ResearchCrossroads is guided by it's outstanding advisory board made up of visionaries from the not-for-profit, government and pharmaceutical sectors.
Robert Pacifici, Ph.D. - Chief Scientific Officer, CHDI, Inc.
Dr. Pacifici joined CHDI, Inc. (Cure Huntington Disease Initiative) in November 2004 as the Chief Scientific Officer, responsible for all facets of the implementation and execution of CHDI's translational research program in search of treatments for Huntington Disease.
Dr. Pacifici was formerly the Site Director and Chief Scientific Officer for Eli Lilly and Company's Research Triangle Park Laboratories where his responsibilities included oversight of the company's global screening and quantitative-biology efforts. Prior to joining Lilly, Dr. Pacifici was Vice President of Discovery Technologies at Xencor, a privately held biotechnology company which specializes in developing rationally designed protein therapeutics. Dr. Pacifici spent over a decade at Amgen where he held positions of increasing responsibility including leadership for their automation, high throughput screening, and information technologies groups. In addition to his internal responsibilities, he was instrumental in forging Amgen's relationships with Caliper Technologies, The Automation Partnership, and the acquisition of Kinetix Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Pacifici received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. He holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Southern California's Department of Molecular Pharmacology and is the Chair for the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Spinal Muscular Atrophy Project's Scientific Steering Committee. He currently sits on several additional external boards and advisory committees including the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group, and the TREAT ALS Steering Committee.
Pat Furlong - Founder & CEO Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
Pat Furlong is the founding president and CEO of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), the largest nonprofit organization in the United States solely focused on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Its mission is to improve the treatment, quality of life and long-term outlook for all individuals affected by DMD through research, advocacy, education and compassion.
When doctors diagnosed her two sons, Christopher and Patrick, with DMD in 1984, Pat didn’t accept “there’s no hope and little help” as an answer. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common fatal, genetic childhood disorder, which affects approximately 1 out of every 3,500 boys each year worldwide. It currently has no cure.
Pat immersed herself in DMD, working to understand the pathology of the disorder, the extent of research investment and the mechanisms for optimal care. Her sons lost their battle with DMD in their teenage years, but she continues to fight…in their honor and for all families affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
In 1994, Pat Furlong, together with other parents of young men with DMD, founded Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) to change the course of DMD and, ultimately, to find a cure. Today, Pat continues to lead the organization and is considered one of the foremost authorities on Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the world.
Along with leading Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, Pat speaks about DMD and related topics at conferences each year worldwide and is an active Board member with the Genetic Alliance and the Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. She also is a committee member on the Collaboration in Education and Test Translation Program; and serves on the data safety monitoring board for both the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network and Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group.
Carl N. Kraus, M.D. - Vice President, Scientific Affairs of the Infectious Diseases Research Center at PRA International
Carl N. Kraus, M.D. is the Vice President, Scientific Affairs of the Infectious Diseases Research Center at PRA International, a global contract research organization and serves on multiple biotechnology advisory boards focusing on antiviral, antibacterial and countermeasure development programs. He previously created the Clinical Informatics group at i3/Ingenix that leveraged analytics in the drug development workflow as a risk mitigation process prior to study implementation. This group also served as a touchpoint for corporate innovation, fostering collaboration with informatics and technology providers. Dr. Kraus is a former Medical Officer of the Division of Special Pathogens in the Office of Antimicrobial Products, the US Food and Drug Administration where he was a primary reviewer for multiple INDs and NDAs in a variety of infectious diseases indications. He has more than 7 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and is Board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Sharon Hesterlee, Ph.D. - Vice President Translational Research, Muscular Dystrophy Association
Dr. Hesterlee received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 1999 from the University of Arizona, where she studied neural development and was a Flinn Foundation Fellow. From 2000-2006 she served as the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Director of Research Development. In that position she developed and oversaw an $8 million translational research program aimed at increasing industry participation in drug development for rare disease. She has been involved in the planning of several meetings to identify and remove barriers to therapy development for neuromuscular disease and she serves on the Department of Health and Human Services Federal Advisory Committee for muscular dystrophy.
Dr. Hesterlee has recently been appointed Vice President of Translational Research and is currently overseeing the advancement of several large-scale collaborations to develop therapies for Duchenne MD, spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Giovanna Spinella, M.D. - Consultant to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
Giovanna M. Spinella, M.D., is the science and program consultant to the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) in the Office of Disease Prevention, Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Since January 2007, she is also the Medical Director for the Parent Project Muscular Dystropy (PPMD), working to develop coordination of clinical research and improving clinical care for individuals and families with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Dr. Spinella was the NIH ORD Extramural Research Program Director, responsible for developing and expanding the extramural research program to coordinate research activities on rare diseases across NIH in collaboration with other Federal agencies, patient advocates, and other organizations in response to Congressional mandate. She is an American Board of Pediatrics-certified pediatrician and fully trained child neurologist and has provided clinical child neurology services and residency/fellow training for over 25 years. Over 17 years at the NIH, Dr. Spinella has developed numerous NIH programs and initiatives to foster research activities for rare genetic disorders and pediatric neurological diseases and has worked extensively with patient advocates in integrating NIH research efforts on rare diseases.
Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D. - Science Director and Vice President, The ALS Association
Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D. joined The ALS Association (ALSA) in January 2001 as Science Director and Vice President. Prior to that Dr. Bruijn led a team at Bristol Myers Squibb developing in vitro and in vivo model systems for neurodegenerative disease. She focused on developing an improved mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease and established assays for high throughput screens. She worked with the Genomics group and used array technology to look for new therapeutic targets. Realizing the potential of stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, her team worked with experts in academia to establish stem cell studies.
Dr. Bruijn received her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy at Rhodes University, South Africa. She received a Master’s degree in Neuroscience and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, specializing in disease mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, at the University of London, United Kingdom. She joined Dr. Don Cleveland’s laboratory in 1994 where she developed and characterized a mouse model of ALS (mice expressing the familial-linked SOD1 mutation). Using this model her studies focused on disease mechanisms. In addition, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Brown she looked for neurofilament mutations in familial and sporadic ALS patients.
At The ALS Association, Dr. Bruijn leads ALS research effort. She has expanded on the existing grant programs, launching a groundbreaking new research initiative Translational Research to Advance Therapies for ALS (TREAT ALS) with the goal to move treatment options from “bench to beside.” She has made it a priority to collaborate with other funding agencies, in particular The National Institute of Health and many other not-for-profit ALS organizations, as well as other foundations focusing on neurodegenerative research. These collaborations ensure that increased dollars are spent on ALS research. She is involved in project development, encouraging partnerships with academia and biotech, and has played a key role in forging collaborations amongst investigators. It is her strong belief that only through collaboration among a wide range of disciplines will we be successful in changing the course of ALS and finding a cure.
Through participation at scientific meetings both nationally and internationally ALSA receives wide-spread recognition amongst the scientific community. Dr. Bruijn represents The ALS Association on several scientific and research committees world-wide and acts as advisor to scientists, government officials and industry leaders seeking council in the field of ALS research. She continues to publish in the field in peer-reviewed journals and remains actively engaged in understanding the most recent research developments. She was recently appointed as a member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) advisory council.
Scott Clarke - Vice President and General Manager, Entelos
Mr. Clarke has over 20 years of experience in industry information systems and joined Entelos with the acquisition of Discovery Innovations, Inc., where he was President and Chief Executive Officer. He joined Discovery Innovations (f/k/a BioSpace.com) from Incyte Pharmaceuticals where he was CIO, a member of the Executive Committee, and Chair of the Operating Committee. Responsible for developing and integrating one of the world's largest sequence databases into the IT infrastructure of several leading pharmaceutical companies, Mr. Clarke helped Incyte become recognized for its fast-paced genomics enterprise.
Prior to his work at Incyte, Mr. Clarke worked 11 years at Syntex Corporation, where he was the CIO. He also worked at 3Com Corporation, where he was Vice President of Management Information Services and a member of the Operating Committee. Mr. Clarke received a B.S. in mathematical sciences from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.