Our mission

Our mission is to ensure America’s grandchildren have their best start in life without the threat of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Who We Are

We represent the 67 million American grandparents who want the best for their grandchildren. Each of us have different backgrounds and life experiences, but we are united by how vaccines changed our lives for the better. The grandparents of America join together to protect our grandchildren at a time of true peril. Our stories have the power to leave a lasting narrative about the value of vaccines.

Meet Our Leadership Team

Arthur Lavin, Founder and Board President

Arthur Lavin is a retired pediatrician and grandfather of four. During his 40 years of practicing medicine, he never turned away an unvaccinated child due to his belief that everyone deserves the best care. He worked with each family to help them understand the benefits and risks of vaccines so that parents could make the best choice for their children. He founded Grandparents for Vaccines to make sure all grandparents, and all those who care for our grandchildren, let America know, we stand to protect them, and keep them from being hurt the way we saw so many children hurt before the vaccines were available, when we were kids. He is the author of two books on parenting: Who’s the Boss? Moving Families from Conflict to Collaboration and Babies and Toddlers Sleep Solutions for Dummies.

Donna A. Gaffney, Board Vice President, Events

Dr. Donna Gaffney, DNSc, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN, is a psychiatric-mental health nurse, psychotherapist and grandmother of five. She has extensive experience addressing stress, loss, and trauma in the lives of children, their families, and healthcare professionals. Donna is an Affiliated Professor at Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City and previously served on the faculties of Columbia University and the International Trauma Studies Program. She holds master’s degrees from Teachers College at Columbia University and Rutgers University and earned her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. She was also a Fellow at Columbia University Journalism School. In addition to academic papers, book chapters, and articles for the lay press, Donna is the author of The Seasons of Grief, Helping Children Grow Through Loss and the recently published Courageous Well-Being for Nurses, Strategies for Renewal (Johns Hopkins University Press). In 2021, Donna was honored with the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Award for Excellence in Practice-APRN.

Teri Mills, Board Vice President, Media

Teri Mills MS, RN Emeritus, CNE is a retired nurse educator and grandmother. In addition to teaching, she was a nurse and nurse practitioner for two county health departments where she saw firsthand the struggles many families face accessing reliable healthcare. Teri is a well-known community activist and volunteer. She has served on numerous boards and also participated as a member of the Washington County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) leading multiple COVID19 BIPOC vaccination clinics. Teri received a Faculty Member Award for Excellence in the Pacific Region of the U.S. in 2012 from the Association of Community College Trustees. She was the 2014 recipient of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys Foundation Humanitarian Award. Teri was also recognized as the 2019 Oregon Nurse of the Year by the Oregon Nurses Foundation.

Danielle L. Dunetz, Board Vice President, Social Media

Dr. Danielle Dunetz, D.O., FAAP, is a pediatrician and mother of three. She has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Cornell University. At Cornell, Danielle was a peer counselor and trainer for the University’s peer counseling program. She also served as an officer and writer for Cornell’s first pre-med magazine. She completed her medical training at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and at Albany Medical College, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Danielle is a clinical preceptor for the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. She has extensive background in public health advocacy via running social media groups and pages.

Kimberly Boller, Executive Director

Kimberly Boller, Ph.D., is a nonprofit leader, policy researcher, and strategist committed to improving the health and well-being of families, children, and communities. She is the granddaughter of immigrants to the United States and the mother of a young adult daughter.

Kim has served as Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Director of The Nicholson Foundation in New Jersey, leading systems change in maternal and child health in collaboration with government, philanthropy, and communities. As a Senior Fellow at Mathematica, she focused on research and evaluation to document and understand the impact and implementation of evidence-informed supports in health and early childhood care and education systems. Her studies for government and foundations centered on understanding what works for children and families facing social and economic inequities and translating evidence into action. Kim teaches public health evaluation in the Rutgers School of Public Health’s DrPH program.

About Us