Regan Fedric, a fellow certified trainer, and Garrett Smith, MD, an oncologist at UC San Francisco Medical Center, to establish the IMPACT program. IMPACT (Integrating Medical Professionals and Certified Trainers) grew to help over 200 people living with cancer to receive exercise training in San Francisco and Marin County during its successful 5-year run. A philanthropically funded program, IMPACT’s success and growing reputation inspires and informs Sunflower Wellness today.
In 2002, when given the opportunity at a spiritual site to declare his intentions, literally to make a wish that mattered to his core, he said aloud that he wanted "to help as many people as possible living with cancer to get exercise." Chris finished writing the first full draft of his cancer and exercise manual in late March 2004, about three weeks before he died during another grueling round of chemotherapy. He was 35 years old. His dedication to completing the manuscript was his primary focus during the few “good days” he experienced between weekly chemotherapy treatments.
Although greatly missed, Chris’ friends, family, clients and colleagues honored his efforts and vision by founding Sunflower Wellness, a San Francisco-based non profit dedicated to bringing exercise program design and instruction to people living with cancer. From Chris’ initial idea of writing an exercise manual, the seeds were planted and now any one of hundreds of Sunflower clients might work with a trainer or participate in a yoga class in the same week—feeling better than when they came in the door. His wish has become our mission.
Our Fitness Leaders: Regan and Jane
Regan Fedric and Jane Clark have six years of proven success in the physician’s office-based IMPACT program, in which hundreds of clients’ lives were transformed. They have over 25 combined years of work in the fitness industry and are both Cancer and Exercise Specialists. Their talents and dedication will be instrumental in allowing us to increase the scope of the program.
Regan Fedric, Program Director, Co-founder, Board Director
As Program Director of Sunflower Wellness, Regan Fedric, Cancer and Exercise Specialist, realizes a life-long desire to bridge the worlds of fitness and medicine. A gifted athlete, she was a Division I basketball recruit at the University of Memphis, where she earned a B.S. in Exercise Physiology and a Minor in Biology. Upon graduation, she was also the Director of Operations for the Lady Tiger basketball team at U of M. Regan’s hands-on work with individuals includes work as a PT Aide at the Campbell Clinic; the developer of the Eagle’s Circle at the Lebonheur Medical Center YMCA—-a program for children with asthma and or obesity; as well as work in a cardiac rehabilitation program at Lebonheur.
An opportunity at Western Athletic Clubs led Regan to California in 2000, and in 2002 she co-developed the IMPACT program (Integrating Medical Professionals and Certified Trainers), which was the predecessor to Sunflower. In 2002, under the auspices of IMPACT, she began an ongoing relationship with Oncologist Garrett Smith, M.D. In his San Francisco office, Regan has amassed thousands of clinical hours and is part of an integrative team that provides compassionate and progressive care to cancer patients. While known for her commitment to the cancer community, her reputation is that of a uniquely gentle and empathetic soul that clients truly want to be around.
Jane Clark, Program Coordinator
Jane Clark, Program Coordinator for Sunflower Wellness at The San Francisco Bay Club, is a Personal Trainer and Cancer & Exercise Specialist. During the last sixteen years as a fitness professional in the Bay Area, Jane has worked as a Fitness Director for the Chevron Corporation, The University of California San Francisco, and Western Athletic Clubs. Jane is devoted to the field of cancer and exercise and has presented continuing education workshops on this subject matter to other trainers and instructors. Jane was a co-creator of the IMPACT program (Integrating Medical Professionals And Certified Trainers), and has worked with Dr. Garrett Smith at Golden Gate Integrated Cancer Center for the last seven years. Jane currently teaches cancer related classes at the Osher Center for Integrated Medicine at UCSF and the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic in San Francisco. She is certified by ACE, NASM, and ACSM.
Chad Stose, Yoga Instructor
Chad Stose, M.A., is an Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher and has over 600 hrs of training in the Anusara lineage. His primary teachers who have nourished his practice include, Todd Norian, Bruce Bowditch, Darren Rhodes, Sianna Sherman, John Friend, and Douglas Brooks. Chad has been a Vipassana meditator for over 12 years in both Goenka and American traditions. His background in both biology and culture studies infuse his teachings.
Chad currently lives in San Francisco and travels the country giving workshops, private lessons, and yoga therapy, specializing in healing injuries. He has helped to edit a series of instructional yoga books, and has assisted internationally recognized yogis in workshops. For more information, click here for Chad's website.
Board of Directors
Bill Bain, Co-founder, Board President
Bill brings a wealth of corporate executive management and consulting experience to his role as President of Sunflower Wellness . His areas of expertise are technology and operations management, design, engineering and implementation. As Chief Technology Officer of PlanetOut, a public company, Bill executed the company’s overhaul of its core social networking product, gay.com. As CTO of HomeGain, Bill helped position this real estate online lead generation company for a successful sale to newspaper consortium Classified Ventures.He also spent ten years in the financial services industry, as senior vice president and director of reengineering at PaineWebber, Inc., head of reengineering at Bankers Trust, as well as CTO of Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, a banking unit of American Express. Bill earned a Ph.D. and B.S. in computer science from Yale University.
Bunny Rust
Bunny began her nursing career in Philadelphia, graduating from Mercy Medical Center, after which she joined the US Navy, stationed in Pensacola. She has practiced nursing for over 45 years, including twenty years of operating room management, and has continued to work beyond her official “retirement” in 2007.
Bunny became interested in the field of exercise for cancer survivors when her son, Christopher Goad (see top of page), laid the foundation for what has since become Sunflower Wellness. Her inclination to be a patient advocate stems from several cancer victories and losses among her own family members. Bunny joined the board in 2008, where she actively guides the team by maintaining a strong focus on our strategic vision, applying her years of medical experience to advocating for high-quality experiences for our clients, clarifying policies and procedures of healthcare systems, and aligning us with her network of healthcare leaders and practitioners.
Carrie Bonnet, Treasurer
Carrie was born and raised in Marin County, CA. She holds a BA in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and a Master's degree in Strategic Corporate Communication Management from University of Southern California. Much of Carrie’s graduate field work focused on creating strategic communication plans with several nonprofits in the Los Angeles area. Additionally, Carrie’s graduate studies explored organizations and working professionals donating their skills and time via virtual teams and tools to nonprofit organizations that needed help. Carrie is currently the Controller for a real estate development company in Marin County.
In October of 2004, Carrie was diagnosed with melanoma. Six months later, at the age of 25 while she was finishing her graduate degree, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Carrie sought out Sunflower Wellness (via the former IMPACT program) to address the emotional shock and sudden chaos that comes with a diagnosis and determining a treatment plan. The Sunflower Wellness plan, pre-, during and post-treatment, helped Carrie regain a sense of personal control over her health both mentally and physically.
Carrie believes strongly in the Sunflower Wellness mission and vision to bring the benefits of exercise to all people living with cancer. She is honored to bring her skills and passion towards strategic corporate and organizational communication to the Sunflower Wellness board.
Trisha Hue, PhD, MPH, Secretary
Dr. Hue received her MPH in public health nutrition and PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. Dr. Hue is currently pursuing research on the mechanisms for increased risk of breast and colon cancer with excess body fat. Her interests also include the effects of micronutrients, angiogenic factors, and markers of inflammation. She has extensive experience in the design and conduct of numerous industry and NIH-funded clinical trials and longitudinal studies. Additional research interests include nutritional epidemiology, cancer prevention, and osteoporosis.
Kris Morrison, Director
Kris is a Senior Investment Associate with RBC Wealth Management in San Francisco, focusing exclusively on socially responsible investing. His team consults on over $1 billion in assets. He holds a Bachelors degree from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Arizona State University.
In 2008, Kris was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Exercise was an important part of living well though the cancer treatment and during the recovery process. Recently, Kris participated in the San Jose Livestrong Challenge, a 100 mile bike ride benefiting cancer research and patient advocacy. He also volunteers as a “cancer buddy” for newly diagnosed cancer patients. He's passionate about eradicating cancer and making sure those living with cancer find the best quality of life available.
Anne Stackhouse, Director