CHDI Management
CHDI Management provides administrative, management, and contracting services to the CHDI Foundation, as well as to other non-profit organizations dedicated to HD research. We have offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Princeton, New Jersey.

Jeff Aaronson Director, Bioinformatics	Emilie Anderson Administrative Assistant	Diane Anderson Clinical Trial Manager
Jamshid Arjomand, PhD Director, Basic Research	Jonathan Bard, PhD Director, Molecular Pharmacology	Ruth Basu Chief Administrative Officer
Vahri Beaumont, PhD Director, Neurobiology	Maria Beconi, PhD Director, Non-Clinical Safety	Robi Blumenstein President
Lev Blumenstein Project Manager	Martina Blumenthal, PhD Project Manager	Alexander Borchers, PhD Director, Informatics
Beth Borowsky, PhD Director, Translational Medicine	Kelvin Chan, PhD Director, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics	SungJin Cho, PhD Director, Cheminformatics & Chemistry Operations
Tania Corporan, MD Project Manager, Clinical Repositories	Celia Dominguez, PhD Vice President, Chemistry	Ken Duphiney Administrative Assistant
Cheryl Fitzer-Attas, PhD, MBA Vice President, Clinical Research	Evelyn Galstian Project Manager	Sandra Gensini Project Manager
Joe Giuliano Director, Clinical Operations	Todd Herbst Project Manager	David Howland, PhD Director, Model Systems
Kristin Jenkins Administrative Assistant	Susan Juckett Project Manager	Alison Khan Administrative Assistant
John King Administrative Assistant	Amanda Klock Project Manager	Seung Kwak, PhD Director, Molecular Systems
Brenda Lager Transgenic Manager	Oxana Lavrova, MBA Project Manager	Ramee Lee, PhD Director, Molecular Networks
Sherry Lifer Project Manager & Comptroller	Douglas Macdonald, PhD Director, Drug Discovery and Development	Mithra Mahmoudi Biological Repositories Manager
Michel Maillard, PhD Director, Medicinal Chemistry	Deanna Marchionini, PhD Director, Discovery Biology	John McCool Project Manager
Robin McGuire Administrative Assistant	Ladislav Mrzljak, MD, PhD Director, Neuropharmacology	Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuan, PhD Vice President, Translational Biology
Eileen Neacy Chief Operating Officer	Simon Noble, PhD Director, Scientific Communications	Robert Pacifici, PhD Chief Scientific Officer
Elena Pak Project Manager	Hyunsun Park, PhD Director, Systems Biology	Larry Park, PhD Director, In vivo Research
Alicia Preiss Project Manager	Shauna Rahim Human Resources Manager	David Rankin Chief Legal Officer
Jim Rosinski, PhD Director, Computational Biology	Cristina Sampaio, MD, PhD Chief Clinical Officer	Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Maggie Seay Project Manager	Ethan Signer, PhD Senior Scientific Advisor	Meherazade Sumariwalla Project Manager
Allan Tobin, PhD Senior Scientific Advisor	Leticia Toledo-Sherman, PhD Director, Computer Aided Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry	Jerry Turner Meeting & Event Manager
Rebekah Waites Administrative Assistant	John Warner, PhD Director, Biostatistics	John Wityak, PhD Director, Medicinal Chemistry

CHDI Management: Staff Biographies

Jeff Aaronson
Director, Bioinformatics, 609-945-9787
Jeff Aaronson began his professional career working with genomic information in his role within the Bioinformatics department at Merck, where he developed the analytics underlying the Merck Gene Index and developed the global Bioinformatics data environment. After Merck, Jeff joined SmithKline Beecham (SB) and spent 13 years at SB, and then GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in roles of increasing responsibilities and scope. Within R&D, Jeff headed up Bioinformatics support for the world-wide genomics platform technologies, initiated a large-scale genomic data engineering and curation program, led a division-wide Data Integration Initiative and championed novel web-based integration strategies across GSK. Within IT, Jeff led an Engineering and Integration team, coordinated both LIMS and Content Management support across Molecular Discovery Research, and performed large-scale competitive intelligence analyses in direct support of Corporate Intellectual Property.

Jeff joins us from SAIC-Frederick, where he was a Program Manager for academic and commercial contracts on behalf of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Contract foci ranged from software engineering, software maintenance, data engineering, analytical pipelining, data curation and community outreach in support of NCI initiatives. Jeff joined CHDI in 2011.


Emilie Anderson
Administrative Assistant, 212-660-8107
Emilie Anderson has previously worked as an administrative and library assistant in the fields of art, craft and design before joining CHDI.

Emilie has a BA in English Literature from the University of Utah and a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from the Palmer School of Long Island University. She joined CHDI in 2008.


Diane Anderson
Clinical Trial Manager, 609-945-9784
Diane joins CHDI with over 20 years of clinical research experience in global clinical project management, site monitoring, medical writing and data management, in a wide range of therapeutic areas. She has been the team leader for cervical dystonia and pediatric Tourette’s syndrome studies, and spent several years monitoring Parkinson’s Disease studies.

Diane received her BS in Biology from The College of New Jersey and her MS in Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs from Temple University.


Jamshid Arjomand, PhD
Director, Basic Research, 609-945-9048
Prior to joining CHDI, Jamshid Arjomand consulted for Alsgen LLC, a biotechnology company seeking ways to treat amyloid lateral sclerosis. While there, he helped establish their molecular biology platform and facility. Before Alsgen, he was at Purdue Pharma LP developing molecular platforms for the identification of candidate therapeutic targets for neuropathic pain and oversaw their validation through various academic collaborations.

Jamshid Arjomand received his undergraduate degrees in Molecular Biology and Psychology from UC Berkeley and his PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA, where his research interests lay primarily in the interactions of the nervous and immune systems. He joined CHDI in 2005.


Jonathan Bard, PhD
Director, Molecular Pharmacology, 609-945-9056
Jonathan Bard has 19 years experience in drug discovery and drug development. His focus on neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders started at Synaptic Pharmaceuticals (now Lundbeck) and, most recently, at Wyeth Research in Princeton, NJ. As group leader at Synaptic Pharmaceuticals, he successfully identified, validated and patented several G-protein coupled receptors that served as neuropsychiatric targets. These targets generated significant scientific and business partnerships toward the development of neuropsychiatric therapeutics. As Principal Scientist at Wyeth Research, Jonathan focused drug discovery efforts toward identifying novel therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He led programs in BACE inhibition and Tau modulation and was a co-recipient of a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for a Parkinson’s disease-directed drug discovery target. He also served as Discovery liaison on a multi-disciplinary team tasked with developing compounds from phase 0 through phase 2 for Alzheimer’s disease. This effort employed symptomatic and disease-modifying strategies.

Jonathan received a BS in Biology and Mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago. He completed his postdoctoral training in Molecular Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York as a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Irvington House Institute for Medical Research. He joined CHDI in 2009.


Ruth Basu
Chief Administrative Officer, 212-660-8102
Ruth Basu is currently responsible for human resources and finance for CHDI Management. For research projects with those foundations for which CHDI Management provides administrative and management services, Ruth coordinates the budgeting and funding operations.

Ruth began her career at Columbia University’s Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health as a research associate in health policy. Since 1987, she has worked off and, mostly, on with Robi Blumenstein, President of CHDI Management, at First City Capital Corporation, CIBC Capital Partners and MMC Capital. Ruth has also provided statutory compliance and corporate governance consulting services to over 200 corporate entities.

Ruth graduated from Barnard College with a BS (1977). She also has an MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (1985). Ruth helped found CHDI in 2002.


Vahri Beaumont, PhD
Director, Neurobiology, 310-342-5510
Vahri Beaumont brings extensive academic and industrial experience in neurodegeneration research to CHDI. From 2003-2006, she worked as a senior research biologist at Merck in the United Kingdom, focusing on the development of novel therapeutic strategies directed towards the modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity using small molecule intervention. She has worked with both primary neuronal and brain slice assays, using electrophysiological and op­tical techniques as a screening strategy to reduce the early synaptic dysfunction that under­lies many progressive neurodegenerative diseases.

Vahri Beaumont received her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Bristol, UK, followed by two post-doctoral trainings at UC Berkeley and the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK. She joined CHDI as a translational research scientist in 2007.


Maria Beconi, PhD
Director, Non-Clinical Safety, 609-945-9055
Maria Beconi has 15 years of drug discovery and development experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry and experience as an independent consultant with not-for-profit organizations and small Pharma. She is a specialist in non-clinical research with a strong focus on drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and bioanalytical and has supported international regulatory submissions and registrations for both human and animal health drugs in multiple therapeutic areas. As the Director of Drug Metabolism at Abbott, she oversaw the metabolism efforts for the entire discovery and development pipeline. During her tenure at Merck, she led the metabolism and pharmacokinetic efforts of several projects and received the Key Contributor Award for leadership towards the elucidation of the mechanisms of toxicity of a chemical class of DP-IV inhibitors. She was a member of the team that discovered and developed the DPPIV inhibitor Sitagliptin. While at Upjohn/Pharmacia, she received several awards for her innovative work in bioanalytical support for antimicrobials that resulted in several successful international registrations of Ceftiofur, the major selling antibiotic for veterinary use in the US at that time.

A native of Buenos Aries, Argentina, Maria Beconi holds a MS from the U. of Kentucky and a PhD in Biochemistry from Michigan State University. She has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and meeting presentations. She also holds an Associate Adjunct Faculty position with the Institute of Tuberculosis Research and the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She joined CHDI in 2009.


Robi Blumenstein
President, 212-660-8101
In 2002, Robi Blumenstein organized CHDI Management, to provide management services to non-profit organizations engaged in Huntington’s disease research. Robi Blumenstein began his career as a lawyer at Torys, a law firm in Toronto, before moving into merchant banking, where he was responsible for structuring and negotiating transactions and supervising investment analysis. He was a principal at First City Capital Corporation, CIBC Capital Partners and MMC Capital. Before all that, when he was still a kid, he built a harpsichord and was a director of Life Times Nine, a short subject film that was nomi­nated for an Academy Award in 1973.

Robi Blumenstein graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA (1975) and an LLB (1978), and has an MBA from Harvard Business School (1984).


Lev Blumenstein
Project Manager , 212-660-8114
Lev Blumenstein received his HBA from the University of Toronto. He joined CHDI in 2010.


Martina Blumenthal, PhD
Project Manager, 310-342-5520
Martina Blumenthal has three years of experience as a Research Scientist and Project Manager in Drug Discovery. She was managing preclinical small molecule drug development in oncology at MannKind Corporation, Valencia CA where she focused on protein misfolding and ER stress pathways. Martina earned a PhD in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Southern California. She joined CHDI in 2011


Alexander Borchers, PhD
Director, Informatics, 310-342-5502
After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Arizona Cancer Center, Alex Borchers joined Isis Pharmaceuticals. There, he was responsi­ble for database and application development to support a variety of programs, includ­ing rapid throughput screening, functional genomics, antisense drug design, sample tracking, workflow management, and generation of patent applications. He then joined Biota Inc., where he was responsible for the informatics to support medici­nal chemistry, compound inventory, and the distribution and capture of biological assay data. Prior to joining CHDI, he was at the San Diego Supercomputer Center as part of a National Science Foundation incentive to create a computa­tional infrastructure to support computational phylogenetics.

Alex re­ceived his BS in Biochemistry from University of Cincinnati and his PhD in Pharmacology from George Washington University. He joined CHDI in July 2006.


Beth Borowsky, PhD
Director, Translational Medicine, 609-945-9047
Beth Borowsky is the Director of Translational Medicine at CHDI and manages a portfolio of projects aimed at identifying biomarkers and endpoints for use in clinical trials in Huntington’s Disease. Prior to joining CHDI in 2007, Beth spent 13 years in CNS drug discovery and development with sanofi-aventis and Synaptic Pharmaceuticals (now Lundbeck), where she held positions of increasing responsibility. As the Schizophrenia Program Leader in the CNS Disease Group at Aventis, she developed a new strategy for developing therapeutics to treat the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. Following the merger with Sanofi, she became an Associate Director, leading the US Psychopharmacology Group within the CNS Therapeutic Department. Beth began her career at Synaptic Pharmaceuticals where she identified, cloned and patented numerous novel G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). By the time she left Synaptic, she had established the company’s first in vivo behavioral laboratories, was responsible for assessing novel GPCR targets for potential therapeutic indications as well as designing and implementing in vivo and in vitro screening strategies to promote lead compounds to Early Development Candidates.

Beth received a BS in Psychology and Neurobiology from Rutgers University, and a PhD in Pharmacology from Duke University Medical Center. She completed her post-doctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health.


Kelvin Chan, PhD
Director, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, 609-945-9051
Kelvin has more than 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry. He has led departments to contribute Analytical Chemistry and DMPK expertise to drug discovery, compound optimization, nonclinical development, and life cycle management projects. These experiences have enabled Kelvin to help teams to successfully identify technical and strategic issues, solve critical problems, and accelerate timelines for the successful NDA of 6 marketed drugs.

Prior to joining CHDI, Kelvin held positions with increasing responsibilities at Syntex Research, Wyeth Research, and Sanofi-Aventis, where he was the Senior Director, Internal and External Business Coordinator of the Lead Generation to Candidate Realization Scientific Core Platform.

Kelvin received a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Nevada at Reno, a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and completed his postdoctoral training with F. W. McLafferty at Cornell University. Kelvin joined CHDI in September 2012.


SungJin Cho, PhD
Director, Cheminformatics & Chemistry Operations, 310-342-5516
Sung Jin Cho has more than ten years of experience developing and applying scien­tific programs and chemoinformatic tools for drug discovery. Cho was a principal scientist at Amgen Inc. where he developed an innovative chemoinformatics platform. As a Senior Research Investigator at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Cho developed design tools to generate diverse and focused combinatorial libraries.

Sung Jin Cho received his BS in Chemistry and Biochemistry from North Carolina State University, and his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products from the School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He did postdoctoral research in the Laboratory for Molecular Modeling at the School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined CHDI in 2007.


Tania Corporan, MD
Project Manager, Clinical Repositories, 609-945-9797
Tania Corporan contributes to the development and expansion of the CHDI Clinical Repositories and the global projects it supports. With over 9 years of increasing responsibilities within clinical trial, genetic, epidemiological and translational research in academic, NIH and industry-sponsored initiatives, Tania's experience runs the gamut from logistical design to execution of clinical research. Prior to joining CHDI, she was Senior Officer of Research at Columbia University Medical Center’s Stroke Division and oversaw a number of clinical research programs geared towards reducing disability and mortality in acute stroke patients through the development of improved treatment and promotion of new approaches to therapy at a national scale.

Tania holds a Doctorate in Medicine from the Iberoamerican University in the Dominican Republic. She joined CHDI in the spring of 2012.


Celia Dominguez, PhD
Vice President, Chemistry, 310-342-5503
Celia Dominguez has seventeen years of drug discovery and development experience in the Pharmaceutical Biotechnology sector with Amgen and DuPont Merck. She held positions of increasing responsibility at each company. At DuPont Merck, she was part of the team that discovered a potent and selective FXa inhibitor. This discovery eventually led to the identification of a clinical candidate currently in phase III clinical trials. Amgen recruited her to help establish a department for small molecule drug discovery; she also helped identify and recruit talented scientists. Dominguez went on to lead and manage various projects from drug discovery to clinical trials in the areas of oncology, inflammation and neurobiology resulting in five clinical candidates. She has published, patented, and (most importantly) delivered therapeutic candidates for pre-clinical and clinical evaluation.

Celia Dominguez received a BS in Chemistry from the Rutgers University and a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Brown University. She carried out post-doctoral training at NIH/NIDDK. She is also a member of the Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents Editorial Board for Patent selections. She joined CHDI in 2006.


Ken Duphiney
Administrative Assistant, 212-660-8113
Ken Duphiney is the legal administrative assistant to the Chief Legal Counsel. A casting director for 16 years before coming to CHDI, Duphiney cast numerous commercials, movies and television programs. With his brother, Gerard, he was a participant on "The Amazing Race", a reality television show in which they raced around the world against 10 other teams. They were the second runner-up team—as he always says, “second runner up sounds better than third place.”

Ken Duphiney received his BA in Communications with a Theater minor from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He joined CHDI in 2005.


Cheryl Fitzer-Attas, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Clinical Research , 609-945-9043
Cheryl has over 15 years of global pharmaceutical and biotech experience in R&D leadership, medical affairs/marketing and business development. Following a formal education in cancer research and immunology, Cheryl moved into the neurology space and has studied several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Multiple System Atrophy. She brings a breadth of skills in both the scientific and business aspects of drug development, with experience in non-clinical and clinical research, regulatory interactions, intellectual property, publication planning, marketing strategies, business development, and collaborative partnering.

Cheryl spent the last 8 ½ years at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, where she held positions of increasing responsibility within the company’s innovative division, most recently as Global Medical Director. Prior to that, Cheryl worked at Mindset BioPharmaceuticals (now Intellect Neurosciences), BioTechnology General (part of the Ferring Group), and as an independent consultant to biotech start-ups.

Originally from New York, Cheryl received her degrees from leading institutions in Israel—the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BSc), the Weizmann Institute of Science (PhD), and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (MBA). She also carried out post-doctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of California, San Francisco. Cheryl joined CHDI in January 2013.


Evelyn Galstian
Project Manager, 310-342-5501
Evelyn Galstian was recruited by genOway, a French biotech company, to manage the internal projects and assist the Director of Technology Transfer in business de­velopment activities. Upon returning to the United States, Evelyn joined the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UCLA. She managed the practice of the Director of the Lung Transplant Program. This included research, clinical trial studies with external collabo­rators, and an outpatient clinic for pre- and post-operative cardiac and transplant pa­tients.

After earning her BS from UCLA, Evelyn stayed on to do research before going to France to obtain her MBA from EMLYON. She joined CHDI in 2006.


Sandra Gensini
Project Manager, 609-945-9049
Sandra Gensini (nee Gonzalez) is an experienced project manager and research chemist, with more than eight years of industry experience. Sandra comes to us from Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson’s medical device division) where she spent the last three years managing projects related to the research and development of devices for infection prevention. Prior to this, she spent five years researching synthetic polymers for wound closure, making significant contributions to the use of new cyanoacrylate polymers in the medical device industry.

Sandra has a B.S. in Chemistry from Colombia National University, a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University and is completing her M.S. in Clinical & Translational Sciences at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She joined CHDI in the Fall of 2011.


Joe Giuliano
Director, Clinical Operations, 609-945-9053
Joe Giuliano has 12 years of experience in academic and pharmaceutical research and development. This experience included working with contract research organization (CROs) and covered a broad range of therapeutic areas including CNS and imaging diagnostics. Most recently, Joe was with GE Healthcare as the Head of Clinical Project Management globally and where he led the Clinical Operations Team in North America. While at GE Healthcare, Joe successfully led a team that recruited and set up a global PET Investigator Network and was instrumental in formulating strategy for the development of the next generation of PET/SPECT imaging ligands for CNS and oncology. Before joining GE, Joe held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc. and Target Research Associates, a CRO. He has planned and executed clinical development programs and managed large multinational clinical programs. Before entering the pharmaceutical industry, he was a Senior Research Nurse and Program Coordinator in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. There he oversaw a number of clinical research programs and worked closely with patient advocacy groups and other academic research collaborators.

Joe Giuliano received his degrees in Chemistry and Nursing at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and trained in the Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma methodologies. He applies these skills to develop more efficient clinical trial management processes. He joined CHDI in 2008.


Todd Herbst
Project Manager, 949-677-8465
Todd Herbst has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development in multiple CNS therapeutic indications. Todd’s areas of expertise cover pharmacokinetics, toxicology, behavior, drug formulation, and bioanalytics. He started his career as a Research Associate running a discovery lab focused on the onset of diabetes mellitus at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Todd then moved to Cortex Pharmaceuticals, whose founders include Dr. Gary Lynch and Dr. Carl Cotman. During his tenure at Cortex, he helped advance the Ampakine® platform in the areas of cognition, neurological disorders, stroke, and respiratory depression. Todd received his BS in Biological Sciences from the University of California-Irvine, specializing in neuroanatomy and biochemistry.

Todd joined CHDI as the Pharmacokinetics Project Manager in 2010.


David Howland, PhD
Director, Model Systems, 609-945-9046
David Howland manages CHDI Foundation’s in vivo research portfolio, which includes generating and characterizing new animal models for Huntington disease. He also oversees target validation activities, which use these HD models—including testing genetically modified mice and pharmacologic agents. Prior to joining CHDI, Howland was a Principal Scientist at Wyeth Research in Princeton, NJ, where he led target validation efforts for the Neuroscience division. Howland also developed and implemented a transgenic rat model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and ran a program aimed at identifying therapeutic interventions for ALS. As a Senior Research Scientist at Cephalon Inc, Howland codeveloped rodent models of disease including the first knock-in mouse and first transgenic rat model for Alzheimer’s disease.

David Howland received his PhD from the Penn State and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester where he in­vestigated mechanisms of neuronal-specific gene regulation. He joined CHDI in 2006.


Kristin Jenkins
Administrative Assistant, 310-342-5512
Kristin Jenkins is the administrative assistant for the Chief Scientific Officer, and she coordinates the annual HD Therapeutics Conference. Prior to CHDI, Jenkins was an artist development representative for Interscope, Geffen, A&M, and Dreamworks Records where she had the privilege of bringing small bands like No Doubt, Eminem, and Black-Eyed Peas to a mainstream audience.

A Music Business Marketing and Management major from Five Towns University in New York, Kristin joined CHDI in 2004.


Susan Juckett
Project Manager, 609-945-9059
Susan Juckett has over 15 years combined experience in proposal and contract development, budget creation and analysis and financial and resource management. Prior to joining CHDI, Susan was a Proposal and Contract Manager for Perceptive Informatics. While at Perceptive, Susan was responsible for the proposal and contract workflow management of the company’s suite of clinical technology solutions. Susan was also employed by Covance for 8 years working in different capacities as a financial analyst. Her experience included invoice management, investigator grant payments and project and resource management.

Susan received her BS in Business Administration from Rider University. She joined CHDI in 2010.


Alison Khan
Administrative Assistant, 609-945-9788
Alison Khan comes to us with several years of experience in Human Resources/Recruiting and Administrative Management. She recently worked as a Human Resources Manager for UTI Worldwide onsite at FujiFilm USA. Prior to that, she worked for Solomon Page Group, an Executive Recruitment Firm, as an Executive Assistant for over six years. Alison joined CHDI in the Fall of 2011.


John King
Administrative Assistant, 212-660-8109
John King is the administrative assistant to the Chief Administrative Officer. Prior to CHDI, John was a publicist at Princeton Architectural Press, a publisher of books on architecture, design, and visual culture.

John received his BA from Fairfield University and spent the 90’s touring the US by van in a number of indie rock bands you have never heard of. He joined CHDI in 2007.


Amanda Klock
Project Manager, 609-945-9799
Amanda Klock graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2012 with a major in Finance and a minor in Chemistry. As an undergrad, Amanda worked as a research assistant at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Cardiovascular Unit where she was responsible for post-processing of cardiovascular MRI data. This work led her to coauthor a publication in the journal Circulation. Amanda joined CHDI in January 2013.


Seung Kwak, PhD
Director, Molecular Systems, 609-945-9045
Seung Kwak currently directs multiple HD target acquisition and validation pro­jects in collaboration with CHDI’s academic, biotechnology, and contract research partners. Before coming to CHDI, he worked ten years for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in drug discovery. There he partici­pated in a wide range of target validation and in vivo model development activities. These projects supported internal programs in Stroke, Schizophrenia, and Depression/Anxiety. He also collaborated with Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Galapagos, Inc for novel target acquisition. As a Pain Department Team Leader, Seung championed an ion channel target through high throughput screening and lead identifi­cation. His scientific achievements include publications in Nature and Neuron.

Seung Kwak received a BA in Psychobiology from Oberlin College in Ohio and a PhD in Neuroscience from University of Michigan. Huda Akil oversaw his post-doctoral training on neuroendocrine control of depression, and Jack E. Dixon guided his post-doctoral work on MAPK phosphatases in CNS. He joined CHDI in 2006.


Brenda Lager
Transgenic Manager, 609-945-9058
Brenda Lager brings extensive experience in Transgenic Project Management from Cephalon, Wyeth, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. Brenda has BS in Animal Science from Delaware Valley College and certification through American Association for Laboratory Animal Science at the LATg level. She joined CHDI in 2008.


Oxana Lavrova, MBA
Project Manager , 310-342-5539
Oxana Lavrova has more than five years of experience in managing sponsored research projects at UCLA and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. Oxana received her MBA from California State University. She joined CHDI in 2012


Ramee Lee, PhD
Director, Molecular Networks, 212-660-8105
Ramee Lee currently manages early discovery projects in collaboration with CHDI’s academic research partners. Her focus on neurodegenerative diseases has been on the therapeutic potential of guidance cues and growth factors on neurons. She investigated mechanisms of local axonal translation in diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). She also worked extensively on pro-NGF, pro-BDNF and their unique pro-apoptotic roles in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Ramee received her BS in Neuroscience from Duke University and her PhD in Neurobiology from Cornell-Weill Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Barbara Hempstead. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Departments of Cell Biology and Neurobiology at Columbia University with Dr. Carol Mason. Ramee joined CHDI in 2009.


Sherry Lifer
Project Manager & Comptroller, 812-650-4746
Sherry has worked with CHDI as a Project Manager since 2008. Formerly trained as an organic chemist, Sherry began her professional career in basic drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry and then later moved to Indiana University where she worked in the Chemistry and Psychology Departments. Sherry was introduced to project management in 1999 while working on a space life sciences project at IU. Since 1999, Sherry has been the Project Manager for the NASA-funded contract developing the rodent habitat for the space station followed by a two-year stint managing a CHDI-funded project, HD Toolkit.

Sherry earned a BS from Muskingum College, Ohio in 1984 and an MS in Organic Chemistry from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1987.


Douglas Macdonald, PhD
Director, Drug Discovery and Development , 310-342-5508
Douglas Macdonald directs multiple HD drug discovery programs, including CHDI’s de novo programs and collaborations with biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. Prior to CHDI, he was a Senior Research Scientist in the CNS Molecular and Functional Neuropharmacology group at sanofi-aventis in Bridgewater, NJ, where he led several programs for neuropsychiatric disorders. Before that, Douglas conducted research in the CNS Department at the Schering-Plough Research Institute in Kenilworth, NJ and at Rockefeller University in New York City.

He received his PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics for Boston University School of Medicine, his MS in Medical Sciences from the Department of Biomolecular Medicine at Boston University, and his BS in Chemistry from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He joined CHDI in 2005.


Mithra Mahmoudi
Biological Repositories Manager, 310-342-5505
Mithra Mahmoudi manages CHDI’s many drug discovery programs. She manages and tracks the procurement and distribution of biological research materials (cell lines, DNAs, antibodies, etc.) at the CHDI BioRepository and its Stem Cell Repository. She also coordinates with the scientific directors to manage databases and the flow of biological data for our HD in vitro assays. Mithra joined CHDI from Berlex Biosciences (Schering AG) where she worked for nine years in the Pharmacopathology department, most recently as Scientific Manager. Prior to Berlex, she was a Research Associate at NexStar Pharmaceuticals (Gilead).

Mithra earned her MS in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA with Dr. Richard W. Olsen. She also holds a BS degree in Biology with a minor in German from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She joined CHDI in 2007.


Michel Maillard, PhD
Director, Medicinal Chemistry, 310-342-5506
Michel Maillard brings over fifteen years of experience in CNS drug discovery and neurodegeneration to CHDI. As a principal scientist at Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., he participated in the design of gamma-secretase, beta-secretase, and beta-amyloid aggregation inhibitors that could become potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease. In the beta-secretase program, he pioneered the first series of small molecule inhibitors that could penetrate the brain. Before working at Elan, he developed ion channel blockers to treat stroke and other neurological disorders at Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. He is the author or coauthor of over forty publications or patents in the fields of medicinal and organic chemistry.

Michel earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Orsay (France) at the ICSN (CNRS) and received his post-doctoral training at the NIH/ NIDDK where he identified novel adenosine receptor ligands for the treatment of stroke. He joined CHDI in 2007.


Deanna Marchionini, PhD
Director, Discovery Biology, 212-660-8106
Deanna Marchionini manages CHDI’s Discovery Biology Initiative. Her focus on neurodegenerative diseases was on the role of growth factors in nigrostriatal development and their therapeutic potential. She also investigated the possible use of embryonic tissue transplantation to treat neurodegeneration.

Deanna received her BS in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester and her PhD in Neurological Sciences from Rush University Medical Center. Before joining CHDI in 2007, she completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Neurology at Columbia University.


John McCool
Project Manager, 609-945-9052
John McCool has over 9 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in positions of increasing responsibility. John spent several years as a research technician at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine where he took on significant responsibility conducting and managing various grant and external sponsor funded studies. John’s most recent endeavors have been with small pharmaceutical companies where he managed all aspects of outsourced discovery and preclinical studies from vendor selection, through study monitoring to report finalization.

John received his BS and MS degrees in Biology from Fordham University. He joined CHDI in 2010.


Robin McGuire
Administrative Assistant, 609-945-9050
Robin McGuire is the administrative assistant to the Chief Medical Officer, Vice President Systems Biology and the Princeton location staff. Robin has over 20 years of executive administrative assistant experience, office and staff management, and HR Administration management. She has worked in the fields of banking, pharmaceutical, publishing and retail.

Robin was a business major at Mercer County College. When not at CHDI she is attending retail gift fairs in NY and PA where she supplies salons and stores with jewelry and accessories. She joined CHDI in 2011.


Ladislav Mrzljak, MD, PhD
Director, Neuropharmacology, 609-945-9060
Ladislav “Laci” Mrzljak received neuroscience training and obtained his MD and PhD from the School of Medicine in Zagreb, Croatia and the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam. The focus of his PhD work was on the development of neurons in the human cerebral cortex. He continued his postdoctoral education as a Fogarty and Fulbright Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, where he trained with world famous cognitive neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic in the field of experimental non-human primate models of schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. Laci comes to us after eleven years at AstraZeneca where he was Associate Director of Neuroscience and Senior Principal Scientist. In that capacity, Laci established functional neuroanatomy and neurochemistry in the department of neuroscience and was responsible for the overall scientific strategy, target validation efforts, translational medicine and neuroscience quality at the Psychiatry Research Site in Wilmington, DE. He joined CHDI in 2011.


Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuan, PhD
Vice President, Translational Biology, 310-342-5525
Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuan is an expert in neurodevelopment, neural physiology and stem cells, concentrating on the identification and pharmacological modulation of novel pathways for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

He completed his PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and received a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship to investigate the molecular basis of early neural development at Rockefeller University. After this postdoctoral fellowship, he joined Merck Sharp & Dohme in the United Kingdom as a Research Fellow. There, he led a program on the pharmacological modulation of targets critical for adult neural stem cell proliferation and synaptic plasticity that focused on finding new treatments for psychiatric conditions. He then joined Amgen, Inc as a Senior Scientist, where he led several projects in the area of neurodegeneration, with an emphasis on non-amyloid strategies for Alzheimer's disease. He joined CHDI in 2007.


Eileen Neacy
Chief Operating Officer, 919-730-3390
Eileen Neacy is responsible for Business Development and Operations. Prior to joining CHDI Management, Eileen spent more than a decade working for top-tier biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Amgen and Nektar Therapeutics. She held a variety of positions within these companies that included business development, operations, project management, human resources and strategic planning. Eileen began her career working for Intel, Motorola, and Westinghouse starting new ventures and managing operations. She has several publications in the areas of capacity planning and logistics.

Eileen holds an engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MBA from UCLA. She joined CHDI in September 2007.


Simon Noble, PhD
Director, Scientific Communications, 212-660-8112
Simon Noble has a diverse scientific communications background, beginning in scientific publishing as an editor at Nature Medicine where he managed the peer review process for all immunology and infectious disease manuscripts. Most recently he was Senior Director for Scientific Communications at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a non-profit research, development, and advocacy organization committed to ensuring the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. He was also the editor of IAVI Report, that organization’s publication detailing scientific progress and challenges. Prior to this he pursued a transatlantic research career that included a PhD and postdoctoral fellowships focused on virology and immunology (including H1N1 swine influenza virus) at the Universities of Warwick and Wisconsin-Madison. He joined CHDI in 2009.


Robert Pacifici, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, 310-342-5507
Robert Pacifici was the Site Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Research Triangle Park Laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company. There he oversaw the company's global screening and quantitative-biology efforts. Prior to joining Lilly, Robert was Vice President of Discovery Technologies at Xencor, a pri­vately held biotechnology company that applied rational design principles to the development of protein therapeutics. At Amgen for nearly ten years, Pacifici’s responsibilities increased. He led their automation, high throughput screening, and information technologies groups. In addition, he was instrumental in forging Amgen's relationships with Caliper Technologies and The Automation Partnership as well as the acquisition of Kinetix Pharmaceuticals.

Robert received a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. He holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Southern California's Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology. He is also Chair of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Project's Scientific Steering Committee, which is part of the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). He currently sits on several additional external boards and advisory com­mittees, including the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group, SMA Foundation, and TREAT ALS Steering Committee. He joined CHDI in 2004.


Elena Pak
Project Manager, 212-660-8111
Elena Pak was a Research Specialist working on several projects related to diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). She was also responsible for small clinical laboratory operations, measuring levels of IFNß binding and neutralizing antibodies in patients with MS. Elena contributed to several studies run by pharmaceutical companies, evaluating the effectiveness of MS treatments. Before UMDNJ, Elena was at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in the Department of Functional Genomics. There she participated in several projects related to Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. She was also a Research Assistant at Texas A&M University and at research institutions in Russia.

She has a BS in Science and an MS in Biology from Novosibirsk State University in Russia. She joined CHDI in 2006.


Hyunsun Park, PhD
Director, Systems Biology, 310-342-5514
Hyunsun Park coordinated assay development, screening, and lead optimization efforts to dis­cover small molecule therapeutics for neurological diseases at AGY Therapeutics, Inc. Before AGY, Hyunsun was a Senior Research Scientist at Iconix Pharmaceuticals and Essential Therapeutics, Inc where she developed cell-based and genetic assays to study toxic pathways induced by infectious micro-organisms in host cells. She then used the biological information acquired to discover therapeutic agents for in­fectious diseases.

Hyunsun received a BS in Biology from Seoul National University in Korea and a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology at Stanford University. She completed her postdoctoral work at UCLA. She joined CHDI in 2005.


Larry Park, PhD
Director, In vivo Research, 310-342-5515
Larry Park manages and directs drug discovery campaigns from Lead Optimization through IND filing. Prior to CHDI, Larry was a Senior Research Scientist of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led the CNS In vivo Pharmacology group in developing small molecule kinase inhibitors for stroke, chronic neurodegenera­tive, and psychiatric disorders. Prior to Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Park led the CNS Cell Biology group to develop various HTS-Driven cell-based screen assays and target-based biochemical assays in support of early drug discovery effort at Galileo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Larry received his BS in Biology from UCLA, and his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of California, Irvine. His postdoctoral research was in CNS metabolic diseases at the Burke Institute of Cornell Medical College. He joined CHDI in 2005.


Alicia Preiss
Project Manager, 609-945-9044
Alicia Preiss is an experienced project manager with a background as a research biologist and over 10 years of industry experience. Alicia comes to us from PTC Therapeutics where she managed multiple drug discovery collaborations as an alliance manager. At Merck she served as program manager within the Molecular Profiling Research Informatics Center of Excellence to oversee molecular systems projects. Prior to this, she spent seven years at Archemix developing aptamer therapeutics in oncology and cardiovascular disease. Alicia has a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology and Psychology from UC Berkeley and a master certificate in project management from Villanova. She is also a Certified Associate in Project Management through the Project Management Institute. Alicia joined CHDI in 2012.


Shauna Rahim
Human Resources Manager , 212-660-8115
Shauna has several years of experience in the Human Resource field with a specialization in benefits. She was a Human Resource Manager for a marketing research company for six years prior to joining CHDI. She has received her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification issued by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).

Shauna has a B.S. Cum Laude from St. John’s University, Queens, NY, in Healthcare Administration. She joined CHDI in 2011.


David Rankin
Chief Legal Officer, 212-660-8110
Before attending law school, David Rankin was a manufacturing engineer for DuPont and GE. Following law school, David worked for a few law firms (Rogers & Wells/Kirkland & Ellis) and served as in-house counsel (Alper Holdings USA, Inc.) focusing primarily on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and general corporate law.

David Rankin graduated from Penn State with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (1988) and has a JD from New York University School of Law (1993). He began working with CHDI Management, Inc. as a part-time consultant in September 2003. In January 2005, he joined CHDI full-time.


Jim Rosinski, PhD
Director, Computational Biology, 609-945-9798
Jim Rosinski comes to CHDI with over 13 years of bioinformatics and systems biology experience at Hoffmann-La Roche. While at Roche, Jim focused on understanding the causes and mechanisms of cancer, ranging across numerous tumor types and potential drugs. Key discoveries during his time at Roche included a model of acquired resistance to the melanoma drug Vemurafinib, a molecular signature predictive of sensitivity to MDM2 inhibitors, and a quantitative, dynamic ODE model of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Jim also led a number of informatics projects at Roche aimed at making the results of genomic data accessible to the general scientist. Jim brings this experience to CHDI with the goal of applying similar system biology techniques to Huntington’s disease.

Jim received a BS in Biology from Penn State University in 1994 and his Doctorate from North Carolina State University in 1999 working with William Atchley and Bruce Weir on the molecular evolution of transcription factor families. Jim joined CHDI in 2013.


Cristina Sampaio, MD, PhD
Chief Clinical Officer , 609-945-9054
Cristina Sampaio is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, senior member of the Movement Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology and Principal Investigator at Instituto de Medicina Molecular,Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Until very recently she was also a member of both the Committee of Proprietary Medicinal Products and the Scientific Advice Working Party at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that provides guidance on the quality and non-clinical/clinical safety and efficacy regarding new medicinal products, including those for orphan diseases like HD. Dr. Sampaio’s main research interests are the design and methodology of clinical studies in neurodegenerative disorders, pharmacoepidemiology, and evidence-based medicine. She joined CHDI in 2011.


Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD
Director, Medicinal Chemistry , 609-945-9790
Ryan Schoenfeld has over 14 years of drug discovery and development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Before joining CHDI in November 2012, he held the position of Principal Scientist and Head of Innovation and Collaborative Research at Hoffmann-La Roche, where he worked to create and implement an externalization strategy for Discovery Chemistry. Prior to that, Ryan held positions of increasing responsibility as a medicinal chemist within the Roche Pharma organization, first at the Palo Alto, California research site, and later moving to Nutley, New Jersey. Through both his leadership and his individual contributions, he made significant impacts on discovery programs in the CNS, inflammation and virology disease areas, including efforts that have led to several drug candidates advancing into human clinical trials. Ryan is a named inventor on over 25 patents, and is also an author or coauthor of numerous peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals.

Ryan received a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University, and a BS in Chemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.


Maggie Seay
Project Manager, 609-945-9057
Maggie Seay is a recent graduate of Colorado College where she majored in Neuroscience. During her academic career she worked as a research assistant in the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurotoxicology at Colorado College studying the effects of early post natal exposure to flame retardant on learning and memory in rats. She also spent a summer working at Johns Hopkins studying naming errors in stoke patients with aphasia. Maggie joined CHDI in the Fall of 2011.


Ethan Signer, PhD
Senior Scientific Advisor, 212-660-8104
Ethan R. Signer, PhD, is (together with Allan Tobin) Senior Scientific Advisor to the CHDI Foundation. He is Professor Emeritus at MIT, where he has been on the faculty of the Department of Biology since 1966, retiring in 1997.

At MIT, Ethan Signer’s research laboratory published over 100 papers on genetics, genetic en­gineering, and genetic recombination in plants (with support from US National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture); peptide mimics (H&H Venture Capital); and genetic recombination, gene expression, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, bacteriophage ge­netics and endosymbiosis in bacteria (US National Science Foundation, US National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, American Cancer Society). He has also written, and been invited to testify before US Congressional Subcommittees, on the role of science and technology in society. In 1971, he was one of the first two US scientists in over twenty years to visit the People’s Republic of China, where he helped initiate scientific and technical relations between the two countries.

From 1997 to 2001, Ethan Signer served as founding Executive Director for a program of the Hereditary Disease Foundation; he continued to serve on the HDF Scientific Advisory Board through 2004. In 2002, he became a founding Managing Director of CHDI.

Signer received his BS in Biophysics from Yale University in 1958, and his PhD in Biophysics from MIT in 1963. He carried out postdoctoral research at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (U.K.) from 1962 to 1964 with a fellowship from NATO, and at the Institut Pasteur in Paris from 1964 to 1966 with fellowships from the Jane Coffin Childs Fund and the American Cancer Society. He was a Career Development Awardee of the United States Public Health Service from 1967 to 1972, and has held Visiting Professorships at University of California San Francisco (1982), Harvard Medical School (1986-7) and University of Paris (1992, 1993), as well as Distinguished Visiting appointments at Haverford College (1978) and New York Law School (1979-80). He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of a number of bio­technology companies.


Meherazade Sumariwalla
Project Manager , 609-945-9795
Meherazade Sumariwalla is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. She majored in Biology and Economics. During her four years there she spent time working in a Muscle Development Lab using zebrafish as the model organism, which included a Summer as a Howard Hughes Fellow in the same lab. She joined CHDI in the Summer of 2012.


Allan Tobin, PhD
Senior Scientific Advisor, 310-342-5511
Allan J. Tobin, PhD, is (along with Ethan Signer) Senior Scientific Advisor to the CHDI Foundation. He is Professor Emeritus at UCLA, where he was Director of the Brain Research Institute from 1995 to 2003 and the Eleanor Leslie Chair in Neuroscience.

Allan Tobin's research laboratory at UCLA used molecular and cellular techniques to study the function, regulation, and degeneration of GABA-producing neurons in the brain and spinal cord, in order to address basic mechanistic questions important for Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord injury. In addition to publishing over one hundred scientific papers, he is the coauthor of Asking About Life, a prize-winning university biology textbook whose three editions sold more than 150,000 copies.

Allan Tobin’s interest in Huntington’s disease dates from 1972, when he attended an early Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF) workshop. From 1979 to 2002, he was Scientific Director of the HDF, for which he convened more than 150 interdisciplinary workshops and or­ganized several research consortia, including the successful search for the HD gene. From 1997, he served on the board of the HDF’s Cure Huntington’s Disease Initiative. He joined CHDI in January 2003.

He received his BS from MIT in 1963, in Humanities and Science, and his PhD from Harvard in 1969, in Biophysics. After postdoctoral training at the Weizmann Institute and at MIT, he became Assistant Professor of Biology at Harvard from 1971 to 1975. In 1975, he moved to UCLA, where he later became Professor of Physiological Science and Professor of Neurology. He was a visiting scientist at the Institut Pasteur in 1982 and at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2002-2003. At UCLA, he was Chair of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program from 1989-1995, Director of the Brain Research Institute from 1995-2003, cofounder of the NeuroEngineering Training Program, and, from 1996, the Eleanor Leslie Chair in Neuroscience.


Leticia Toledo-Sherman, PhD
Director, Computer Aided Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry, 310-342-5504
Leticia Toledo-Sherman is the former Executive Director of Chemistry at LymphoSign Inc., where she managed medicinal and computational chemistry as well as associated research relationships. Prior to LymphoSign Inc, Leticia directed drug design and discovery activities at Protana Inc. (formerly MDS Proteomics). There, she led several successful discovery and lead optimization projects and managed the company's Chemical Proteomics program. The latter involved a multidisciplinary team working at multiple sites. Before Protana, Toledo-Sherman worked at Kinetix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (acquired by Amgen in December 2000), one of the earliest successful biotech companies to focus exclusively on targeted kinase inhibition. While at Kinetix, she designed and implemented a Computer-Aided Design and Virtual Screening platform that led to the discovery of several novel potent small molecule inhibitors of protein kinases.

Leticia Toledo-Sherman holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook. She did postdoctoral research at MIT and the Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute. She joined CHDI in 2005.


Jerry Turner
Meeting & Event Manager, 212-660-8108
Jerry Turner oversees the organizational aspects of the workshop program. He is also responsible for the coordination of CHDI’s annual HD Therapeutics Conference that brings together translational researchers interested in drug discovery and development for Huntington’s disease. For more than a decade, he worked as a graphics technician for the New York horse­racing industry. Later, he coordinated community education programs for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. Most recently, Jerry was the Science Program Administrator for the Hereditary Disease Foundation.

Jerry majored in Communications in college and received his BFA from the New York Institute of Technology. He joined CHDI in 2004.


Rebekah Waites
Administrative Assistant, 310-342-5500
Rebekah Waites is the 2nd administrative assistant for the Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to CHDI Rebekah worked in the entertainment industry and as a private art instructor.

Rebekah has a BA in Studio Art and Minor in Film Production from the University of Southern California. When not at CHDI, you can find Rebekah working in her studio or volunteering as an art instructor to terminally ill children. She joined CHDI in 2010.


John Warner, PhD
Director, Biostatistics, 609-945-9042
Before joining CHDI in November 2008, John Warner worked as a Senior Scientist at Pharsight Corporation, a pharmaceutical consulting firm specializing in clinical trial simulations, PK/PD analysis and decision analysis. John has also served in the modeling and simulation group at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, as a clinical trials statistician at Bayer Corporations, and as a statistical consultant and statistical software developer at the University of Michigan. Areas of expertise include Bayesian methods, data mining, causal modeling, exposure response modeling and innovative clinical trial designs.

John Warner has a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Michigan, BA and MA degrees in mathematics from the University of Michigan, and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Studies from the Fairleigh Dickinson University.


John Wityak, PhD
Director, Medicinal Chemistry, 310-342-5518
In his 18 years of drug discovery experience at DuPont Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), John Wityak has investi­gated a wide variety of biochemical targets in research areas for cardiovascular, metabolic, oncological, and immunological diseases. Wityak’s chemistry teams successfully placed five NCEs (new chemical entities) into clinical development. While a Group Leader at Bristol-Myers Squibb, his chemistry team identified the compound that became dasatinib (Sprycel®), a treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia. The FDA approved this drug for use in 2006. GNF recruited John to help establish its medicinal chemistry department and to mentor staff.

John Wityak received a BS in Chemistry from Sacred Heart University, in Bridgeport, CT, a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Oregon State University, and received postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He has nearly 50 publications and over 25 issued US patents. He joined CHDI in 2007.