Our Leadership

Our Team

Samantha R. Guild, J.D.
President
Samantha (Sam) Guild left a successful career as a litigation attorney in 2008 to become the Director of Education, Public Policy, and Advocacy for AIM at Melanoma, the foundation her mother, Valerie Guild, founded after Charlie Guild—Sam Guild’s sister and Valerie Guild’s daughter—died of melanoma in 2003.
For Sam, AIM at Melanoma is a labor of love, and the family has one over-arching goal: to end melanoma. AIM’s success is a testament to their hard work and the enduring spirit of hope and helping others that Charlie left behind.
As President of AIM at Melanoma, Sam works closely with grantors and the AIM team on future goals for the foundation. A large part of her role at AIM includes the oversight of the creation of resources for patients, caregivers, and health care providers—resources such as patient treatment decision-making tools, AIM’s melanoma oncology nursing website, IO Essentials website, and the AIM at Skin Cancer website.
In her public policy work, Sam supports state legislators in introducing and passing indoor tanning device legislation. She led the effort in California that resulted in 2011 in the passage of the first bill to ban minors under 18 from using tanning devices. She is a public speaker and prolific writer on the impact of indoor tanning legislation, risks, and restrictions, with an emphasis on tanning’s effect on minors. In addition to her public policy work on indoor tanning legislation, she oversees AIM’s effort to support oral parity and step therapy legislation on the state and federal levels.
In her advocacy role at AIM, Sam sits on a variety of governmental and non-profit working groups and committees where she advocates for the melanoma community, including NCCN, SWOG, and ECOG, and the ASCO’s systemic therapy melanoma working group. She is frequently asked by researchers and industry to share the patient perspective on topics of importance to their research.
Sam received a bachelor’s degree from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., where she studied American government and women’s issues. She earned her law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, in Sacramento, Calif. She is a member of the State Bar of California and a native of New York.

Valerie P. Guild, M.S., M.B.A.
Founder
1947- 2020
When Valerie Guild lost her beloved 26-year-old daughter Charlie to melanoma in 2003, she vowed to help find the cure for the disease and founded AIM at Melanoma as the vehicle to do so. Four years later, Guild was joined by her daughter, Sam Guild, who gave up her career as a litigation attorney to work with AIM and is now AIM’s President.
AIM at Melanoma has grown to be a global foundation that, in Val’s words, tackles the “hard stuff”—projects that are deemed critical for progressing research but also considered too difficult to accomplish.
Val Guild died May 21, 2020. AIM’s small but mighty (as she called us) staff will continue her work in her memory, with absolute resolve, as she had, to help find the cure for melanoma in our lifetime.
Alicia Walker Rowell
Vice President
Alicia Walker Rowell is Vice President at AIM at Melanoma. An accomplished non-profit professional, patient advocate, and programming lead, Alicia ensures the patient voice and input are central.
Her duties include directing AIM’s global tissue bank initiative, the Melanoma Tissue Bank Consortium, and directing all aspects of AIM’s development program, from annual giving to major gifts. She oversees the creation of all patient-facing content for AIM at Melanoma and AIM at Skin Cancer. She is responsible for representing AIM and the patient voice on multiple coalitions including The National Council of Skin Cancer Prevention, where she co-chairs the Skin Smart Campus initiative, and on the Board of the American Society of Dermatopathology, where she sits as the public member. Alicia enjoys the multidimensional aspects of her job and the many different roles she has within the foundation to support AIM’s mission.
Alicia came to AIM having worked most recently in development and administrative roles at the University of California, Berkeley—including directing the capital campaigns for Berkeley’s athletic department, where she raised over $25M for the campus—and writing, editing, and teaching roles prior to that.
Alicia has a personal stake in the foundation’s mission: Her husband is a Stage III melanoma survivor.
She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, the mother of three adult children, and a fourth generation Californian
Ann Garst Taylor
Director of Community Engagement
Ann Garst Taylor is AIM at Melanoma’s Director of Community Engagement. She has nearly 30 years of volunteer management experience and is a certified Volunteer Administrator.
Ann was drawn to a career spent working with nonprofits because believes the world is a better place when people make time to serve their communities. Her specialty and joy is to help guide someone into a volunteer role once they express the desire to make a difference in their community.
Ann helps to build community support for AIM’s mission and recruit volunteers to help with the day-to-day work of the organization as well as oversees AIM’s Sun Safety and Peer Connect program. Ann also organizes guests and arranges topics for symposiums and the Beyond the Clinic podcasts.
Before she came to AIM, Ann spent 10 years as the Director of Volunteer Services for a large healthcare system in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to that, she worked in volunteer management roles at hospitals, nursing homes, hospice programs and other nonprofit organizations.
A native of Tennessee, Ann lives near her adult children in North Carolina.
Kathleen Lowe
Director of Marketing
Kathleen Lowe is a seasoned team leader and digital media expert with over 20 years of experience in creating and overseeing successful marketing campaigns and business development initiatives for both non-profit and for-profit organizations.
Kathleen joined AIM at Melanoma in January 2018 as the Director of Marketing. In her role, she is responsible for crafting and executing an ambitious marketing communications plan designed to advance the foundation’s mission and strategic goals. As Director of Marketing, Kathleen manages the brand stewardship of AIM, overseeing its websites, initiatives, and outreach efforts. She develops and implements a comprehensive marketing strategy to amplify AIM’s mission, enhance its brand awareness, and highlight the foundation’s work across various platforms, including websites, social media, and email campaigns. She collaborates closely with the AIM team to ensure alignment and support for all initiatives.
Prior to joining AIM, Kathleen served as Vice President of Business Development and Marketing Strategy at MktShr Digital Marketing Agency in Florida. In this role, she spearheaded digital product strategies for the healthcare sector, overseeing websites, social media, content creation, marketing automation, CRM integration, and lead generation initiatives. Kathleen worked closely with cross-functional teams to create seamless digital experiences, delivering measurable outcomes while ensuring alignment with overarching marketing objectives.
Kathleen previously served as the Director of Media and Marketing Services at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, where she spearheaded strategic initiatives to enhance the university’s visibility and drive enrollment. She developed a comprehensive social media strategy that significantly increased engagement, positioning RWU as a leader among universities in digital presence and social media performance.
Previously, Kathleen was Director of Marketing and Business Development at Worldways Social Marketing Agency in Denver where she led a corporate rebrand and developed a strategic approach to business development. She also worked as a Senior Branding and Marketing Strategist at Ogilvy & Mather in Amsterdam and Miami, managing B2B client relationships and directing major advertising campaigns.
Kathleen’s early career includes her role as Assistant Curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where she supported exhibitions, acquisitions, and collections. She reviewed works for acquisition and coordinated loans to other institutions while building strong relationships with scholars, collectors, and funding organizations to enhance the museum’s reputation and global network.
Kathleen, a Connecticut native, earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art and Architecture from Brown University.
Mandi Murph, Ph.D., MBA
Director of Medical Education
Mandi Murph is AIM at Melanoma’s Director of Medical Education. She has nearly 20 years of cancer research experience, 14 of which included teaching various courses on cancer in higher education.
Mandi was drawn to a career that incorporates writing and teaching on the science of cancer. She has over 60 academic publications and holds two US patents in that area. As a life-long learner, Murph is an ardent reader of news on cancer biology and new therapeutics.
Her role at AIM includes content development for multiple websites under the AIM umbrella, including AIM at Melanoma, AIM at Skin Cancer, and others. The content is intended to inform health care professionals, patients and their families, caregivers, and the cancer-interested public.
Before she came to AIM, Mandi was a tenured associate professor; she performed melanoma research and taught students about cancer. She then facilitated cancer education for medical professionals in private industry before transitioning to the patient education side with AIM. Prior to that, Mandi completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Familiar with AIM at Melanoma before she began working for AIM in 2023, Murph is passionate about the nonprofit’s mission. On a personal note, she comes from maternal and paternal familial lines that incorporate blonde and red hair, light complexions, skin cancer, and melanoma diagnoses. Indeed, her first squamous cell skin cancer diagnosis occurred in her 20s.
In her spare time, she volunteers with a nonprofit in Atlanta that rescues Great Pyrenees dogs. She also raises a family and enjoys traveling with her husband of 20 years.
Mandi earned her bachelor’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and her MBA from Georgia Southern University. She lives outside of Atlanta.
Melissa Wilson, PA-C, MPAS
AIM’s “Ask a Medical Expert” and Host of From the Clinic to the Living Room
Melissa Wilson, PA-C, MPAS, leads AIM’s “Ask a Melanoma Expert” program and is AIM’s resident melanoma medical expert. Melissa brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, and boundless enthusiasm for the industry – and her patients.
A natural trailblazer, Melissa is proud of her collaborative work as an NCCPA-certified physician assistant senior since 2005 with the distinguished melanoma specialist Dr. John Kirkwood at the University of Pittsburgh in the Cancer Institute Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine. Their treatment and research initiatives were so successful that they have been used as a template for other cancer programs throughout the country. Melissa works as lead physician assistant for the Melanoma Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Her expertise is focused on acute care in outpatient oncology with research patients and the general melanoma population. She helps patients manage therapy-driven toxicity-related problems and emergencies. She has expertise in biopsies and suturing techniques; cryotherapy; injections; imaging reviews; clinical trial monitoring; and RECIST tumor measurements.
A natural teacher, Melissa has also worked with a multidisciplinary team on patient education and collaboration. She holds appointments at Chatham University Clinical Preceptor where she is adjunct faculty and is a cancer care modules lecturer on melanoma since 2013.
Inspired to her career by her own father’s battle with cancer, Melissa says she will never stop wanting to help patients fight melanoma. She also feels confident that a cure is on the horizon given that melanoma treatments have grown exponentially over the last few years.
Melissa is a native of Pennsylvania and has her master’s degree from Chatham University in physician assistant studies (MPAS), and PA-C (certified in Pennsylvania).
Jenna Malley
Walk Coordination Manager.
Jenna came to AIM with a fascinating background. Her extensive and varied volunteer work in nonprofit fundraising and events—both current and previous—benefits AIM enormously. For the last five years she has served as vice chair of signature events, social media lead, and dog foster for Last Hope K9 Rescue. As a member of the board of directors for Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce from 2019 to 2024, she was responsible for signature events and their website. She’s been both a mentor and volunteer coordinator for FIRST Robotics Competitions. And as a trained public speaker, she has educated groups from elementary school to college to police departments on mental health awareness. As Jenna says, she was raised in a “do good” environment: Her grandfather was the first Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1974, and 50 years later her mother won the award in 2024.
In her professional career, Jenna spent 10 years in chemistry labs, with six years focused on immunotherapy research and bioconjugation. It was in this work that she began reading patient stories, which served as a motivator to continue working in a field that serves patients. Her mother is a melanoma survivor, which contributes to her dedication to AIM’s mission.
Jenna holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Chemistry from Northeastern University with a focus in electrochemistry.
A New Jersey native, Jenna is a Massachusetts transplant who lives with her husband and rescue dog.
Risa Salinas
Director of Events and Donor Relations
Risa Salinas is the Director of Events & Donor Relations for AIM at Melanoma. With over 20 years of experience in project management, operations, sales, and cross-functional collaboration, Risa brings a wealth of expertise from her for-profit background to her current role in the nonprofit sector.
At AIM, Risa oversees all aspects of the Steps Against Melanoma program, the foundation’s primary vehicle for awareness and fundraising. This program includes approximately 20 annual walks and fun runs led by volunteer chairs in local venues, allowing participants to form teams and raise funds for AIM in honor or memory of someone affected by melanoma. Risa is responsible for managing AIM’s national relationships with sponsors, ensuring each event’s success, and working closely with the Walk Coordination Manager to oversee local walk details.
Risa is also responsible for all donor relations and stewardship at AIM. She manages donations that come through AIM’s online system and mail, reporting on these funds and reconciling them annually. She works closely with AIM’s Vice President to align event and fundraising goals, playing an integral role in the organization’s efforts to raise funds for melanoma research.
Before joining AIM, Risa worked as a purchasing manager and procurement specialist at Henderson Design Studio in Dallas, Texas, where she was responsible for project inventory, reporting, and budget management for furniture, fixtures, and equipment. She has also worked at Marly and Co. Design Studio in Dallas, Texas, and for Capelli New York in Frisco, Texas.
Risa earned her degree in merchandising and business from the University of North Texas. A proud native of Texas, she is committed to AIM’s mission to end melanoma in our lifetime while improving the lives of those affected by it.