Make a difference for the MG Community by becoming a volunteer.
There are many ways to give back and get involved. Learn more about our volunteer opportunities below. Then complete the interest form so our volunteer coordinator can connect with you to answer questions and share next steps.
We look forward to working with you and appreciate your interest in giving your time and talents!
All volunteers will be required to participate in our virtual training program. Requirements will vary by opportunity.
Volunteer Opportunities
Special Events
Help us host our in-person education and fundraising events, including MGFA Community Health Fairs, MG Walks, or the MGFA National Patient Conference.
Volunteer opportunities include greeting attendees, registration, event set up, supporting patients and caregivers, and more. We also have exclusive opportunities to serve in a leadership role as an event lead. We will work with you to help find the best opportunity while always considering your own well-being.
Check out our upcoming events to see if we are coming to a city near you. If you don’t see an event in your area, but are interested in volunteering, we encourage you to fill out our volunteer form anyway as we may come your way in the future.
Become an MG Friend
This virtual opportunity connects those living with MG or caring for someone with MG with patients or care partners actively seeking support. You act as a guide as they navigate their MG diagnosis, providing both emotional support and evidence-based resources.
Through confidential one-to-one conversations, MG Friends provide active and reflective listening, techniques to overcome day-to-day challenges, local resources, and information and answers to commonly asked questions. Connections are made via phone, text, or email.
MG Friends should have at least one year of lived experience with myasthenia gravis, either as a patient or a caregiver.
Support Group Facilitation
Support Group leaders are trained volunteers who organize and give structure to meetings that support those living with MG and their families. You can participate as a Support Group leader by starting or supporting any of the following: a local in-person support group, a regional virtual support group, or a specialty support group.
Leaders schedule and run group meetings, including communications/outreach, meeting facilitation, and sourcing any special guest speakers. Leaders generally commit several hours a month to managing their meeting and group members.
MGFA provides training, a Zoom account, and a network of other Support Group leaders to connect with for guidance and your own support. We are here every step of the way.
Check out our existing Support Groups. If you have an idea for a specialty support group, please say so when you fill out your volunteer interest form.
Special Projects
Not sure what you’d like to do? Join us a special projects volunteer. We’ll work together to find a vital “behind-the-scenes” activity where we could use your skills. This could involve conducting research or outreach or assisting with mailings (all materials will be provided).
In addition, volunteers interested in legislative advocacy work are encouraged to submit their interest. MGFA partners with several rare disease advocacy groups to lobby on behalf of the rare disease community. Learn more about our advocacy priorities.
The MGFA Ambassador Program
MGFA Ambassadors are passionate members of the MG Community who have demonstrated their commitment to the MGFA mission and their desire to grow with the organization to create the greatest impact in the lives of those touched by myasthenia gravis.
Ambassadors are champions of the MGFA mission and have been called to share not only their personal journeys with MG but also offer their critical insight to raise awareness, expand education, inform advocacy work, increase support, and promote the value of clinical research.
Meet the MGFA Ambassadors
Ambassador: Greg Josephs
Ambassador Area: Legislation and Advocacy
I am Greg Josephs. I’ve been living with MG for 21 years, with hundreds of stories to share. After growing up in the great state of New Jersey, I earned two degrees from Syracuse University in mass communications; since that was in the early ’80’s, and communication has changed enormously since then, I’ve asked for a refund, but to no avail. I’m married to another SU grad, Maria, and I have three grown, marvelous kids and a very lazy beagle. In in 2010, I was declared legally disabled. Since then, I spend my days with self-care (moderate exercise, meditation, eating right), gardening (mostly vegetables) and fishing. Napping, too. The “silver lining” with MG is my personal perspective has changed such that the smallest detail is important… as my daughter said recently in a card, I am Older than Dirt, But Thank Heaven I Am Above It. I’m an MGFA Ambassador because I care about the vision of “A World Without Myasthenia Gravis.”
Ambassador: Priscilla Forrester
Ambassador Area: Community Health Fairs
Priscilla Forrester is of Caribbean descent, raised in Brooklyn, and currently resides in Northern Virginia. She attended Howard University, which originally brought her to the Washington, D.C. area. She is an accountant and has served in financial management for over 13 years. She is an avid volunteer and has worked with many organizations over the years. Diagnosed with MG in 2020, after suffering with symptoms in silence for several years, she has made it her mission to build community and engage her network with MG awareness. She led a team for the 2021 and 2022 Coast-to-Coast MG Walks, hosted an independent fundraiser in 2023, and organized mini local walks with family and friends to help spread awareness. Over the past three years she has been volunteering with the MGFA, serving as volunteer lead organizer for our MGFA Community Health Fair events in the New York Tri-state and the Washington DC, Maryland & Virginia (DMV) area. She hopes to continue to be an advocate for those who live with MG, spreading awareness to support the continued development of diagnosis options, treatments, and a cure for MG.
Ambassador: Tom Bartlett
Ambassador Area: Registry
I’m Thomas Bartlett from Groveland, Massachusetts (lifelong Red Sox fan). I was diagnosed with gMG AChR + during the summer of 2019. I suspect I’ve been living with, and impacted by, MG since 2012. Before being diagnosed, I spent my career in technology, working for most recently for Harvard, Apple, Dell, an educational platform company for distance learning, and, most recently, a life science consulting firm. Today, I spend my time consulting for companies to understand how technology and science can impact outcomes for patients in real-time wearable devices, mobile devices, applications, AI/ML, and data analysis to improve and change the quality of a patient’s life after they begin targeted therapies. Driving toward a world with a true precision medicine for patients with disease such as myasthenia gravis. Personally – I have two children, both pursuing their careers in the chosen fields. One of my proudest moments in life was walking my daughter down the aisle a couple of years ago! Prior to being diagnosed I was an avid tennis player, golfer, and still played baseball, traveling to tournaments around the U.S. My hope for the future of MG is to improve the use of data, ensuring in Lifetime Quality rather quality of life.
Ambassador: Jenny Clark
Ambassador Area: MG Awareness / Peer Support Networks
I am Jenny Clark. I am originally from Indiana and now live in Tennessee. I have two kids and five grandkids. I worked until 2016 in retail management. I have multiple family members with MG. I have known I had MG since I was a kid and was diagnosed with seronegative MG in 1990 at 22. I had a thymectomy in 2009 and 7+ years of glorious remission. My hope for the future has always been a cure!
Ambassador: Betty Ajueyitsi
Ambassador Area: Education / Virtual Learning
I am Betty Ajueyitsi. I am Nigerian American and live in Maryland. I was diagnosed with seronegative myasthenia gravis in 2011 and became an advocate after my journey through the medical system. Professionally, I have been a school teacher for over 25 years. My immediate family – husband and kids – are awesome. Knowing that they are in my life gives me the extraordinary inner peace that makes me feel that there is nothing that will stop me from my life goals. I just need to figure out how to get things done with MG – my invisible disability.
Ambassador: Hannah Ensor
Ambassador Area: Education / Virtual Learning
My name is Hannah Ensor, and I live in Orlando, FL. I was diagnosed with generalized ACHR-positive myasthenia gravis in March 2022, after a nine-month-long fight for answers. I’ve been married to my husband for over ten years, and we have a daughter together. I also work full time as an engineer and currently volunteer with the MGFA as the co-lead for the young adults support group (MAYA). I volunteer because I don’t want anyone with MG to suffer without a diagnosis or treatment options. I see a future for MG that is bright: a future with better treatment options and fewer barriers to treatment, followed by an eventual cure for MG.
Ambassador: Matt Bornstein
Ambassador Area: Fundraising
Bio: I’m Matt Bornstein. I was raised in Long Island and now live in New York City. I’ve been living with myasthenia gravis since I was diagnosed in 2011. I work fulltime in sales at a commercial lighting company. In my spare time, I like spending time with my wife, going to the gym, meeting up with friends, watching movies, and walking around Manhattan. Since 2022, I’ve enjoyed volunteering as an MG friend to help be a resource to newly diagnosed patients. I am also chairing the MG Walk in New York. Volunteering at MGFA is important to me because it allows me to use what I’ve learned first-hand about this rare disease to help others. Our understanding about myasthenia gravis has changed dramatically since I was first diagnosed with the help of research and new therapies. My hope is that we can continue to use the tools fundraising grants us to fund research that leads to new diagnosis and treatment options.