Rusty is a musician/artist-turned-community-organizer from Nitro, West Virginia, who dedicated his life to patient advocacy after facing a life-threatening cancer diagnosis without resources or insurance. As a volunteer citizen lobbyist, he built the grassroots machine responsible for the public push behind the passage of the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act and was appointed to the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board where he continues to serve today.
A vocal supporter of abortion rights, Rusty also serves as a board member and volunteer clinic escort at the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia.
Since January 2018, he has co-instructed a class on Public Policy Advocacy through the WVU Department of Public Administration and has helped facilitate multiple issue advocacy trainings for a variety of groups and organizations in Appalachia.
When he isn’t advocating for patients or teaching others how to be effective advocates, you can probably find him at home with a good book or a guitar in his hands.