Rick Barkley is a successful tech entrepreneur who has been fascinated by the biotech space and what we can achieve to help solve some of the big problems facing humankind. Millions of people are affected by rare diseases and there is not currently an easy answer on how to solve this problem. Rick believes that personalized medicines and therapeutics will be the catalyst that changes the future. He has a BBA and an MBA in Finance and is a self taught software engineer.

In 2018, Casey’s youngest daughter Rose was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, HNRNPH2. He is currently working in the scientific field to bring genetic treatments to children across rare diseases. He founded and runs the non-profit, To Cure a Rose Foundation, and is the co-founder of Everlum Bio, a biotech company seeking to ensure everyone has a cure to their rare disease. He is an advocate of the sound-health connection, using music to engage the brain to improve communication and motor function in children with rare neurological diseases like his daughter Rose.

Rodney Bowling Received his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences in 2008 From Texas A&M University Health Science Center Institute of Bioscience and Technology. He has innovated drug development with a multidisciplinary approach, managing large teams of scientists through challenging and rewarding projects to produce therapeutics. Many of these therapeutics are now undergoing FDA and international trials . Rodney’s joy is his 6 healthy children. Rodney and his family have walked along side dear friends and supported them through childhood illnesses and deaths. He is acutely aware of the blessings upon his own family and dedicated to helping others find health and happiness. Rodney serves as Chief Scientific Officer for To Cure A Rose, a non-profit to benefit Rosie, and other families. Rosie is a precious little girl with a monogenetic disease, whose condition left untreated will only worsen. Rodney is also Chief Scientific Officer of Everlum Bio; Rodney is helping Rosie and many other children through empathetic, personalized, therapeutics.

Dr. Jeffrey Brown is a seasoned biotech leader with over 25 years of preclinical drug development experience. Throughout his career, Jeffrey has built several drug discovery platforms focused on nucleic acid therapeutics across multiple organizations including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Alexion, Voyager Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, and Deep Genomics. With a focus on moving therapeutics from concept to clinic, Jeffrey has successfully advanced multiple preclinical programs to drug candidates, with some reaching clinical trials. Jeffrey received an eMBA from Suffolk University and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Utah. Following his Ph.D., Jeffrey completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Boston University Medical Center. Combining his drug discovery experience with his passion for helping patients affected with rare disease, inspired him to establish Scientific Foundation LLC, an organization dedicated to helping families, patients and biotech start-ups navigate the challenges of preclinical drug development. Jeffrey is a strong believer in the promise of RNA-based medicines and the hope it provides for all patients.

Aubrie earned her B.A. from Wheaton College in May 2016, with a major in Bioinformatics. During her time at Wheaton her studies were focused on statistical analysis of biological data through computer programming. She joined the Yu Lab in December 2016. Here she is applying her knowledge of bioinformatics towards identifying genetic causes of neurodevelopmental diseases. Aubrie also serves as the project coordinator for Yu Lab antisense therapy projects.

Eric is currently the Director of Data and Informatics at Orna, where he directs his efforts toward building a data-driven drug discovery organization. Before Orna, he led a team of talented computational scientists and experimental biologists at Stoke in leveraging antisense oligonucleotides as a therapeutic modality to treat the underlying cause of genetic diseases. Prior to Stoke, Eric was part of a research team at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that sought to advance potential treatment options for pediatric cancers with low survival rates.

Eric received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2011. His work focused on using computational biology and high-throughput genomics techniques to identify functional splicing elements in the genome. He has over 24 publications and patents in RNA splicing, and his work has led to numerous awards, including the Hyundai Quantum Award and the 40 Under 40 in Cancer

Yael Weiss is the CEO of Mahzi Therapeutics. Previously, Yael served as the Vice President of Business Development at Ultragenyx, a company specializing in the development of therapies for the treatment of rare genetic diseases. Prior to joining Ultragenyx, she spent 10 years at Merck, ultimately heading the group that evaluates the clinical, regulatory and safety aspects of Merck’s regional deals globally. Her earlier roles at Merck included Director of External Scientific Affairs and World Wide Licensing, West Coast and Medical Director at Merck Israel, a role in which she oversaw the company’s clinical trials and supported the sales and marketing organizations. Before joining Merck, Yael served as Director of Medical Affairs and Business Development at Genzyme Israel and spent several years at Columbine Ventures. Yael began her career practicing medicine at Sheba Medical Center. Yael received her MD degree from Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, and her PhD in molecular genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Dr. Martinez currently works at Mt Sinai Hospital. NY, NY where she serves as the Assistant Clinical Professor Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Pediatrics. In addition, she also has the role of Medical Director of Developmental Pediatric Program.

Previous Appointments

NYU/Bellevue Hospital. NY, NY. Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship, July 2009 to July 2012

AAP CATCH autism grant project completed December 2012

Mt Sinai Hospital. NY, NY Pediatrics Internship July 2005 to June 2006, Pediatrics Residency

New York Hospital/ Cornell Medical Center

The Aitken Neuroscience Center, New York, NY. Research assistant, Goldman Lab of Neural Regeneration

Education

NYU Sackler Institute. NY, NY. MS in Biomedical Informatics, June 2022.

SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn New York. Doctor of Medicine 2005

University of Illinois, Chicago. Chicago, IL. 1st year medical student 2001-2002

Columbia University, New York, NY. Post-baccalaureate

Duke University. Durham, NC. B.S. in Neuroscience

Certification

American Board of Pediatrics (2009 to present)

Developmental Pediatrics (2013 to present)