Fred Wells Brason II
President / CEO
Karen Brason
Program Accounts Manager
Mr. Brason is a graduate of Dean College. He has served as an innovator, founder, and leader in a number of organizations including: Hospice Chaplain and Hospice Program Coordinator, International Fellowship of Chaplains, Rank Lt. Colonel, President and Founder of Coastlands Ministries, Affiliate Services Coordinator of National House of Hope and Vice President/Founder and Director of Operations for WillCare, Inc. He has served on the FDA scientific workshop committees for the role of Naloxone in Opioid Overdose Fatality Prevention and Assessment of Analgesic Treatment of Chronic Pain.
Additionally, Mr. Brason Co-Chaired the Expert Committee for the formulation of the SAMHSA Overdose Toolkit, participant on the Roundtable workgroup for the publication of the National Governors Association Opioid Roadmap, also the ASTHO Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Strategic Map, serves on the Steering Committee for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatrists and Project Lazarus has been highlighted in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Strategies. He has published articles in the North Carolina Medical Journal, Wiley Periodicals, the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, and the Journal of the North Carolina Medical Board.Mr. Brason received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader Award 2012 and has been inducted into their Alumni Network.
Karen has been with Project Lazarus since its beginning and has worked with Coastlands
Ministries as financial manager since 1999. She is a certified and ordained chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains and worked with hospice in Wilkes County. She and Fred have four children and two grandchildren and have resided in Moravian Falls, NC since 1998.
Jane Casarez
Program Coordinator
2010 Graduate of Wake Forest University
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Minor in Psychology
Jane came to Project Lazarus in August of 2015. Prior to coming to Project Lazarus, Jane was an employee of Healthy Families San Angelo in San Angelo, Texas where she worked with young parents, aged 14-20 years old, as a Family Assessment Specialist for the Mathematica Steps to Success Grant Project.
Outside of her work at Project Lazarus, Jane enjoys coaching competitive cheerleading at Valley Storm All-Stars, serving and volunteering with the youth group at North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church, and spending time with her husband and two young children.