Meet This Year’s Waverunners
For a third year, the Floating Hospital is an official charity partner of the TCS New York City Marathon. This year, our Waverunners team has grown from five to a group of eight. On November 1, they will run all five boroughs of New York City while raising funds for our life-changing “more than healthcare” programs and services.
This year brings two returning runners and six new faces. Wakim Andre and Ashley Sandberg both have strong ties to the organization and successfully ran for us in 2024 and 2025. They are joined by Santiago Caceres, Estime Dieuveille, Aidan Rodgers, Megan Sartor, Joanna Smykowski, and Jared Staph.
Wakim is a biopharma and biotech marketing executive who lives in New Jersey and is married to our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shani Andre. “Helping people live healthier lives is something very close to my heart and what I do every day,” he explained, was part of his motivation, adding, “I could have been that person who needs help, and if I’m in a position to help, I should.”
Ashley, who is on our foundation board, is an executive vice president at Triple 7 Public Relations in New York City. As a brand development and publicity professional, she has worked with companies such as Paramount, NBC Universal, ABC, and Warner Bros. Television Group. “The Floating Hospital and the NYC Marathon are so much more than New York staples, they’re part of the real heartbeat of our city,” she said. “Tackling 26.2 miles through all five boroughs is a dream. Getting to do it for a cause that brings compassionate, essential care to families who need it most makes every step personal.”
Santiago is a public servant, U.S. Coast Guard veteran, community advocate, entrepreneur, endurance athlete, and proud Peruvian-American whose life has been shaped by service, resilience, family, and an unwavering commitment to giving back. A Fiscal Analyst for the Westchester County Board of Legislators, he also owns the business Pleasant Selfies PhotoBooth. His parents inspire him to remain actively involved in veterans’ advocacy, civic engagement, and community leadership, with roles on the Yonkers Veterans Advisory Board and the Veteran Democrats of Westchester. He is also a proud father of his daughter, Adrianna, passionate about creating opportunities for young people, and advocating for Latino and underserved communities.
Estime is director of business development, digital solutions, at Johnson & Johnson Medtech. His business development career was built at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Noven Pharmaceuticals, Aptar Pharma, and DSM, following six years as a research and development engineer at Cordis. He holds a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami. He is committed to youth education in underserved New York communities, volunteering with Harlem Grown’s urban farm education program and serving on the board of Global Kids, a nonprofit offering mentorship and leadership development to young people in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Aidan, who is 24 and lives in New York City, is also successful in business, having risen through three positions in under a year at his firm S&P Global. His family encouraged him to “do hard things” and he takes “every situation life puts me in and makes the most of it,” always aspiring to be the hardest worker in the room. He is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where he played basketball with distinction. He became familiar with The Floating Hospital’s mission during a Hobart Basketball alumni event, after meeting our foundation board member Brendan Hall. Having a father and sister who are nurses, he said seeing our commitment to saving lives and inspiring families with hope resonated with him.
Megan, who heard about The Floating Hospital through Wakim, also has providers in her background. Her grandmother was a medical doctor and sister still is. Both “devoted their lives to providing care to others.” A child of Filipino immigrants, she would visit the country with them and see the stark disparities between the classes there. “As I got older, I became passionate about helping where I could and trying to find ways to provide everyone with access to basic resources.” As an attorney, the infrastructure projects she works on align with her passion for contributing to the public good. She lives in River Vale, New Jersey with her husband, Justin, and three children: Alessandra, Sebastian, and Logan. In addition to running, she is a major foodie who loves to travel in her spare time.
Joanna once received healthcare at The Floating Hospital, and lives in Astoria, not very far from our main clinic in Long Island City. She is also friends with Dr. Meghan Miller, our director of health education. A precedent-setting disability lawyer, Joanna works for a nonprofit that focuses solely on long Covid cases. She studied both health and family law, working on children’s abuse and neglect cases early in her career. She loves that her current position allows her to fight for individual cases as well as lobby for lasting change for people across the country while she mentors other lawyers.
Jared, 26, lives in Dallas, but grew up in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He heard about The Floating Hospital through a New York City friend and said our mission “immediately resonated with me.” He’s also running to honor his father, who died during his senior year at John Carroll University in Cleveland. He values running for the pivotal role it played in building friendships in an unfamiliar place. “It also allowed me to continue the spirit of adventure my dad and I always talked about,” which led him to run the Tokyo Marathon and now New York City in November. “Every race is more than just a finish line. It’s an opportunity to explore a new place, meet incredible people, and carry forward a dream my dad and I once shared,” he said.
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