CITIZEN SCIENTIST AWARD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Neil Buckholtz served as the Director of the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During his twenty-five year tenure at NIA, Dr. Buckholtz was responsible for developing and managing many signature extramural research programs including the Alzheimer's Disease (AD) drug discovery and development, program, the preclinical drug toxicology evaluation contract, the AD Cooperative Study, the AD Neuroimaging Initiative, the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network, the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-AD, and the 2012 and 2015 AD Research Summits. He has extensive experience providing information on all aspects of AD research to media as well as to lay and professional groups.
Dr. Buckholtz received his B.S. degree in psychology from the Ohio State University and his M.S. and PhD degrees in physiological psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was a post-doctoral fellow and Assistant and Associate Professor in biochemistry and psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina from 1970 to 1983 where he did research on the neuropharmacology of psychotomimetic drugs, the serotonergic system, and psychopharmacology of learning and memory. He came to the NIH in 1983, first as guest researcher/pharmacologist in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intramural program working on the neuropharmacology of psychotomimetic drugs and receptor correlates of bulimia and depression followed by serving as a Scientific Review Administrator in the NIMH extramural program. He moved to the NIA in 1990 as a Health Scientist Administrator.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Chairman of the Global Alzheimer 's Platform Foundation
George Vradenburg is Chair of the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation, which he initiated in 2013. George was named by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve as a founding member of the Advisory Council on Research, Care, and Services established by the National Alzheimer's Project Act and has testified before Congress about the global Alzheimer's pandemic. He is also a member of the World Dementia Council, appointed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. George is a co-founder of USAgainstAlzheimer's and UsAgainstAlzheimer's PAC, convenes the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease and co-convenes Leaders Engaged in Alzheimer's Disease. He and his late wife, Trish, have long been dedicated members of Washington's civic and philanthropic community. George served for 13 years as Chairman of the Board of The Phillips Collection, for 4 years as a Trustee of the University of the District of Columbia and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and The Economic Club of Washington. He has served in senior executive and legal positions at CBS, FOX and AOL/Time Warner. George graduated from Oberlin College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Leader
Jason is a respected executive with more than fifteen years of corporate leadership experience across research and development, project and alliance management, and the client service industry. He has successfully driven organizational change across thousands of employees through the development and introduction of new processes, tools, and methodologies. Jason has led strategic initiatives determining the future direction for functions during times of transformative change. He has made substantial contributions as both an individual contributor as well as an executive with direct global authority for an organization of nearly four-hundred people.
Jason is a proven leader defined by integrity, respect for others, and courage. He is known for driving significant organizational change by "seeing the essence", understanding the big picture, and being able to distill the complex into actionable steps. Jason has experience in leading and influencing others to new levels of achievement. His style is collaborative and direct with a history of developing and mentoring leaders. Jason brings a passion and zeal to the workplace that brings the best out of others.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Operations, GAP Participant Services
Jill Smith, MA, CCRC is the Senior Director of Operations, GAP Participant Services (GPS) for the Global Alzheimer's Platform (GAP) Foundation. As such, she works with the GAP-Network of 70+ sites to implement clinical trials programs and enhance recruitment tactics to ensure expedited enrollment into studies. She has led several recruitment summits around the country, overseen clinical trial recruitment videos, and creates tools to help sites conduct trials efficiently and effectively.
Jill is an ACRP Certified Clinical Research Coordinator (since 2012). She also currently serves as co-chair of the Discovery Committee of the Gulfcoast Florida Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
Before joining GAP, Jill spent 14 years working directly in the field of Alzheimer's clinical research with patients and families. She led a university clinical research program for 10 years and has extensive experience working in community-based memory screening programs. She also collaborated to design and operationalize the first ever Alzheimer's mobile research unit, a 53-foot clinical trial trailer that visited 9 different sites and offered over 500 community-based memory screening programs as well as over 100 clinical trial visits during her time at USF. She has been an adjunct instructor at the USF School of Aging Studies teaching Alzheimer's disease management to Long Term Care and Health Science majors. She received her BA and MA from the University of South Florida with an emphasis on Alzheimer's disease in her graduate course work.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President and Founding Board Member
- President of the Global Alzheimer 's Platform Foundation
John R. Dwyer, Jr. is the President of the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation. The GAP Foundation is dedicated to making the clinical trial process for Alzheimer's therapies substantially more efficient thereby speeding cures to patients afflicted with this insidious disease.
John is a serial healthcare entrepreneur who most recently participated in the acquisition of MeYou Health, upon whose Board he now serves. Prior to GAP, John served as the co-founder and Chairman of Telcare, Inc., a high technology manufacturer of the first wirelessly enabled blood glucose meter designed to empower patients with diabetes to better manage their disease.
Mr. Dwyer first became a CEO at the age of 30. In the following years, he has held "C" level positions in six emerging growth companies in the healthcare industry. His past assignments have included serving as CEO of e-Medex, Inc., which later merged with Active Health Management to become the leading provider of population health management services where he served as the Chief Operating Officer. Active Health was purchased by Aetna in 2005. He was also a co-founder and Chairman of CodeRyte, Inc., a venture-backed seller of medical billing software using natural language processing to generate billing codes. CodeRyte was purchased by 3M in 2012.
Mr. Dwyer co-founded Us Against Alzheimer's, a patient advocacy group focused on changing the way the country addresses the threat posed by Alzheimer's. He also co-founded the first political action committee focused on a specific disease, the Alzheimer's Action PAC. He began his career as an attorney with the Washington DC based law firm of Arent, Fox LLP where he focused on transactions in regulated industries.
Mr. Dwyer is a frequent speaker on financing and regulatory issues of critical importance to emerging health technology companies. He also regularly speaks on health information issues and the business risks associated with the regulatory and payer process.
Mr. Dwyer currently serves on the Boards of Directors of a number of private and not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Dwyer is a graduate of Marquette University and the Cornell Law School.
Job Titles:
- Director of Programs, Marketing and Communication for the Global Alzheimer 's Platform Foundation
Julie Sipchen is the Director of Programs, Marketing and Communication for the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation (GAP) and is primarily responsible for implementing novel recruitment activities across the GAP network of research sites (GAP-Net) and project management oversight of the GAP Participant Services (GPS) program. Previously, she served as Senior Associate Director, Mission Partnerships for the Alzheimer's Association. In this role, Julie was responsible for strategic oversight and operations for national programs including safety, online education, e-commerce and fulfillment and online social networking. She also served as primary liaison to the dementia care industry, managing engagement opportunities for more than 17 active national accounts.
Julie has also held leadership positions with Family Voices, a national, nonprofit, family-led organization promoting quality health care for all children and youth, particularly those with special health care needs and with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, US Department of Labor.?She has a B.A. degree in Communications & Journalism from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Political Science and Public Policy from University of Illinois-Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Trial Recruitment and Study Solutions
Leigh Zisko, MPh, is our Vice President, Trial Recruitment and Study Solutions for the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation (GAP). As such, she works with the GAP-Network of 70+ sites to implement clinical trials programs and enhance recruitment tactics to ensure expedited enrollment into studies. In addition to her work for the Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation, Leigh currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Health Care Coalition, a non-profit organization working to eliminate health disparities through advocacy, access to health care, and health promotion.
Prior to her work with GAP, she had the opportunity to gain research experience in private, academic and hospital-based settings. Leigh worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Illinois - Chicago and the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), a Research Coordinator at the Department of Veterans Affairs (CADRE Division), and a Regulatory Affairs Coordinator at Banner Alzheimer's Institute, where she became the Clinical Trials Senior Manager in 2015 overseeing the Alzheimer's clinical trial portfolio.
Leigh has done research in a variety of different fields including mental health, HIV/AIDS, developmental disabilities and Alzheimer's disease. She has a breadth of experience in clinical trial implementation from the research site's perspective, including trial start-up and execution, recruitment initiatives, process effectiveness and ICH, FDA, and HIPAA compliance.
Leigh has a Master's in Public Health from the University of Illinois-Chicago and a Bachelor's in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa. She has been a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA) since 2014 and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Managing Member of the JBG Companies
Michael J. Glosserman, formerly a managing member of The JBG Companies and chairman of its Executive Committee, is now a board member of its successor company, The JBGSmith REIT. Glosserman began his career as a staff attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice before moving into commercial real estate investment and development with the Rouse Company in 1972. He joined JBG in 1979. Upon conversion to a public company in 2017, JBG was the largest real estate development and operating company in the Washington Metro Area. Glosserman is also a member of The Costar Group's board and brings significant business development and financial experience to the board.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Founding Board Member
- Partner at High Lantern Group
Mr. Drew Holzapfel is a Partner at High Lantern Group having opened offices for the firm in both Philadelphia and Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Holzapfel is responsible for client management and business development in the areas of pharma, health and aging. He joined High Lantern Group from Pfizer, where he led aspects of the global commercial development for its Alzheimer's program. In this role, he led numerous efforts to advance Alzheimer's and aging issues through development of commercial strategy, advocacy and partnerships with international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits and other key stakeholders. Prior to joining Pfizer, he managed an external affairs team for a medical device manufacturer, helping steer the company through an initial public offering and the launch of its first product. A former Special Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration, he began his career as a political appointee working on communications for a Presidential initiative in the White House. He has led the development of ReACT (reactconnection.com), a coalition of Fortune 500 companies seeking to better support employees serving as caregivers, which was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2010. Additionally, he participated in the creation of the CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease, a business coalition focused on improving Alzheimer's research and development, diagnosis and treatment and raising awareness of the disease.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Member of the Board of Directors
Pascale is an experienced leader with nearly 30 years in the Pharma, Medtech and Diagnostics industries, a former CEO of a major GE healthcare business and a former EVP of Sanofi with multiple responsibilities. Pascale has a proven track record in strategically repositioning businesses, driving operations that deliver results and change, and recruiting and developing talent to lead a business. Pascale has built a reputation across the healthcare sector for vision, strength and effectiveness by achieving growth through implementing new strategies and driving operational success.
Pascale was born in Basel, Switzerland and educated in France, earning Master's degree in Life Sciences and Engineering. After two years as a PhD student, she joined Becton Dickinson for the next five years, before completing her MBA at INSEAD.
Pascale held a number of executive positions at GE Healthcare during her 17-year tenure, most recently (2009-2013) serving as President and CEO of its $2Bn pharmaceutical business (ex- Amersham Health). In 2013, she joined Sanofi as Executive Vice-President, Pharma Divisions; in 2015 she took over the Global Diabetes and Cardiovascular Businesses.
Pascale currently serves on the board of Fresenius Medical Care, Horizon Therapeutics, Perkin Elmer and Regulus Therapeutics. She previously served on the board of Savencia and Tesaro. Pascale is the Founder and CEO of PWH Advisors, a strategic advisory firm servicing CEOs of Biotech, MedTech and Digital Health companies as well as Investment firms.
In July 2016, Pascale was awarded the prestigious Knight of the National Order of the Légion d'Honneur of the French Republic. In 2014 and 2015, she was listed as one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women in EMEA.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Chief Scientific Officer for the Global Alzheimer 's Platform
Richard C. Mohs, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Global Alzheimer's Platform (GAP) Foundation. He is the author or co-author of over 350 scientific papers, including those describing clinical trials that led to the approval, in the U.S. and other countries, of cholinergic drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease. In addition to his work for the GAP Foundation, Dr. Mohs serves as a consultant to academic institutions and biopharmaceutical companies. He is the Vice President for Clinical Development at Agenebio, a biotechnology company based in Baltimore. He also serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and is a member of the Board of Directors of Cogstate, Inc.
He retired in 2015 from Eli Lilly and Company where he held several leadership positions including Vice President for Neuroscience Early Clinical Development (2012-2015) and Leader of the Global Alzheimer's Drug Development Team (2007-2012). Before joining Eli Lilly in 2002, Dr. Mohs spent 23 years with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where he was Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Dr. Mohs received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University and completed postdoctoral training in pharmacology at the Stanford Medical School.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine
- Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Therapeutics
- Founding Board Member
Steven M. Paul, M.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Therapeutics and has more than 35 years of neuroscience expertise and an extensive track record in CNS drug discovery and development. He previously served as a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he helped to lead the ideation and development of new companies, including Voyager Therapeutics, where he served as Interim President of R&D since the company's formation in February 2014.
Dr. Paul is an adjunct professor of psychiatry and neurology at the Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine. Dr. Paul also served as the Founding Director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer's Disease Research Institute and Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was formerly the Executive Vice President of Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories (LRL) of Eli Lilly and Company. Prior to assuming his positions at Lilly and Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Paul served as Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH/NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Paul is a member of various professional and honorary societies, which include Phi Eta Sigma; Alpha Epsilon Delta; Sigma Xi; Phi Beta Kappa; and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society. He is the recipient of many honors and scientific recognitions, including: The Distinguished Service Medal of the USPHS and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Year Award. In 1997, Dr. Paul was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences and currently serves on the IOM's Board on Health Sciences Policy. In 2009 Dr. Paul was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Dr. Paul has authored or co-authored over 500 papers and invited book chapters and was listed as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world (top 50 in Neuroscience) (1980-2000) by the Institute for Scientific Information (I.S.I.), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He holds 9 patents on inventions made both at NIH and Lilly. His current work has focused on the role of apoE in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.