About FAST
Scientific Advisory Board
These individuals review and give constructive feedback on the translational relevance, scientific rigor, track record and expertise of the investigator, proposed timeline and associated budget of the project, and overall feasibility and probabilities of the suggested research. (In addition, there are scientific consultants that volunteer to review for FAST, who we will leverage if the topic is in an area outside of the scope of members of the SAB, or there is any conflict of interest for members of the SAB.) This process is led by the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Barbara Bailus.
At the same time, legal teams negotiate a contract to govern the grant and any advancements that may come from the grant. If and when all is ripe and the grant is approved by the chair of the SAB, the Chief Science Officer, and the entire FAST Board of Directors, then the contract is signed and the work can begin immediately.
Barbara Bailus, PhD
Scientific Advisory Board Chair
Assistant Professor of Genetics
The Keck Graduate Institute, of The Claremont Colleges
Email: Barbara_Bailus@kgi.edu
Dr. Barbara Bailus is an Assistant Professor of Genetics at The Keck Graduate Institute, of The Claremont Colleges. She did her doctoral research at University of California, Davis in the Segal Laboratory developing a gene therapy based on artificial transcription factors for the treatment of Angelman syndrome.
Brett Abrahams, PhD
Board Member
President
Heppinn Biosciences
Email: brett@heppinnbiosciences.com
Dr. Abrahams is a neuroscientist, geneticist, and drug hunter with experience developing therapeutics and building startups. He is the founder and President of Heppinn Biosciences, a consultancy practice launched to support venture investors, foundations, and biotech companies' diligence opportunities, develop drugs, and start biotech companies. He’s also an Advisory Board Member for Autism Speaks, CureShank (Phelan McDermid Syndrome), and Accelerator Life Science Partners.
Anne Anderson, MD
Board Member
Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology, and Neurosciences
Baylor College of Medicine
Specialties: Pediatrics, Neurology
Email: annea@bcm.edu
Dr. Anderson is a clinician scientist in the field of pediatric epilepsy. She is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology, and Neurosciences at Baylor College of Medicine. She is an active clinician in pediatric epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology and serves as Medical Director of Clinical Neurophysiology at TCH.
Nadia Bahi-Buisson, PhD
Board Member
University Professor and Hospital Practitioner
Neuropediatrics Department of CHU Necker Enfants - Malades
Dr. Nadia Bahi-Buisson's contributions to neuropediatric research and her work with Angelman syndrome at Université Paris Descarte.
Mei Baker, MD, FACMG
Board Member
Professor, Newborn Screening Laboratory at Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Mei Baker, MD, FACMG is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and Director in the Newborn Screening Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Baker practiced medicine before being trained in both biochemical and molecular genetics, obtaining a clinical biochemical genetics certification from the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics in 2009. She has 20 years of experience in routine newborn screening (NBS) with specific interest in, and a successful track record of, applying emerging technologies to implement new screening tests for disorders and to improve ongoing screening tests. Dr. Baker served as a member of the Department of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children from 2016 to 2021. She has recently been appointed to serve on National the Academies’ committee of Newborn Screening: Current Landscape and Future Directions.
Marisa Bartolomei, PhD
Board Member
Professor
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Meet Marisa Bartolomei, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and an expert in mechanisms of genomic imprinting.
Art Beaudet, MD
Board Member
Founder and CEO of Luna Genetics
Texas Children's Hospital
Specialties: Genetics
Founder and CEO of Luna Genetics
Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, MD, PhD
Board Member
Professor of Pediatrics, Neurological Sciences, Anatomy and Cell Biology
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Elizabeth Berry-Kravis MD, PhD is a Professor of Pediatrics and Neurological Sciences and Director of the RUSH Pediatric Neurosciences F.A.S.T. Center for Translational Research at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Lauren E. Black, PhD
Board Member
Distinguished Scientist
Charles River Laboratories
Email: lauren.black@crl.com
Dr. Black is a distinguished scientist who specializes in preclinical assessment of transplant drugs, oligos, monoclonals for autoimmune disease, treatment vaccines, and cell therapies.
Robert Carson, MD, PhD
Board Member
Professor
Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt | Nashville, TN
Specialties: Epilepsy, Pediatric Neurology
Email: robert.carson@vumc.org
Dr. Carson's research has been focused on understanding disease mechanisms so that these mechanisms may be modulated to improve the quality of life of my patients. His experience with mTOR signaling led to a collaboration with Mark Grier in the lab of Dr. Andre Lagrange investigating myelination and mTOR signaling in Angelman syndrome model mice. Since that initial basic science exposure, his clinical focus has transitioned to the study of Angelman syndrome and Dup15q syndrome.
Jimmy El Hokayem, PhD
Board Member
Vice President, Program Development and Medical Insights / Head of Neurology and Cell and Gene Therapy Centers of Excellence
Biorasi’s Neurology and Cell & Gene Therapy Centers of Excellence
As head of Biorasi’s Neurology and Cell & Gene Therapy Centers of Excellence, Dr. El Hokayem oversees all clinical projects within this space. His unique expertise in the whole basic, translational, and clinical research spectrum provides critical insights at strategic, operational, and managerial levels.
Kyle Fink, PhD
Board Member
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis
Specialties: Translational research for genetically linked neurological disorders
Email: kdfink@ucdavis.edu
The Fink laboratory focuses on the therapeutic development of gene modifying modalities such as Zinc Fingers, Transcription Activator-like Effectors, and CRISPR/Cas9 to treat genetically-linked neurological disorders. His unique academic training and research experience have provided him with an excellent background in multiple biological disciplines including neuroscience, molecular biology, microbiology, chemistry, and genetics.
Yong-Hui Jiang, MD, PhD
Board Member
Professor of Genetics, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics and Chief
Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Yong-hui Jiang is a Professor of Genetics, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and Chief of Medical Genetics of Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Jiang is a physician scientist and active practicing physician at Yale Children’s Hospital and Yale Hospital. He received his MD at Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University with highest honor and his PhD in Human and Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine under the mentorship of Arthur Beaudet.
Albert Keung, PhD
Board Member
Goodnight Distinguished Scholar, Associate Professor
North Carolina State University
Email: ajkeung@ncsu.edu
Dr. Albert Keung is the Goodnight Distinguished Scholar and Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. His group applies synthetic biology approaches to advance knowledge and treatment of neuroepigenetic disorders. Their work includes engineering new models for Angelman syndrome research and therapeutic testing, and using human stem cell models to study neuroepigenetic mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders.
Eric Klann, PhD
Board Member
Professor and Director Center for Neural Science
New York University
Specialties: Learning & Memory; Cognitive Disorders
Eric Klann is an American neuroscientist who studies how molecular signaling, synaptic plasticity, and behavior are altered in developmental disability, autism, aging, psychiatric disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Kevin Nash, PhD
Board Member
Associate Professor
University of South Florida
Email: nash@usf.edu
Kevin has a broad background in biochemistry, molecular biology and virology and in particular he has 20 years of experience working in the Adeno-associated virus (AAV) field. His current research focus is in neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Cesar Ochoa-Lubinoff, PhD
Board Member
University of California, Los Angeles
Specialties: Pediatric Psychology, Pediatric Psychiatry, Developmental Behavior
FAST Scientific Advisory Board Member
Bryce B. Reeve, PhD
Board Member
Professor
Duke University School of Medicine
Email: Bryce.Reeve@Duke.edu
Dr. Bryce Reeve is a Professor of Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He also serves as Director of the Center for Health Measurement. Trained in psychometric methods, his work focuses on assessing the impact of disease on the lives of patients and their caregivers.
David Segal, PhD
Board Member
Professor
University of California, Davis
Specialties: Genomic therapeutics
Email: djsegal@ucdavis.edu
David Segal received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah performed a post-doc at The Scripps Research Institute. Now at UC Davis, Dr. Segal’s research focuses on gene and epigenome editing to treat Angelman syndrome and related neurologic disorders. He is a founding member of the Interventional Genetics Program at the UC Davis MIND Institute, an investigator in the NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium, and Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Genome Editing.
Laurent Servais, MD, PhD
Board Member
Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Diseases at the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre and Invited Professor of Child Neurology at Liège University.
MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Center, Specialised Translational Research Oxford Neuromuscular Group: STRONG
Email: laurent.servais@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk
Dr. Servais is a paediatrician - MD graduated in 1999. His PhD was about cerebellar electrophysiology in mice cerebellum- including in "Angel mice". He trained as a child Neurologist in Paris- at the Hospital Robert Debré and as a myologist at the Institute of Myology-La Pitié-Salpêtrière. He has co-founded and led Institute I-Motion where he was Assistant Professor until 2019. He is now a professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Diseases at the University of Oxford since 2018 and Professor of Child Neurology at the University of Liege-Belgium.
Keith Sutton, PhD
Board Member
Director of pre-clinical development
Resolution Therapeutics
Dr. Sutton is a translational scientist experienced in the development of cell, gene, and immunomodulatory therapeutics from candidate selection to first-in-human.
Ashley Winslow, PhD
Board Member
CEO & CSO
Odylia Therapeutics
Email: awinslow@odylia.org
Ashley Winslow is CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Odylia Therapeutics, a nonprofit biotech focused on accelerating drug development for rare diseases. Odylia develops therapeutics in collaboration with patient groups and a strategic network of CROs, academic partners, and industry, with the aim of bringing life changing therapeutics to patients. Ashley received her PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Cambridge and completed her postdoctoral work at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Tim Yu, MD, PhD
Board Member
Neurogeneticist
Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Email: timothy.yu@childrens.harvard.edu
Tim is a neurogeneticist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He leads a multidisciplinary research group in the Division of Genetics and Genomics whose efforts span the range from experimental neurobiological investigations of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders to human genetics to the advancement of novel models for individualized genomic medicine. He pioneered the use of antisense oligonucleotides as individualized medicines for seriously debilitating or fatal neurogenetic conditions.