ACCESS CIRCLES - Key Persons
AccessCircles was founded in 2007 by Carolee Lee, the former CEO and founder of Carolee Designs, one of the world's leading accessories brands. After the sale of her business in 2005, Carolee focused her passion and energy on women's health and life planning with a vision to create AccessCircles.
Carolee founded WHAM in 2018 as an initiative of AccessCircles to improve the health and wellbeing of women through the discovery, research, dissemination, and integration of sex and gender-based differences and the application of this knowledge to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for women so that they may lead healthy, long and productive lives.
She is a past Chair of the Committee of 200, the organization of preeminent businesswomen and served as the Chair of its Foundation Board.
She currently serves as a director on the board of DSW, Inc., a leading shoe retailer; The Women's Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government and as a founding board member of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she has served since 1986.
Dr. Charles Czeisler is a physician and sleep researcher in the fields of circadian rhythms and sleep medicine. He is the Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine, Director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an Affiliate Faculty Member in the Neuroscience Program at Harvard Medical School and the Health Science and Technology Program at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire is the President and CEO of La Jolla Institute for Immunology, a non-profit research institute ranked top-five globally in human immunology. LJI is dedicated to understanding and harnessing the power and complexity of the human immune system to prevent and treat diseases ranging from autoimmunity to cancer, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases. The health of women and how immune responses differ between the sexes are key interests. Her own research explains, at the molecular level, how and why viruses are pathogenic and provides the roadmap for medical defense. She is best known as the galvanizing force behind global collaborations that united dozens of former competitors to solve problems too complex for any one group alone, revise the discovery pipeline and put treatment in place where none existed before. In all these endeavours, she has used molecular insight to bring together scientists and policymakers alike for scientific advancement and social change. Dr. Saphire's work has been recognized at the White House with a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, as a Fulbright Scholar, with awards from numerous National and International bodies and as the 2021 scientist of the years for the ARCS foundation.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women 's Health
Dr. Hadine Joffe is the Executive Director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Executive Vice Chair for Academic and Faculty Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Paula A. Johnson Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Women's Health at Harvard Medical School. She founded and directs the Women's Hormone and Aging Research Program which is jointly affiliated with Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) at Harvard Medical School.
As the Executive Director of the Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Dr. Joffe is launching a series of cross-cutting research initiatives that engage researchers from multiple disciplines across the academic community as well as external partners in industry and advocacy communities.
Dr. Joffe received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, and her Masters Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her psychiatry residency training at McLean Hospital and a fellowship in Reproductive Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota
- Chief of Data Science and Director of the Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine
Dr. Jennifer Hall is the Chief of Data Science and Director of the Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine at the American Heart Association. She leads the Association's groundbreaking initiatives in cardiovascular medicine by leveraging data analysis, new technologies and strategic alliances to fulfill the promise of precision medicine: that integrating real-world data can enable and accelerate the development of innovative solutions to prevent or mitigate the impact of chronic diseases.
At the intersection of health, technology and science, Dr. Hall leads a highly diversified team of experts in data science, scientific research, metrics and evaluation, and products. These powerful factors come together to drive new evolutions in science through the Association's Precision Medicine Platform, a cloud-based technology solution that empowers the global medical research community to accelerate breakthroughs in cardiovascular and brain diseases. The diversified and innovative research grant program in the Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine, led by Dr. Hall and the Institute Executive Scientific Advisory Committee, includes over 95 grant awardees that contribute their expertise to the development and fine-tuning of the Precision Medicine Platform in addition to pushing the field of data science in imaging, population health, genetics, and engineering. The 30 million dollars invested in the research grant program has resulted in over 430 research publications in high impact journals including Nature Communications, Nature Medicine, and JAMA. Finally, Dr. Hall also helps to oversee the Research Goes Red Registry, powered by Verily, which calls on women throughout the U.S. to contribute to health research.
Dr. Hall is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota and has served on numerous national and international committees. She is the past Chair of the Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Council of the American Heart Association and was the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research.
Maria C. Freire is the former President and Executive Director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). Under her leadership, the FNIH developed a substantive portfolio of innovative research and clinical programs and created trailblazing public-private partnerships that advance biomedical science. Prior to FNIH, from 2008 to 2012, Dr. Freire was President of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, where she established programmatic initiatives that expanded the brand and reach of the foundation. From 2001 to 2008, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit organization that develops drugs to fight tuberculosis, and from 1995 to 2001, she directed the Office of Technology Transfer at the NIH.
Dr. Freire obtained her BS degree at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, and her PhD in Biophysics from the University of Virginia. She completed postgraduate work in Immunology and Virology at the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee, respectively, and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She is widely recognized as an expert in technology commercialization, in the establishment and implementation of R&D alliances based on her wide range of experience in the public and private biomedical sectors.
Dr. Freire is active on national and international boards and committees. She is the Chair of the Business Advisory Board of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain; is a Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.; is on the Board of Directors for Exelixis,Inc. and of Biogen Inc. and the Keystone Symposia. She has served as a member of the Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future of the National Academy of Medicine and the Executive Committee of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network; and was a member of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Freire is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2019 "Executive of the Year" Award from NonProfit PRO, the 2017 Gold Stevie Award for "Woman of the Year", the 2017 Washington Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business Award, the HHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service, the Arthur S. Flemming Award and the Bayh-Dole Award.
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner of the Global Alliance of Women 's Brian Health
Meryl Comer is a founding partner of the Global Alliance of Women's Brian Health and co-founder of Women Against Alzheimer's. She serves on the NIH National Advisory council on Aging (NACA).
In 2012, she led the formation of the 21st Century BrainTrust® (21CBT), a non-profit partnership to advance mobile health technologies and brain health. Comer is also co-principal investigator for the PCORI Alzheimer's Patient/Caregiver Research Network in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, UCSF's Brain Health Registry, and USAgainst Alzheimer's Networks. In 2009, she served on the bi-partisan Alzheimer's Study Group, charged with presenting a National Strategic Plan to Congress.
A former veteran broadcast journalist, Comer's New York Times bestseller, Slow Dancing with a Stranger (Harper Collins) supports Alzheimer's Research.
Job Titles:
- Director of Scientific Programs in Neuroscience at BrightFocus Foundation
Sharyn Rossi is the Director of Scientific Programs in Neuroscience at BrightFocus Foundation. She received her Ph.D. in anatomy and neurobiology from the University of California, Irvine, where she studied stem cell replacement therapies for the treatment of spinal cord injury. She continued her post-doctoral work at A.I. duPont Hospital for Children studying spinal muscular atrophy, and Johns Hopkins University, using optogenetics to investigate how transplanted stem cells integrate into brain circuitry after traumatic brain injury. Prior to coming to BrightFocus Foundation, Sharyn was a senior research scientist at the National Institute on Aging, using neuroimaging, light-sheet microscopy, and novel interventions to investigate changes in the brain during normal cognitive aging. Her multi-disciplinary background in systems neuroscience brings a comprehensive perspective and holistic approach to the Alzheimer's disease program at BrightFocus. When she is not immersed in groundbreaking science, Sharyn can be found cooking, gardening, doing yoga, and playing with her three children.
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of BrightFocus
Stacy Haller is the President and CEO of BrightFocus. She has significantly expanded the foundation's stature as a premier source of private funding and support for research on Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Under her tenure, the Maryland-based nonprofit has nearly tripled its financial commitment to innovative, high-risk research that spans scientific disciplines and national borders.
Ms. Haller regularly appears on panels for scientific, health care, and philanthropic audiences and represents BrightFocus among public and private sector leaders in efforts to increase and diversify sources of research funding. Her honors and recognitions include Disruptive Women in Health Care naming her to its list of Disruptive Women to Watch and the thought leader Ideagen presenting her with their Global Leadership Award.
Prior to assuming the leadership of BrightFocus in 2010, Ms. Haller served as the Executive Director of CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation, the world's largest children's cancer research organization. Additionally, she co-created the first Outcomes Measurement Training in the Mid-Atlantic region to improve nonprofit performance. Ms. Haller, whose board service includes America's Charities, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College.