Bio
Dr. Cyndi Grobmeier, Ed.D., is an Assistant Professor at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to teaching courses in the Strategic Communication major, she serves as the Director of Faculty Development. She holds a doctorate in Higher Education, with research interests in the areas of peer interaction in the classroom, social media advocacy, and health communication. She recently co-authored and article with J.K. Cmunt for Current Transplantation Reports entitled, The Far-Reaching Effects of Organ Underutilization: Considering the Ethical Implications for Donor Families and Financial Stakeholders.
In 2019, everything in her family’s life changed when their 18-year old daughter, Maddie, suffered an acute asthma attack that left her brain dead. Just a few months earlier, a serious car accident had prompted Maddie to have a conversation with her parents about her decision to be an organ donor. That conversation brought tremendous peace to the family in those darkest hours as they honored her decision. Maddie saved three lives, gave sight to two people, and changed the lives of 11 others worldwide with her gifts of organs, corneas, and tissue.
Being able to bring the Donor Family voice to the important work of the TCAC is an incredible honor!
Advocacy Experience
Cyndi, along with her husband, Frank, and daughter, Sam, founded the Maddog Strong Foundation to continue to advocate for organ and tissue donation—an issue that Maddie deeply cared about. Cyndi has committed her over 25 years of teaching experience to organization’s mission to inspire the next generation of organ and tissue donation advocates by providing education, promoting donor registration, and encouraging conversations about this life-saving topic. One of their key initiatives is the Teach Life Organ & Tissue Donation Education Program. The Teach Life Toolkit offers educators a variety of engaging multimedia resources that they can use at no-cost in their Health, Drivers’ Education, or Science classrooms to teach their students about organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
In addition to her leadership with Maddog Strong, Cyndi serves an ambassador for Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, and engages every opportunity to speak to people about donation. She has spoken to neurology residents at area hospitals, nursing students at several universities, and high school health classes. Maddog Strong also awards an annual scholarship to students in the Transplantation and Donation Sciences Masters Program at the University of Toledo.
Advocacy Experience
Cyndi’s advocacy interests are focused on two distinct yet interconnected passions—engaging in authentic education about organ and tissue donation that includes addressing difficult “truths” in ways that can prevent the common “myths” from taking root, and learning how to best support Donor Families along their journey, because those who possess lived experience can become the best advocates. Part of that journey also includes curating and promoting spaces for meaningful connection among Donor Families, Recipients, Living Donors, Caregivers, and all those who live in this Community.
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