SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

GLA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) provides strategic guidance and direction for our research and scientific programs. It is made up of some of the most distinguished researchers and clinical innovators in multidisciplinary fields in Lyme and tick-borne disease. These leaders advise on overall strategy to direct GLA’s grant funds into research programs judged to have the best prospects of delivering measurable results and the greatest impact.

GLA hosts an annual symposium for SAB members and grant recipients, to foster brainstorming of new diagnostic and therapeutic measures, communication of ideas and collaboration.

The Financial Review Sub-Committee of the SAB is composed of business leaders with extensive strategic, operational and senior management experience. Its priority is to bridge the gap between the research community and the marketplace with the goal of transitioning successful research programs into accessible treatments that are readily available to patients.

Committee Members

• Armin Alaedini  Ph.D.
  

  
  Armin Alaedini 

  Ph.D.

  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.

• John Belisle  Ph.D.
  

  
  John Belisle 

  Ph.D.

  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.

• Catherine A. Brissette  Ph.D.
  

  
  Catherine A. Brissette 

  Ph.D.

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

  Dr. Brissette’s research focuses on bacteria-host interactions, with a particular interest in pathogenic spirochetes. The overarching theme of her laboratory is to discover how these microbes persist and cause long-term infections. Dr. Brissette is particularly interested in understanding why B. burgdorferi has tropism for the central nervous system, and in elucidating the function of outer surface proteins that interact with the mammalian host.

• Charles Chiu  M.D., Ph.D.
  

  
  Charles Chiu 

  M.D., Ph.D.

  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.

• Allison DeLong  M.S.
  

  
  Allison DeLong 

  M.S.

  Biostatistician, Brown University’s Center for Statistical Sciences in the Department of Public Health, Providence, R.I.

  Allison DeLong is a biostatistician at the Center for Statistical Sciences in the Department of Public Health. With an M.S. degree in Applied
  Mathematics and Statistics, she is certified as a professional statistician by the American Statistical Association.

• Richard Goldstein  DVM
  

  
  Richard Goldstein 

  DVM

  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.

• Linden Hu  M.D.
  

  
  Linden Hu 

  M.D.

  Vice Dean of Research and Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine

  Dr. Hu’s research has focused on Lyme disease, where he has been involved in both basic laboratory and clinical research for almost 20 years. He has participated in the development of both human and animal vaccines for Lyme disease as well as the development of new diagnostic tests. At the bench, his laboratory is interested in host-pathogen interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and the innate immune system.

• Andreas Kogelnik  M.D.
  

  
  Andreas Kogelnik 

  M.D.

  Dr. Andy Kogelnik received his MD from Emory University and PhD in bioengineering from Georgia Tech. He received further clinical training in medicine and infectious diseases at Stanford University, where he continued his career as a physician-researcher. Working at the intersection of genomics, medicine, and bioinformatics, he left academia to found the Open Medicine Institute. There, he has driven personalized medicine, integrating information and biotechnology. His research interests have focused around rapidly emerging complex conditions such as autism, diabetes, and various viral and immunologic syndromes.

• Richard T. Marconi  Ph.D.
  

  
  Richard T. Marconi 

  Ph.D.

  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.

• Adriana Marques  M.D.
  

  
  Adriana Marques 

  M.D.

  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.
• Scott J. Mellis  M.D., Ph.D.
  

  
  Scott J. Mellis 

  M.D., Ph.D.

  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.

• Richard S. Ostfeld  Ph.D.
  

  
  Richard S. Ostfeld 

  Ph.D.

  Senior Scientist and Disease Ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY

  Dr. Ostfeld’s research focuses on the interactions among organisms that influence the risk of human exposure to vector-borne diseases and the dynamics of terrestrial communities. He is adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut and Rutgers University.

• Utpal Pal  Ph.D.
  

  
  Utpal Pal 

  Ph.D.

  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.

• Mark J. Soloski  Ph.D.
  

  
  Mark J. Soloski 

  Ph.D.

  Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Molecular Biology & Genetics and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

  Dr. Soloski is director of the Immunology Training Program at Johns Hopkins, and co-Principal Investigator with Dr. John Aucott of the landmark SLICE (Study of Lyme disease Immunology and Clinical Events) prospective cohort study examining the impact of acute Lyme disease on long-term health outcomes and immune function.

• Susan Swedo  M.D.
  

  
  Susan Swedo 

  M.D.

  Principal Investigator, Chief Pediatrics & Developmental Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  Dr. Swedo and her NIMH team were the first to identify a new subtype of pediatric OCD, in which symptoms are triggered by cross-reactive antibodies produced in response to infections with Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci. The subgroup is known by the acronym, PANDAS, which stands for: Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections. This work led to the development of several novel therapies, including use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and plasmapheresis to treat acutely ill children, and antibiotics prophylaxis to prevent strep-triggered neuropsychiatric exacerbations. Subsequent work has revealed that the cross-reactive antibodies are unique to the PANDAS subgroup and have biologic activity in the CNS.

• R. Mark Wooten  Ph.D.
  

  
  R. Mark Wooten 

  Ph.D.

  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.

GLA: Research Leadership

• Timothy J. Sellati, Ph.D.  Chief Scientific Officer
  

  
  Timothy J. Sellati, Ph.D. 

  Chief Scientific Officer

  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.

• Mayla Hsu, Ph.D.  Director of Research and Science
  

  
  Mayla Hsu, Ph.D. 

  Director of Research and Science

  Mayla Hsu, Ph.D, joined Global Lyme Alliance in 2015 as its in-house Science Officer and is now Director of Research and Science. She manages GLA’s research grant program, working with the Scientific Advisory Board and creating viable partnerships to help advance the development of a reliable diagnostic test, effective treatments and ultimately a cure for Lyme.

  Mayla, who previously worked as a science writer at the Rockefeller University in New York, has a background in medical virology. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2000 from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, studying the mechanisms of drug resistance in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

  She followed this with post-doctoral studies at the Rockefeller University, working on HIV transmission, where her interest in host-pathogen interactions developed. She then decided to pursue more translational research and moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she joined a team developing screening assays to look for new compounds targeting HIV and hepatitis viruses.

Financial Review Committee

• Robert Kobre  CPA, MBA
  

  
  Robert Kobre 

  CPA, MBA

  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.

• Scott Santarella  CEO
  

  
  Scott Santarella 

  CEO

  Scott assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Global Lyme Alliance in May 2016. As CEO, he heads the leading private nonprofit dedicated to Lyme and tick-borne research and education. Scott directs overall strategy, operations, and fundraising to increase awareness and hasten advances in diagnostics and treatments with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

  He brings nearly 30 years of experience as a senior executive with proven track record in strategic planning, innovative marketing and raising public awareness for neglected, underfunded or stigmatized diseases.

  Prior to joining GLA, Scott was President and CEO of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung
  Cancer Foundation (ALCF) in San Francisco, where he successfully grew the organization from a regional lung cancer research and patient services organization to a globally recognized leader in the lung cancer community as well as the broader oncology research and patient-survivor industry.

  Previous to ALCF, he was President and CEO of the American Lung Association of New York (ALANY) and former Executive Director and COO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. He received his Executive Leadership Certification from Harvard Business School in 2006.

• Brian Scanlan 
  

  
  Brian Scanlan 

  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.