Board of Directors
Behind each great healthcare clown is a great Board! These folks help Prescription Joy to be the very best it can be, advising and steering the organization to success!
Cortney Busch, President
Cortney received her law degree and LL.M. specializing in legal aid from City University in London. After graduating, she joined a human rights charity based in London, working in the UK, the US, and Pakistan. After moving back to America, she ran various civil rights nonprofits and served as a nonprofit consultant for many more. Her experience spans across organizations including: nonprofit management and governance, fundraising, communications, operations, programmatic work, grant writing, human resources, and financial management. Cortney is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
Marisa Morton
Marisa Morton is a registered nurse and laughter enthusiast. She is a graduate of the LSU Health Sciences Center and currently works as a Performance Improvement Coordinator at Tulane Medical Center. Marisa has a B.A. in Theatre from Tulane University and previously did administrative and
development work for arts, environmental, and public health organizations.
Pamela D. Roberts:
Ever since auditioning for her high school musical on a dare, Pamela has kept theatre relevant throughout her life. After years of performing and stage managing throughout New York and New Jersey Regional Theaters, Ms. Roberts spent three years as the lead vocalist for the European tour “The USA Original Gospel Singers”, giving her the chance to sing in some of the world’s oldest cathedrals throughout Europe. Upon returning to the states Ms. Roberts joined the Caravan Stage Company, an international tall ship theatre circus, adding fire dancer to her list of theatrical skills. The Caravan brought Ms. Roberts to the Netherlands, Belgium and to Louisiana, where she resides today. Her years in LA have brought her from playing Stella in a re-imagined production of Tennessee Williams “Streetcar Named Desire” to managing such events as the NBA All Star Weekend and The New Orleans Film Festival. After the Saints won the Super Bowl, Ms. Roberts headed the production team of “Ain’t Dat Super” a celebration for Saints fans produced at The Mahalia Jackson Theater. Ms. Roberts was also a circus juror for New Orleans Fringe Festival. Recently, Ms. Roberts, shifted away from performance and into arts education. She is a certified Wolf Trap instructor through Young Audiences and has filled her summers teaching Theatre with Community Works/NORDC. Ms. Roberts also proudly sits on the Board of the Caravan Stage Company.
Katelynn “Katie” Thibodeaux, MPA
Born & raised on the Westbank of New Orleans, Katie loves all things art, culture, & innovation. In 2017, Katie received her bachelor’s degree from the University of New Orleans, in Interdisciplinary Studies focused in Family & Child Development, minoring in psychology and sociology. Soon after she began working in our community, first at Autism Spectrum Therapies, then transitioned to Ochsner Hospital for Children in 2018. While working directly with children and families, she recognized the need for policy change and greater support for families in need. Thus, she obtained her masters from the University of New Orleans in Public Administration, focused in Nonprofit Leadership in 2022. Currently, Katie is the data coordinator for Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs. She is passionate about advocating for those in need and disseminating resources. She is constantly searching for innovative ways to increase health autonomy and health literacy. Since 2018, Katie has worked alongside Prescription Joy in the healthcare setting seeing the direct impact of healthcare clowning on patients, families, and staff. She looks forward to guiding the organizational mission, as they spread whimsical joy throughout Louisiana.
Daniel Pruksarnukul
[he/him/his] is a Creative Producer & Artist-Teacher based in New Orleans, LA. He currently serves as Mondo Bizarro’s Creative Producer where he helped develop & launch the world premiere of The Way at Midnight as well as an Artist-Teacher at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in the Theatre-Arts Department. He worked at Arena Stage in Washington, DC for nine seasons where he served as the Artistic Associate & Casting Director and helped produce over 60 main-stage shows and dozens of new play readings & workshops. He is a graduate of Middlebury College where he triple majored in Theater, English & Religion as well as the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship Program in Directing, Production & Casting where he was awarded the Thomas C. Fichandler Award for Theater Management Excellence. www.mondobizarro.org
Advisory Board
Dr. Jose Posas III, MD
Dr. Jose Posas is a graduate of the medical school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. He did his residency training at University of Miami in Neurology where he was a Chief Resident in his final year. He was the inaugural Sports Neurology fellow at Kerlan Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles, California. He has been practicing Sports Neurology focusing on concussions and post-traumatic headaches, at Ochsner Baptist in Louisiana since 2014. He is engaged at the national level with the American Academy of Neurology having graduated the Diversity Leadership Program in 2017, been part of the Healthcare Diversity Task Force in 2018, and now appointed to the Joint Coordinating Council on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Disparities in 2019. He is passionate about reducing implicit bias towards women, racially and ethnically diverse patient populations and healthcare providers, leveraging technology, education and population based metrics.
Audra Ryes
Audra Ryes believes she is a servant leader who has been called to hear the voices of people all over this community and bring them into a place of peace, safety, and awareness of all wonderful things life has to offer. She is the Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade science teacher at Trinity Episcopal School and the Chapel Verger at Trinity Episcopal Church. Audra has spent over two decades teaching in both public and private school systems where she has actively served as a child advocate, student diversity and inclusion liaison, religious studies assistant, and curriculum writer. She loves human anatomy and majored in biology at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she also earned her teaching credential. Audra also has Master of Arts degree in Education Administration from the Xavier University of Louisiana. This New Orleans native is truly passionate about serving people in body, mind, and spirit.
Bonnie Desselle, MD
Dr. Bonnie Desselle currently serves as the Chief Medical Education Officer of Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Clinically, she practices as a Pediatric Critical Care Physician caring for the most critically ill children of our region. She holds appointments at LSU Health Sciences Center as Vice Chair of Medical Education and Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Faculty at Tulane University School of Medicine. In these roles, she works to not only improve the lives of her individual patients, but of many more patients through her work in medical education training the next generation of pediatricians.
Dr. Desselle received her medical degree from LSU School of Medicine, then completed a pediatric residency and chief residency at LSU providing care to patients at Charity Hospital and Children’s Hospital New Orleans. She furthered her education at the University of Tennessee in the field of Pediatric Critical Care. As a member of the medical staff of Children’s Hospital and faculty of LSU since 1995, she is well known nationally for her work in medical education and pediatric critical care.
Lacey Seymour, PhD
Dr. Seymour is a licensed psychologist and is board certified in behavior analysis. Dr. Seymour has over fifteen years of experience working with children in both clinical and school settings. She is the founder and former clinical director of Ochsner Health Center for Children - Live Oak.
She has worked in both the public and private school settings with teachers and school personnel as a consultant to design effective behavioral and academic interventions for students. Additionally, Dr. Seymour has provided outpatient psychological and behavioral services to both typically developing children as well as children with special needs in a variety of clinical settings.
Dr. Seymour is active in several community organizations and professional associations and is a past president of the Louisiana Psychological Association. She currently serves as a Federal Advocacy Coordinator for the state of Louisiana for the American Psychological Association.
Shannon Flaherty
Shannon Flaherty is a performer, arts administrator, and educator originally from New Hampshire. She is co-Artistic Director of New Orleans theatre company Goat in the Road Productions, and is the project director, as well as a teaching artist, for GRP's young playwrights' program, Play/Write. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006 and has been living in New Orleans since 2008.