Scientific Advisory Board

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Alaedini’s laboratory focuses on the etiology and biomarkers of post-infection rheumatic and neurocognitive symptoms. His laboratory is currently conducting in-depth studies to understand the connection between the bacterial strain genotype in specific infections such as Lyme disease and the persistence of inflammation and symptoms following antibiotic treatment.

DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), DECVIM-CA; Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of Diagnostics, Zoetis, Inc.

Internationally recognized for his expertise in infectious disease in dogs and cats, especially those common to animals and humans, most notably Lyme disease and leptospirosis – Dr. Richard Goldstein is board-certified in Small Animal Internal Medicine by both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Companion Animals. Prior to joining Zoetis, Dr. Goldstein was a faculty member at the Animal Medical Center in New York City and Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences. Most recently he served as an Associate Professor of Small Animal Medicine and chief of the medicine service. Goldstein is the recipient of several prestigious awards including; the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Endocrinology Society Research Award and the Norden Distinguished Teaching Award. A respected researcher, author, lecturer and teacher, he has published over 60 research papers and textbook chapters to date, mainly on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of canine and feline infectious diseases.

Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University

The laboratory of Dr. Belisle has focused on the characterization of the physiology of bacterial pathogens (in particular Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and Francisella tularensis) and how products of these bacteria interact with the hosts. These research activities have included the purification and characterization of bacterial proteins, lipids, and glycolconjugates; discovery of diagnostic and vaccine antigens; and the definition of specific molecular interactions involving the innate immune response.

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University of California, San Francisco; Director of the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center (VDDC); Associate Director, UCSF Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

Dr. Chiu is an expert in development and implementation of advanced genomic technologies, microarrays and next-generation sequencing – for pathogen discovery and clinical assay validation in the microbiology laboratory. He holds over 50 patents and peer-reviewed publications on these topics.

Professor, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland

Dr. Pal is an expert on pathogenic spirochete biology, with several research interests related to Borrelia and Leptospira species. He identifies virulence factors in Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, and deciphers their roles in promoting transmission between the tick vector and mammalian hosts. He also studies vector-host interactions that allow bacterial persistence in the tick, which has a complex life cycle and an immunological response to the pathogen. An additional area of interest is the identification of bacterial surface proteins that are involved in triggering Lyme arthritis and the induction of inflammation.

Professor, Chair-Institutional Biosafety Committee, Course Director-Infectious Disease Block, The University of Toledo

Dr. Wooten’s laboratory is interested in the host/pathogen interactions that lead to the development of two different infectious diseases: Lyme disease and melioidosis.

Richard T. Marconi, Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

Dr. Marconi earned his Ph.D. at the University of Montana and conducted his post-doctoral training at The Roche Institute of Molecular Biology and the National Institutes of Health-Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Dr. Marconi is well recognized for his diverse research accomplishments and has studied pathogenic spirochetes for over 25 years. He has published over 100 peer reviewed articles and has lectured worldwide. A central research focus of the Marconi lab is the development of vaccines for tick-borne diseases for both human and veterinary applications.

Chief, Clinical Studies Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

Dr. Marques’ main areas of research include: evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of patients with Lyme disease to assess clinical outcomes; development of new diagnostic tests and identification biomarkers for Lyme disease; investigation of the immune response to B. burgdorferi infection; understand the mechanisms underlying post-treatment Lyme disease symptoms; and search for the cause of STARI.

Vice President, Early Clinical Development and Experimental Sciences, Rare Diseases, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Mellis received medical scientist training at Washington University School of Medicine and postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He joined Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group in 1990 with a focus on Zithromax® (azithromycin), including research on B. burgdorferi in collaboration with academic colleagues.  Dr. Mellis joined Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in 2001, and led clinical development for ARCALYST® (rilonacept), a medication for an ultra-rare auto-inflammatory disease.  He then led Regeneron’s translational and precision medicine initiatives across the general medicine portfolio.  He is a co-founder of the Regeneron Genetics Center.  Dr. Mellis is now leading an effort to optimize Regeneron’s development of new medications for patients with rare diseases.

A noted immunologist and microbiologist, Dr. Sellati has more than 20 years of research experience with Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed infectious disease papers, nearly 20 of which are focused on Lyme disease.  Dr. Sellati is frequently invited to speak about his cutting-edge research at national and international scientific meetings and with news media outlets.  Today he is considered one of the nation’s foremost experts in the search to understand infectious disease processes and improve treatments for patients suffering from Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses. As GLA’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Sellati leads GLA’s research initiatives to accelerate the development of more effective methods of diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

Prior to joining GLA, Dr. Sellati served as Distinguished Fellow and Chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases in the Drug Discovery Division at Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama.  Prior to that, he received a BA degree in Biology from Dowling College in 1985 and a Ph.D. degree in Cellular and Developmental Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1996.  Dr. Sellati began postdoctoral training in 1996 at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and completed his training in 1999 at the University of Connecticut Health Science Center in Farmington.  After joining the Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College as an Assistant Professor in 2000 he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005 and earned tenure in 2010.  From 2013 through 2015 Dr. Sellati served as an Associate Member at the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY before moving to Southern Research Institute.

Dr. Sellati also was the Immunology Scientific Councilor for the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society, the past President of the Eastern New York Branch of the American Society for Microbiologists, and has served as ad hoc member of a number of National Institutes of Health Study Section review panels and as a reviewer for several scientific journals in the areas of immunology and microbiology.

President, Mount Hope Capital; founder of Caminus Corporation

Mount Hope Capital is a family firm based in Greenwich, CT.  Scanlan was also the founder of Caminus Corporation (formerly ZaiNet Software, Inc), a NASDAQ-listed energy software company based in New York.

Vice Chairman, Investment Banking, Credit Suisse

Robert Kobre has been involved with Global Lyme Alliance and its predecessor Lyme Research Alliance (“LRA”) since 2008 as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and as Chairman of GLA since 2015. In 2013 and 2014, he led the team that drove the merger of LRA in Greenwich, CT and the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance of NYC (completed in early 2015).

He continues to be an active member of GLA’s research effort in addition to his role as Chairman. Robert also is a Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Capital Markets at the global investment bank Credit Suisse. He has responsibility for covering Financial Sponsors and helping execute high yield, leveraged bank, M&A, IPO and other equity transactions.

Robert holds a degree in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is also a CPA, having worked at
PricewaterhouseCoopers.