PARKINSON - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Board Member since 2021
- Managing Member and Co - Founder of Longview Alpha Partners and Part of the Hurricane Capital Advisors Management Team
Adam Wolfberg is a Managing Member and Co-Founder of Longview Alpha Partners and part of the Hurricane Capital Advisors management team. Previously, Mr. Wolfberg founded Eastbay Asset Management, LLC in 2013 and acted as Managing Member for its affiliated entities. At Eastbay, he served as the Portfolio Manager for a TMTL-specific long/short portfolio that grew to more than $1 billion in assets under management. He also previously served as a Vice Chair for Celebrate Spring New York, an event hosted by the Young New Yorkers for the Fight Against Parkinson's and the Parkinson's Foundation.
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- Associate Vice President, Information & Resources
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- Associate Vice President
- Finance
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- Associate Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital
Alexandra Nelson is from Berkeley, California and attended Stanford, where she learned to row, and attended the occasional class. After falling in love with ion channels, she worked in several labs and began reading Neuron cover to cover in the library. She then went to UC San Diego's Medical Scientist Training Program, where she worked with Sascha du Lac on cellular plasticity in the vestibular system and developed a deep fondness for spontaneously firing neurons and use of purple in figures. During graduate school she found time to row for the national champions, San Diego Rowing Club. After a Neurology residency at UCSF, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Anatol Kreitzer at the Gladstone Institute, where she studied striatal microcircuits in mouse models of movement disorders. She started her own lab and joined the UCSF Neuroscience Program in 2014 with the expert help of Ally Girasole. She continues to see patients in the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, focusing on diseases of the basal ganglia and cerebellum. She also provides medical advice to the occasional neurotic graduate student. She still lives in San Francisco with her incredibly supportive husband, wonderful daughters, and three pets. In her spare time she enjoys cooking lab snacks, running, tree and invertebrate phylogeny, and going camping with her family. She also enjoys complete sentences and fully referenced documents.
Job Titles:
- Senior Counsel
- Board Member since 2018
Alison Herman is Senior Counsel, Regulatory, Compliance and Government Affairs, a newly created department within Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. Alison has an interest in Parkinson's as her ex-husband is living with the disease. She joined Southern Wine & Spirits in 2008 as General Counsel. Alison previously served as attorney at Breier Seif Herman & Silverman, P.A., for 14 years, specializing in corporate acquisitions, retirement plans, distribution agreements, private foundations, tax/estate planning and represented the principals at Southern Wine & Spirits. Alison received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.
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- Associate Vice President, Field Advancement
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- Vice Chair of the Board of Directors
- Managing Director and Operating Partner of Svoboda Capital Partners
- Vice Chair, Board of Directors / Board Member since 2010
Andrew B. Albert
Vice Chair, Board of Directors
Board Member Since 2010
Andrew Albert is Managing Director and Operating Partner of Svoboda Capital Partners, LLC, in Chicago, IL. Mr. Albert serves on the boards of Lawson Products, Inc, Transco, Incand Reliable Parts, Holdings, LLC. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin School of Business.
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- NIH Distinguished Investigator, National Institutes of Health
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- Associate Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
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- Professor, University of Padova, Italy
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- Associate Vice President, Research Programs
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- Private Philanthropist / Scarsdale, NY
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- Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
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- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
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- Associate Vice President, Online Communications
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- Vice President, Chief Community Engagement Officer
Christiana guides the Foundation's development and execution of community engagement activities, including grantmaking, national and community-based programs and public policy efforts, working to reach priority populations. She identifies and responds to the needs of the Parkinson's community as collaborators and partners.
Christina Weaver Jackson is the AR/VR (augmented reality and virtual reality) Policy Manager at Facebook, where she oversees government relations related to augmented and virtual reality. Prior to that she worked as a Director of the Raben Group, a public policy group based in Washington, DC. She served as a Legislative Counsel for Congresswoman Shirley Jackson-Lee and as an attorney at the Department of the Treasury. Christina is the only child of a former Boeing executive who is living with Parkinson's. Christina attended Howard University where she received a BA in Business Administration and Boston College Law School where she received her J.D. Christina and her husband, former NFL linebacker D'Qwell Jackson, have a son named King and live in Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
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- Secretary
- Board Member since 2003
Dr. Constance Atwell is the former Director of the Division of Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS), where she was responsible for disbursing more than $1 billion annually for grants supporting brain research.. During her career, she received many honors for her meritorious work, including the NIH Director's Award and the NINDS Leadership Award.
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- Associate Professor, University of Washington
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- Professor, Harvard Medical School
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- Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
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- Professor, University of Florida
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- Board Member since 2014
- Northwell Health As Director
An expert in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, Dr. Alessandro Di Rocco joined Northwell Health as director of the movement disorders program. Dr. Di Rocco will also serve as a professor of neurology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Di Rocco was previously with the NYU Langone Medical Center, where he secured a $25 million grant to found the Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute for Parkinson's and Movement Disorders. He also held several academic roles at NYU School of Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Board Member since 2021
- Professor of Neurology and Medicine at the University of Alberta
Dr. Janis Miyasaki is a Professor of Neurology and Medicine at the University of Alberta. She previously worked at the University of Toronto for 22 years, where she founded the world's first Palliative Care Program for Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders. Dr. Miyasaki currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Neurology. She is the first director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta and has held leadership positions at the International Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorder Society and the Parkinson Study Group.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Professor, New York University
Dr. Margaret Rice is a Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at New York University School of Medicine, a Center of Excellence. Dr. Rice's research in her laboratory is focused on the regulation of dopamine. The Rice group uses carbon-fiber microelectrodes with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to provide real-time monitoring of axonal dopamine release in dorsal and ventral striatum, and somatodendritic release in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area, primarily in brain slices. Current research is centered on a novel finding from the Rice group that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), produced by mitochondrial respiration, is an endogenous regulator of synaptic and somatodendritic dopamine release, as well as dopamine neuron activity in the substantia nigra. The Rice group also studies the regulation of axonal dopamine release by glutamate, GABA, calcium, cannabinoids and caffeine, the mechanism and regulation of somatodendritic dopamine release and dopamine dysfunction in transgenic mouse models of dystonia and PD. Dr. Rice received her BS from the University of Oklahoma and her PhD from the University of Kansas. Her post-doctoral training was done at NYU School of Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Neurology at Brigham
Dr. Matthew LaVoie is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. LaVoie's lab is dedicated to uncovering the early molecular events responsible for the selective neurodegeneration and unique neuropathology associated with Parkinson's disease. A major goal of the lab is to understand the basic physiological functions of genes associated with familial Parkinson's, and the impact of their pathogenic mutations. Dr. LaVoie serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Parkinson's Foundation and the National Scientific Advisory Council for the American Foundation for Aging Research. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Brain Research. In addition to his responsibilities as Principal Investigator of a basic research laboratory at Brigham, he was the co-founder and co-director (with Dr. Barbara Bierer) of the Brigham Research Leadership Program and founder of the Career Building at a Research Hospital seminar series. Dr. LaVoie received his BA and BS in Biology and Psychology from Rutgers University and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience
- Professor, Thomas Jefferson University
Dr. Richard Smeyne is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and the Director of the Jack and Vickie Farber Institute for Neuroscience at Thomas Jefferson University, a Center of Excellence. His research focuses on the cell biology of Parkinson's, with an interest in the interactions between the immune system and the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). With a long-standing interest in the cell biology of Parkinson's disease, his studies examine both environmental and genetic causation. His lab was the first to show, in animal models of PD, that exercise could modify disease progression and more recently examines the underlying molecular programs responsible for this neuroprotection along with which cells are responsible for the toxicity seen following MPTP administration. Additionally, Dr. Smeyne studies the role of environmental enrichment in neuroprotection. He is also recognized for his work examining interactions of the peripheral immune system with that of the brain's innate immune system immune as well as the role of viruses in the etiology of Parkinson's. He has been published in Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell and the Journal of Neuroscience. Dr. Smeyne received his doctorate in anatomy from Thomas Jefferson University and completed his postdoctoral training in molecular biology at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor, Columbia University
- Chief of the Movement Disorders Division at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Dr. Roy Alcalay is Chief of the Movement Disorders Division at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, a Center of Excellence. He recently moved from Columbia University where he holds a part-time Associate Professorship. His research focuses on biomarkers and genetics in Parkinson's disease and cognitive functioning. He was a Brookdale Leadership in Aging fellow, and his research has been supported by the NIH, the Parkinson's Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Smart Foundation. He is a member of Scientific Advisory Board of the Parkinson's Foundation and the Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson's with GBA. He is the lead investigator of PD GENEration, a Parkinson's Foundation flagship study that provides genetic testing and counseling to people with Parkinson's. His clinical practice focuses on Parkinson's and other movement disorders, including tremor, dystonia, Tourette syndrome, myoclonus, ataxia, and chorea. Dr. Alcalay has contributed to a range of original articles in leading medical research journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology, Archives of Neurology, Genetics in Medicine, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Movement Disorders and Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. Dr. Alcalay received his medical degree from Tel Aviv University, Israel, his neurology training from the Harvard University residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital and his movement disorders training at Columbia University. He is a graduate of the Patient Oriented Research and earned Master's in biostatistics from Columbia University.
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- Associate Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Dr. Stephen Shea is an Associate Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Shea's lab studies the neural circuitry underlying social communication and decisions. He uses natural social communication behavior in mice as a model to understand circuits and processes that are evolutionarily conserved and therefore shared broadly across species, likely contributing to disorders such as autism. Shea and colleagues have examined how emotion and arousal enable mice, via their olfactory systems, to store memories of other individuals and of related social signals. Recently, the lab made a key breakthrough, developing the ability to record from GCs in awake animals and discovering that their activity is dramatically modulated by state of consciousness. Finally, the Shea lab completed a series of studies of a different form of social recognition: auditory recognition of pup vocalizations by their mothers. Through this research, they have shown that a mouse model of Rett syndrome exhibits deficits in communication and learning not unlike those in human patients. Dr. Shea received his BS from the University of Maryland College Park and his PhD from the University of Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Vice President & Chief Education and Training Officer
Eli guides the Foundation's professional education and online programs. She leads the Foundation's push to ensure that everyone has access to specialized Parkinson's care. She does this by ensuring healthcare professionals have access to tailored educational courses from early on in their career.
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- Research Scientist, Columbia University
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- Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Penn Egbert was most recently Managing Director and Co-Director of Americas Equity Research at Goldman Sachs in New York. Penn and his sister, Melissa Egbert Sheehan, were instrumental in forming the Foundation's Young New Yorkers For the Fight Against Parkinson's committee. Each year the committee hosts Celebrate Spring New York, which raises funds for PF research programs. Mr. Egbert previously served as a Managing Director and Head of Global Markets Research, Americas for Nomura Securities International in New York and Head of US Equity Product Management at Barclays and Lehman Brothers in New York. Penn began his career at Paine Webber and UBS in New York.
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- Private Philanthropist / Boca Raton, FL
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- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Immediate past Chair, Board of Directors / Board Member since 2004
- Managing Partner & Co - Founder of Argand Partners
Howard D. Morgan is Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Argand Partners in New York, NY. Mr. Morgan served as Chair from 2018-2022 and previously as Vice Chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors. He has been active in the private equity field for more than 30 years, previously serving as President of Castle Harlan for 20 years, as Executive Director of CHAMP Private Equity (now known as CPE Capital) in Sydney, Australia, and as Partner at The Ropart Group. Mr. Morgan is Chairman and a director of Concrete Pumping Holdings, listed on the NASDAQ, and a current board member of UK based Brintons and German based Oase Living Water. He is a past board member of over 20 businesses in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Currently, Mr. Morgan is also a Trustee of the Naval War College Foundation and serves on the boards of the Harvard Business School Club of New York, the Alexander Hamilton Institute, and the World Press Institute, and is a board member and Treasurer of the Friends of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Chairman, Board of Directors / Board Member since 2010
- President and CEO of the McCamish Group
Gordon Beckham is President and CEO of The McCamish Group, LLC, a family office based in Atlanta, GA, and President of The McCamish Foundation. Prior to leading the family office, he was President and CEO of Infosys McCamish Systems, LLC, a financial services outsourcing company. Mr. Beckham also serves on the Board of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a non-partisan research institute focused on public policy in the state of Georgia.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Board Member since 2020
Jim Morgan is a partner with Squire Patton Boggs, where his focus is project financing in renewable energy. Jim was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease in 2008. Soon after, he began serving in Parkinson's Foundation roles, from Moving Day Miami Chairman to co-chair of the Volunteer Leadership Summit and Development Committee member. Jim works with numerous charitable organizations - he is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Branches, Inc, Board of Trustees Chairman on The Breakfast Club and co-chair on Missions. He has also volunteered with the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, the St. Thomas Episcopal Parish School Board and United Way of Miami-Dade County. For more than 30 years, he has been an active member of the First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables. He was awarded the South Florida Business Journal's Up & Comers Award, The Best Lawyers in America since 2006 and Florida Super Lawyers. Jim was recognized as one of the Ronald McDonald House Charities' Twelve Good Men of 2019 and received the 2019 United Way of Miami-Dade County's Dorothy Shula Award for Outstanding Volunteerism. Jim received his J.D. from Nova Southeastern University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Vice President
- As Chief Scientific Officer
- Chief Scientific Officer of the Parkinson 's Foundation Discusses PD GENEration With NeurologyLive
Jim guides the Foundation's research strategy and critical grants that support research centers, scientists and fellows. He helps ensures the brightest researchers enter and stay in the Parkinson's field through critically needed Foundation grants. He believes we can make research more efficient and effective when people with Parkinson's work alongside scientists as advocates.
As Chief Scientific Officer, James Beck, PhD, sets the strategic direction for the Parkinson's Foundation research vision. Dr. Beck oversees a portfolio that has guided more than $400 million in research to explore what causes Parkinson's disease (PD) and how to improve treatments, working towards a world without Parkinson's disease. He has played an integral role in positioning the organization as a world leader in accelerating Parkinson's research.
For helping Parkinson's patients improve their balance and mobility, golf may beat the martial art exercise tai chi, a new, small study reveals. The study was led by Dr. Anne-Marie Willis at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence and PD GENEration study site. James Beck, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of the Parkinson's Foundation is quoted.
James Beck, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of the Parkinson's Foundation discusses PD GENEration with NeurologyLive in this video and article that highlights the importance of the Foundation's free genetic testing and counseling study.
Jim Monhart was the former Senior Vice President at The Northern Trust Company, a global financial services organization. He serves as a Senior Credit Officer, working to expand Northern's relationships with the Wealth Management segment. Jim has had various leadership assignments during his 37-year career at Northern Trust, previously serving as the Chief Risk Officer for the Wealth Management and Fiduciary businesses. Over the years, Jim has been involved with the Board at the Parkinson's Foundation, Youth Guidance, DePaul University and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Jim received a BA in Economics from Grinnell College and an MBA in Finance from Washington University. He and his wife, Charlotte, have three grown children and live in the Chicago area.
Job Titles:
- Professor, Purdue College of Pharmacy
Dr. Rochet is a Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University and is the John and Donna Krenicke Director for the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience. Research in the Rochet laboratory is aimed at understanding the role of protein aggregation in neurodegenerative disorders, with an emphasis on Parkinson's disease (PD). Though the aggregation of the presynaptic protein α-synuclein (aSyn) has been observed in PD patients, the molecular details underlying aSyn neurotoxicity in PD are still unclear. Thus, the research in Dr. Rochet's lab focuses on better understanding mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuroprotection in PD, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic strategies. Examples of questions addressed by their studies include: 1) What are molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of neurotoxic aSyn aggregates?; 2) How do post-translational modifications modulate aSyn aggregation and neurotoxicity?; 3) What are cellular factors (e.g., antioxidant proteins, chaperones, proteins involved in lysosomal autophagy) that modulate aSyn aggregation and neurotoxicity?; 4) Which cellular functions (e.g., mitochondrial respiration, lysosomal autophagy) are disrupted by neurotoxic forms of aSyn?; and 5) Can chemical entities that interfere with aSyn aggregation or neurotoxicity be identified? Dr. Rochet received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Alberta.
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- Professor, University of Miami
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- Professor, Rush University
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- Professor, University at Buffalo
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- Partner
- Board Member since 2018
John Thomopoulos is a partner in financial services to Ernst & Young's (EY) billionaire international clients with U.S. tax exposure. Since 1991, John has served as an Adjunct Clinical Professor at the NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business. John also serves as Assistant Treasurer on the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts of America (Greater New York Councils) and as Chairman of Theatre Forward, a non-profit organization in New York City that advances American theatre and its communities. John earned his MBA in Taxation and a BA in Accounting and International Business from the NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He also studied International Studies and Japanese Business Practices at Sanno University in Tokyo, Japan. John has a strong interest in Parkinson's disease as his father had Parkinson's.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- President
- Foundation President and CEO
- President and Chief Executive Officer of the Parkinson 's Foundation
John guides the overall Foundation's strategy of mission programs and resources that make life better for people with Parkinson's. He works to expand the Foundation's reach, research initiatives and presence, while working to improve health equity among the Parkinson's community and the underserved. He ensures that all Foundation programs and resources aim to improve care and advance research toward a cure.
John L. Lehr leads the Parkinson's Foundation as president and chief executive officer. He has nearly three decades of nonprofit fundraising and management experience, with a strong focus in the voluntary healthcare and medical research sectors.
Lehr played a key role in merging two legacy Parkinson's disease (PD) organizations into the Parkinson's Foundation in 2017. Since joining the Foundation, fundraising revenue has grown each year by double digits, allowing the Foundation to greatly expand its mission programs. Lehr led the efforts to open 17 regional chapters to better serve local Parkinson's communities. These developments and other initiatives have allowed the Foundation to earn a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, a Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar, and to be named to the 2020 list of Best Places to Work by The NonProfit Times.
During his tenure at the Foundation, Lehr has overseen several major initiatives including:
Expanding the Foundation's Global Care Network to increase access to high-quality PD care nationwide;
Launching PD Generation: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease, a groundbreaking study to gather genetic data for research and drug development on thousands of people with PD by offering free genetic testing and counseling;
Co-hosting the Parkinson's Policy Forum to align the PD community around key issues, and to petition state and federal lawmakers to take action on pressing patient needs and policy changes;
Launching the Venture Philanthropy Fund, the Foundation's newest research-driven investment fund, to accelerate breakthroughs in treatments that people with PD need today.
Lehr also guides the Foundation's four-year strategic plan to advance our mission and drive impact for the PD community. In advocating for the PD community, Lehr recognizes the importance of expanding community services and resources that are offered for free, notably extended hours and Spanish-language capabilities for the Foundation's Helpline, which receives 20,000 calls a year.
Lehr earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in History from Villanova University. From 1990-1991, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka.
John Lehr, president and CEO of the Parkinson's Foundation, discusses the benefits of nonprofit mergers and how they create opportunities for existing organizations grow their mission.
Job Titles:
- Board Member since 2017
- Co - Founder of Nephron Research
Joshua is a co-founder of Nephron Research, the leading independent healthcare investment research boutique. Prior to that, Joshua spent 18 years at Barclays Capital and predecessor Lehman Brothers as a Managing Director in the Equity Research division focused on the healthcare services sector. He has a personal connection to Parkinson's in his immediate family.
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- Associate Vice President, Individual Giving
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- Professor, University of Wisconsin
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- Senior Vice President, Chief Advancement Officer
Kayln guides and oversees fundraising initiatives, operations and revenue growth that allow the Parkinson's Foundation to make life better for people with Parkinson's through essential programs and resources. She oversees national fundraising activities that engage the Parkinson's community and raise awareness.
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- Associate Vice President, Development
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- Assistant Secretary
- Chief Communications Officer
- Senior Vice President
Leilani guides the public relations and communications strategy of the Foundation, maximizing reach and Parkinson's awareness on a national scale. She leads the Foundation's branding efforts and marketing strategy to help the global Parkinson's community.
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- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Chairman / Wheat Ridge, CO
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- Associate Professor, Emory University
Marcia Mondavi Borger, the daughter of wine legend Robert Mondavi, grew up in Napa County and has been involved in the wine industry all her life. Crowning the Mondavi family's four generations in wine, she co-founded Continuum Estate with her father and brother, Tim, in 2005. She is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara and a member of numerous wine societies. She splits her time between Napa and New York City.
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- Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin
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- Assistant Treasurer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Senior Vice President
Mark guides all financial aspects of the Foundation's operations and information technology. He provides leadership and coordination in business planning, accounting, finance and budgeting functions.
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- Vice Chair / Golden Valley, MN
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- Partner
- Board Member since 2001
Marshall Burack is a partner in the law firm of Kopelowitz Ostrow in Boca Raton, FL. He specializes in health care law and represents physician groups, accountable care organizations, diagnostic imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers and other participants in the health care industry. He has been listed on a regular basis in The Best Lawyers in America for health care law.
Job Titles:
- Board Member since 2022
- Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor of the Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch
Mary Ellen is Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor of The Garrett Group at Merrill Lynch (www.fa.ml.com/thegarrettgroup). In the Atlanta community, Mary Ellen serves as Trustee of Emory St. Joseph Hospital Board, Chair of the Atlanta Catholic Archdiocese - Finance and Advisory Council, and now Trustee of the Parkinson's Foundation. Mary Ellen and her husband Scott have been married for 40 years and have three children and three grandchildren.
Job Titles:
- Pharmacologist
- Executive Director of Neuroscience at Merck Research Labs
Dr. Kennedy is currently an Executive Director of Neuroscience at Merck Research Labs. Dr. Kennedy is a pharmacologist by training focused on the discovery of novel disease modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. He co-led the discovery and progression of multiple clinical candidates - including verubecestat (MK-8931), the first BACE inhibitor to progress to Phase 3 trials in AD. His team also contributed to the discovery of LRRK2 kinase inhibitors for Parkinson's disease. In 2014, he moved to Boston and has grown a team of scientists focused on the discovery of immune based therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Most recently he contributed to Merck's Cambridge site expansion to establish an integrated multi-therapeutic research group with Neuroscience Immunology, Genetics, Chemical Biology, and Data Sciences expertise. Dr. Kennedy is a graduate of Villanova University (B.S. Biology) and Vanderbilt University (Ph.D. Pharmacology) where he studied the structure and function of G-protein coupled receptors. As a post-doc at the Mayo Clinic and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Boston Children's Hospital, he defined molecular elements critical for G-protein-gated ion channel assembly and function.
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- Chief Medical Officer, New York Stem Cell Foundation
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- Chief
- Chief Operating Officer
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Vice President
Meri-Margaret serves as the chief senior advisor to the President & CEO. She ensures the alignment of mission priorities and programs with the organization's strategic plan. Collaborating with staff, she deploys the Foundation's resources to drive efficiencies and impact for the Parkinson's Community.
Michael S. Okun, MD, (@MichaelOkun) is dedicated to the concept of interdisciplinary care, and since his appointment as the National Medical Advisor for the Parkinson's Foundation in 2006, he has worked with the Centers of Excellence to help foster the best possible environments for care, research and outreach in Parkinson's disease. He is a leading national spokesperson for Parkinson's disease, and has been extensively quoted in The New York Times, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, CNN and other media.
Dr. Okun has dedicated much of his career to helping in the development of care and research centers for people living with movement disorders, but has also has enjoyed a prolific research career exploring non-motor basal ganglia brain features and he has participated in some of the pioneering studies exploring the cognitive, behavioral and mood effects of brain stimulation.
He is Chair of Neurology and Executive Director at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida Health. The Institute is unique in that it is comprised of more than 130 interdisciplinary faculty members from diverse areas of campus, all of whom are dedicated to care, outreach, education and research.
Dr. Okun received his BA in History from Florida State University and his MD from the University of Florida where he graduated with Honors. Dr. Okun completed an internship and Neurology residency at the University of Florida. Following residency, he was trained at Emory University, one of the world's leading centers for movement disorders research, in both general movement disorders and in surgical treatments for Parkinson's and other neuropsychiatric diseases.
Dr. Okun holds the Adelaide Lackner Professorship in Neurology and has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, he is a published poet (Lessons From the Bedside, 1995) and author of 14 books including most recently Living with Parkinson's (2020) and Ending Parkinson's (2020). His research has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Lancet and other peer-reviewed venues. He has been invited to speak about Parkinson's disease and movement disorders all over the world and was honored at the White House in 2015 as a champion for change. His book Parkinson's Treatment: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Mindy McIlroy has worked for the Terranova Corporation, a leading commercial real estate firm in South Florida, for more than 17 years. As President, Ms. McIlroy oversees the leasing, marketing and new business development efforts for the company's retail portfolio, valued at more than $1 billion. Her expertise includes the leasing of urban street retail, mixed-use projects and traditional suburban shopping centers. She is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, an executive board member of the Coral Gables business improvement district and a founding member of the Lincoln Road Property Owners Association. Ms. McIlroy is an entrenched Miami resident and an integral part of Terranova's growth and success as one of South Florida's leading commercial real estate firms.
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- Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
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- Professor, University of Michigan
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- Vice President, Clinical Affairs and Information & Resources
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- Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Paolo Fresco previously served as the Chairman of Fiat from 1998 to 2003. He dedicated much of his esteemed career to General Electric (GE). In 1962, after practicing law in Rome, he began his GE career with an affiliate, working his way to GE Vice Chairman and Executive Officer. Prior to that, he worked at the GE Corporate Executive Office, managing all international activities. Mr. Fresco served as a member of the GE Board of Directors until his 2003 retirement. He is a Knight in the ‘Cavalieri del Lavoro,' the Order of Merit for Labour, which is appointed by the President of the Italian Republic. Mr. Fresco has long been dedicated to philanthropic causes, holding numerous positions in Italy and the U.S. including: Chairman of The Paolo and Marlene Fresco Foundation, which manages grants, donations and scholarships to various universities; Chairman of the Fresco Parkinson Institute; Trustee of the NYU Langone Medical Center (NYULMC); Co-Chairman of the Marlene & Paolo Fresco NYU Institute for Parkinson's & Movement Disorders at NYULMC; Chairman of Centro Ask (Art, Science & Knowledge) and more. Mr. Fresco earned his law degree at Genoa University. He enjoys figurative art and chess, and resides in Fiesole, Florence, Italy.
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- Professor, Van Andel Research Institute
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- Treasurer
- Board Member since 2017
- Director of JTC ( Cayman ) Ltd
Paul H. Nathan is the Director of JTC (Cayman) Ltd., formerly the Julius Baer Bank and Trust (Cayman) Ltd. He is also the President and owner of Ledex Consulting Corporation. Born and raised in Argentina, Mr. Nathan now lives in California, where he is President and CFO of his family foundation, The Atmos Foundation. Mr. Nathan is also a trustee at Claremont McKenna College and a board member of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies.
Goldman is managing partner of Lakeshore Sport & Fitness in Chicago, which owns and operates businesses in the Chicago area focused on hospitality, health and wellness. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Goldman worked for Sam Zell in real estate investing and McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. He has served on several non-profit boards including the Auxiliary Board of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was a vice president and created a new annual signature fundraising event.
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- Professor, Wayne State University
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- Private Investor
- Board Member since 2019
Ponder Harrison is a private investor and serves as Senior Advisor to both Comvest Partners and Franklin Resources' Industrial Technology Fund. He enjoyed a 35-year career as a recognized Travel and Technology Industry entrepreneur having helped start several successful low-cost commercial airlines in the U.S. and Europe. Ponder co-founded Allegiant Travel Company in 2002, remaining active in the business through 2017. In 1999, Ponder co-founded Virtual Premise, Inc., a leading SaaS provider of commercial real estate information management solutions, where he served as Chairman and CEO until its acquisition by CoStar Group, Inc.
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- Professor, University of California, San Francisco
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- Member of the Deceased Emeritus
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- Associate Vice President, Development Operations
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- Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Based in Atlanta, Brown is a former executive of the Coca-Cola Company and held a variety of roles in global customer leadership, with a focus on capability building and strategic planning. She is a Trustee at Emory University and a Trustee, The John and Rosemary Brown Family Foundation. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Brown was in medical equipment sales with Johnson & Johnson and Bayer Laboratories in Houston. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and an MBA from Emory's Goizueta Business School. She is a 2022 Ellis Island Medals of Honor Recipient. Brown's father, John W. Brown, Chairman Emeritus of Stryker, was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's.
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- Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
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- Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
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- Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Stephanie has actively donated her time to the non- profit world while raising her three children. She has served on the Board of Directors at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades (2000-2008) as well as serving as both Women's Philanthropy President (2009-2011) and President of the Board of Directors at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey (2017-2019) Stephanie has also served on the board of Lighthouse International (2006-2015), as well as recently coming on to the Board of Directors for City Harvest. She is the recipient of the Rising Star award of the Women's Division of UJA (2005), the Russell Berrie Young Leadership Award (2006), honoree of The Woman's Rights Information Center (2011). She was honored at the Woman's Division Spring Luncheon for her role as President (2016). Stephanie is a two-time recipient of the Foundation's Paige and William Black Humanitarian Award, having received the award in 2007 with her family, for their commitment to Parkinson's research and in 2016 with her fellow co-chairs of the Foundation's Helping Hours.
Stephen Ackerman previously served as Executive Director and Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in New York, NY specializing in fixed income, government and agency debt, portfolio management, municipal and corporate, high yield and emerging market debt. His career in financial services began in 1958 at the New York Stock Exchange, having transitioned to investment advising, concentrating on fixed income for high-net-worth individuals, institutions and foundations. He previously co-founded his own municipal bond firm and spent several years at Bear Stearns as Senior Managing Director, where he was instrumental in building a presence in municipals within the Private Client Services Group.
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- Professor of Neuroscience
Dr. Tansey is the Norman and Susan Fixel Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology, Co-Director Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease and the Parkinson's Foundation Research Center at the University of Florida. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious, open access journal npj Parkinson's Disease - the official journal of the Parkinson's Foundation. The general interests of the Tansey lab include investigating the role and regulation of neuroinflammatory and immune system responses in modulating the gene-environment interactions that determine risk for development and progression of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease. The Tansey lab employs molecular, cellular, biochemical, pharmacological, immunohistological, fixed and live-cell high-content imaging, and behavioral assays to address important mechanistic questions with the long-term goal of developing novel therapeutics for the prevention and/or treatment of chronic neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases characterized by chronic neuroinflammation. As a Latina scientist, Dr. Tansey is a fierce advocate of diversity and serves as a role model for under-represented groups in STEM. Dr. Tansey obtained her B.S/M.S in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Cell Regulation from UT Southwestern in Dallas, followed by post-doctoral work in Neuroscience at Washington University Medical School. Prior to setting up her academic research lab in 2002 at UT Southwestern Medical Center, she was head of the Chemical Genetics group at Xencor, a biotechnology company in Monrovia, working on novel TNF inhibitors that she used as tools in academia to investigate the role of neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative disease, and which have now advanced to clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease and COVID19 for cytokine storm.
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- Associate Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Professor of Neurology
Dr. Yacoubian is a Professor of Neurology in the Division of Movement Disorders and Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and holds the John A. and Ruth R. Jurenko Endowed Professorship in Neurology. She is Director of the UAB Medical Scientist Training Program and the UAB Udall Center Clinical Core. Her research is focused on understanding mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration and testing proteins with neuroprotective potential in cellular and animal models of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Yacoubian received her AB in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University. She then attended Duke University School of Medicine as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed her internship at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and her neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Prior to joining the UAB Neurology faculty in 2007, Dr. Yacoubian was a Research and Clinical Fellow in Movement Disorders at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital.
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- Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
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- Professor, University of Pittsburgh
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- Instructor, Harvard Medical School
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- Board Member since 2020
- Global Vice President of Business Product Marketing
Travis Scott Howe is the Global Vice President of Business Product Marketing, Growth at Meta. Prior to that he worked as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Operations and Strategy at The Walt Disney Company and held senior leadership positions at Vista Equity Partners, Sony and Accenture. Travis's father was diagnosed with Parkinson's several years ago, driving Travis to make Parkinson's philanthropy a priority. Travis also serves as Chairman of the Board for the Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School for the Blind in New York City. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where he received a BA in Finance and International Business in addition to the Business Leadership Program at Harvard University. He splits his time between New York City and Palm Beach.
Warren Hirst is Senior Director and head of the movement disorders preclinical research efforts in Biogen's Neurodegeneration Research Unit, a role he has led since joining them in 2016. Warren is responsible for developing and driving a diverse preclinical portfolio of programs, to complement Biogen's development efforts for their alpha-synuclein antibody, which is in Phase 2 trials, using multiple modalities, from antibodies and antisense oligonucleotides, in collaboration in Ionis, to gene therapy and small molecules, targeting mechanisms strongly supported by human genetics and pathology, to deliver novel disease-modifying therapeutics to patients. Warren received his Ph.D. from Imperial College, London and, after a post-doc at the same institution, he moved to industry. Warren has 20 years of pharma experience, all focused on neurodegeneration research - including Alzheimer's disease, depression, stroke and Parkinson's disease, and drug development, holding positions of increasing responsibility at SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline in England, before moving to the USA to join Wyeth and then Pfizer. Warren has lead teams that have discovered and advanced 2 molecules into clinical trials (Phase 1 and Phase 3) and has published over 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Warren is actively engaged in the wider scientific community via collaborations with key academic partners, and his service on NINDS study sections, foundation grant review committees, and as an ad-hoc reviewer for multiple journals including Neuron and PNAS. Warren also served as a member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation's Executive Science Advisory Board. Outside of work Warren enjoys snowboarding and travel.
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- Board Member since 2022
- CEO of Tallgrass Energy
Since 2019, William R. (Bill) Moler has served as the CEO of Tallgrass Energy, a publicly traded natural gas pipeline company. On July 1, he will transition to Non-Executive Chairman of the Board and senior advisor for Blackstone Infrastructure Partners. Bill is an active volunteer and donor in the Parkinson's Foundation Heartland Chapter, having served in various leadership positions over the years.
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- Professor, Pennsylvania State University
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- Vice President & Chief Human Resources & Administration Officer
Yasnahia guides all Foundation employee functions in accordance with organization practices. She oversees strategic human resource planning, hiring and retaining employees, while directing administrative functions.
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- Division Chief, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University
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- Assistant Professor, Kansas State University