Chairman of the Board

Duane N. Bruce, J.D., LL.M., has assumed the role of Acting Chairman of the Board for the National Organization following the resignation of its former chair, Sidney L. Strickland, who wished to give more attention to his family and to focus his energies on multi-faceted disease fronts in addition to Sickle Cell Disease.

Mr. Bruce has been a member of the SCDAA Board of Directors since 2001, and has served variously as First Vice Chairman, Second Vice Chairman, Chairman of the Bylaws Committee and Parliamentarian before assuming the role of Acting Chairman of the Board in February of 2009.

Mr. Bruce also presently serves in leadership roles in various other community organizations including serving as Assistant Treasurer for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Uriel Owens Chapter of Kansas City, Kansas and as Board Chairman for Community Health Charities of Kansas and Missouri.

Mr. Bruce is currently employed as an Assistant Regional Counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Kansas City, Missouri where he has been engaged as legal counsel since 1998.  Prior to that time he served in the same role in the Chicago office of the Department after joining the office in 1988.  Mr. Bruce is responsible for servicing the legal needs of the component divisions of the Department with a particular emphasis on the Nursing Home enforcement activities of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Mr. Bruce has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Tulane University of New Orleans, LA; a Juris Doctorate Degree from the Northwestern University of Chicago; and a Masters of Laws Degree in Health Care Law from DePaul University of Chicago

He and his wife, Lisa, have two children, Sean and Sydney, who live with them in the Greater Kansas City, Missouri area.  When not otherwise engaged, Mr. Bruce enjoys spending time with his family and coaching his son’s soccer team.