What You Need to Know Video Series
Meet Sheila Crowe, MD, FRCPC, FACP, FACG, AGAF
Dr. Crowe is a distinguished member of the Celiac Disease Foundation Medical Advisory Board. She received her medical degree from McMaster University Medical School in Hamilton, Canada, where she completed training in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Crowe has been active in bench research, clinical care, and teaching in the field of gastroenterology.
She has been named in the Best Doctors in America since 1996. She served as President of the American Gastroenterological Association from May 2017 to June 2018. She has a long-standing interest in celiac disease, and is currently conducting research on celiac disease and other food-related disorders to understand the interactions between the microbiome, the immune system, and dietary factors.
Meet Robert Anderson MBChB, BMedSc, PhD, FRACP
Dr. Robert Anderson is a gastroenterologist whose career has focused on developing a vaccine therapy to control celiac disease. His research in Australia and England mapped the key immune targets in gluten that account for its toxicity. He designed Nexvax2, which is now entering Phase 2 clinical trials led by ImmusanT. He is Chief Scientific Officer at ImmusanT, Inc, and based in Cambridge MA.
Meet Janelle Smith, MS, RD, UCLA Medical Center
Janelle Smith is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with expertise in both gastrointestinal disorders and eating disorders. Janelle is the dietitian for the UCLA Medical Center Celiac Disease Program and works with individuals on an outpatient basis through both the division of digestive diseases and the division of adolescent and young adult medicine.
She was motivated to become a dietitian when she was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2009. Janelle is the current chair of the Dietitians in Gluten Intolerance Disorders within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is passionate about educating other dietitians about the gluten-free diet.
Meet Jennifer A. Sealey-Voyksner, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, ImmunogenX
Jennifer is the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of ImmunogenX™, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing solutions for the management of celiac disease. ImmunogenX is also involved in food science and is working toward developing more sensitive and efficient ways to measure allergenic peptides and proteins in the food chain.
Jennifer has over 30 years of experience in government and industry-based R&D, both in Canada and the US. Diagnosed with celiac disease in 2002, she has since dedicated her professional and business career to bettering the lives of those who suffer from food-related diseases.
As a pioneering mass spectrometrist she is focused on proteomic approaches to study allergenic proteins. She received her honors B.Sc. in Chemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and her PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Meet Francisco Leon, MD, PhD, Consultant, Amgen
Francisco Leon, MD PhD, is the co-founder of Celimmune, Glutenostics and Provention Bio, companies developing and commercializing medicines, diagnostics and preventative approaches for people with celiac disease and other immunological disorders. Francisco had extensive experience in translational immunology in academia (National Institutes of Health), biotech (Alba Therapeutics, MedImmune) and ‘big pharma’ (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson) before becoming an entrepreneur.
Francisco is a clinical immunologist who received his MD and PhD from Autónoma University in Madrid, Spain. Francisco is also Adjunct Professor at Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia) and has co-authored more than 85 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and patents.
Meet Wendy Perrow, MBA
Wendy Perrow is the Celiac Program lead at Innovate Biopharmaceuticals. Ms. Perrow previously served as CEO of Alba Therapeutics. Under her leadership, Alba Therapeutics completed a licensing agreement with Innovate Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Alba Therapeutics conducted seven clinical trials in patients with Celiac Disease, completed the largest Phase IIb clinical trial in patients with celiac disease, demonstrated superiority versus the gluten-free diet, and validated the 1st Celiac Disease Patient Reported Outcome (CeD PRO) with the lead compound Larazotide Acetate. Wendy received her MBA in International finance and marketing from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and received her bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University.
Meet Jack A. Syage, PhD
Dr. Jack Syage is currently CEO and co-founder, with Jennifer Sealey-Voyksner, of ImmunogenX and is proud to be leading a company that is developing therapeutic and diagnostic solutions for celiac disease. He has over 30 years of experience in creating and leading innovative technologies, particularly in analytical instrumentation. Jack has started and run several companies and currently sits on the board of five companies.
Jack has published over 130 papers, delivered about 100 invited talks, has over 30 U.S. patents issued or pending, and appears on the list of the Most Highly Cited Chemists. His honorary positions include Visiting Professor at UC Irvine, Visiting Professor at the Université de Paris-Sud, Editorial Board member of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, and invitee to the Nobel Symposium in Chemistry. He received his PhD from Brown and won the Potter Prize for Best Thesis and went on to postdoc at Caltech under Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail.
