In March 2019 we published a story about Caz Cazanov and her personal experience with vasculitis. After being diagnosed with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) in 2017, Caz was treated with high-dose steroids and cyclophosphamide infusions, and spent three weeks in the hospital and in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation facility. She tapered off prednisone about a year after her initial treatment course and has since been taking mycophenolate mofetil as a maintenance immunosuppressant. She is currently in remission—although problems remain from the vasculitis. You can read her story here: www.vasculitisfoundation.org/success-stories/caz-cazanov-becoming-an-educated-patient-through-vf-conferences/.
For someone with an extensive professional career in the health care, it took Caz a surprisingly long time after her diagnosis of EGPA to seek out information and support. That’s why she’s so passionate now about connecting newly-diagnosed patients with the VF and the online vasculitis patient community.
Since her first VF Symposium, Caz has immersed herself in all things related to vasculitis. She reads every article she can find, attends numerous VF educational events, actively monitors a large number of Facebook groups with participants from around the world, and shares information about the disease, its impacts, and advances in treatment with other patients, her friends, and family.
Caz hopes to add value to the Board from her nearly 25 years of professional experience with health insurance and how it intersects with the provision of health care. “I started my career in health education and am interested in continuing to contribute to patient and physician education in the realm of vasculitis,” she explained. “I also expect to be involved in a new committee forming to provide document review, as I have done a lot of analysis of complex material in my career working in health care policy.”
Caz has a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s in public administration with an emphasis in health care administration. She spent most of her health care career at Kaiser Permanente, a large integrated model health care system, overseeing operational and compliance activity around contracts, benefits, legislation, and regulation. “For much of my time at Kaiser Permanente, I was the Director of Legislative Policy, then the Director of Health Plan Licensing, so I have a lot of experience in the legal and regulatory oversight of health care delivery,” she said.
A resident of Lafayette, California, Caz has been married for 31 years and has one son.
“I’m pleased to learn that the Vasculitis Foundation is being so thoughtful about how to continue the important work of the organization in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a lot of creative thinking happening about how to continue to connect with our patient and physician communities, and provide support and education, even with significant limitations in our ability to gather in person,” Caz said. “I’m excited about the prospect of joining the Board and contributing more officially to an organization that is so important to me.”
Author: Nina Silberstein
