Diane Pickles is the Program Director at Additional Ventures, a nonprofit research foundation dedicated to finding functional cures for single ventricle heart disease, a rare disease with no cure, shortened life expectancy, and many impacts on quality of life. Diane oversees Project Singular, a large-scale genetic sequencing initiative to fuel research to understand the genetic causes of single ventricle heart defects and the many related co-morbidities. Diane spent more than 20 years working in policy advocacy, leading the successful 2004 Massachusetts smoke-free workplace campaign and then working as a Vice President for M+R, a national policy advocacy consultancy advancing local, state, and federal policies for nonprofit organizations. Several years ago, she made a career shift into cardiovascular research, working for the American Heart Association as Program Director of One Brave Idea, an $85 million research enterprise to identify coronary heart disease at the earliest stages of the transition from wellness to disease. Her current position at Additional Ventures combines Diane’s key skillsets with her personal passion for improving the lives of single ventricle heart disease patients, an area in which she has invested a great deal of time as a volunteer, lending her perspective and insights as the parent of a son with a single ventricle defect. Diane has extensive experience in grassroots recruitment and mobilization, patient advocacy, communications/PR, lobbying, strategic planning, project management, training, facilitation, and fundraising.