Dr. Michael L. Oshinsky is the Program Director for Pain and Migraine research at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Oshinsky earned a Ph.D. in from Cornell University and was an NIH sponsored postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. He was on the faculty in the Department of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University from 2001 -2014, before joining the NIH. In 2011, Dr. Oshinsky was award the Harold G. Wolff Award for headache research. Dr. Oshinsky has extensive expertise in migraine, other headache disorders, neuropathic pain, peripheral and central mechanisms that mediate pain, central processing of pain perception, disease-related pain disorders, neuromodulation, peripheral nerve/spinal cord stimulation and other forms of pain management.

Kimberly Parkerson, MD, PhD, is a senior medical director at Stoke Therapeutics. She completed the Medical Scientist Training Program in the departments of cell biology and neurobiology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Her PhD focused on the role of chloride channels in volume regulation of astrocytes. She then completed neurology residency and clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals in Boston. She joined the faculty of Tufts University School of Medicine where she served as the head of the epilepsy center and as the director of the neurology residency training program before transitioning into industry where she has led programs in epilepsy and neurodevelopment.

As Chief Clinical Officer at Woebot Health, Dr. Robinson directs the Clinical Research & Development team. Her research and clinical expertise is in technology-leveraged methodologies for implementing evidence-based psychotherapeutics. Specifically, she has extensive experience in implementation science and research-focused intervention development employing evidence-supported theory and treatment (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)), and has facilitated the delivery of such interventions via various in-person or technology leveraged formats. At Woebot Health, she oversees the company's program of research and FDA regulatory strategy and has crafted and executed against several successful clinical trials investigating Woebot's efficacy, acceptability, and feasibility among various clinical indications and symptoms of interest. She led the initiative to and then established the Woebot Health Clinical Diversity Advisory Board and is also co-chair of the Woebot Health Scientific Advisory Board. She has been NIH funded for several years, starting in 2001. She has been Principal Investigator (PI) on various trials and successfully completed research funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Cancer Institute, National Collegiate Athletics Association, and Stanford University. Presently she is PI on a NIDA Small Business Innovation Research Program Award adapting and testing the efficacy of Woebot for substance use disorders. She has supervised and collaborated with research partners (industry, academic, government, research organizations) and staff on all aspects of designing, administering, and running clinical trials within the digital therapeutics field. She has written, edited, and published peer-reviewed articles and other book chapters on a wide variety of topics relevant to mental health care. Dr Robinson is also Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine where she continues teaching, and is a licensed and practicing psychologist who has provided mental health care to adolescents and adults for nearly 20 years.

Dr. Shiran Zimri is the head of the scientific program, leading the research and development programs for ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease at NeuroSense Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel treatments for ALS, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. She is a neurobiologist with over 10 years of experience focusing on neurodegenerative diseases utilizing multidisciplinary methods. She is also a member of the BIO committee, member of "Bashaar" - an academic community for society in Israel, and member of "Midaat" -a non-profit organization for promoting public health. Dr. Zimri received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Tel Aviv University.

Jessica is the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT), an independent non-profit organization established in 1997 by leaders in academia, government, advocacy and industry to facilitate the process by which new therapies are made available to patients with a full spectrum of neurological disorders. The organization's primary goal is to encourage and advance the development of improved therapies for diseases and disorders of the nervous system through collaboration via an annual meeting, the journal Neurotherapeutics, and the NIH funded course Training in Neurotherapeutics Discovery and Development.

Dr. Daniel Tardiff is a Scientific Co-Founder and Vice President of Translational Research at Yumanity Therapeutics. After earning his PhD at Brandeis University studying RNA metabolism in the lab of Dr. Michael Rosbash, he did his post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute/MIT with Dr. Susan Lindquist. Work in the Lindquist lab helped establish a drug discovery platform for neurodegenerative disease that was the basis for founding Yumanity Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company. At Yumanity, Dr. Tardiff leads the Translational Research team responsible for validating novel drug targets and subsequent preclinical development with an emphasis on translational pharmacology. His team is contributing to the development of YTX-7739, an inhibitor of Stearoyl CoA-desaturase in development for Parkinson’s disease, through understanding translational pharmacology and developing clinical biomarkers of target engagement.

Jason Ulrich received his BS in Chemistry and Biological Sciences from Quincy University (Quincy, IL) in 2004 and his PhD in Pharmacology in 2011 at the University of Iowa in the lab of Yuriy Usachev.

He did his postdoc with David Holtzman at Washington University in St. Louis from 2012 to 2015 where he studied the role of APOE and TREM2 in Alzheimer’s disease.

In 2015 he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Neurology at Washington University in David Holtzman’s group and was promoted to associate professor in 2021. He continues to study the role of genetic risk factors such as APOE in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, with a focus on the role of immune system in AD pathogenesis.

A research and development scientist with an extensive knowledge of laboratory techniques required for the design, development and validation of new assays using electrophysiological, behavioral and molecular biology techniques, and experienced in scientific projects management.

I enjoy the challenges associated with the development of new products, whether they are technological or biopharmaceutical that’s why I’m passionate about new technologies associated with drug development and preclinical research.

Jonathan K. Watts is Associate Professor at the RNA Therapeutics Institute of UMass Medical School (Worcester, MA, USA).  He completed his training at Dalhousie University (BSc), McGill University (PhD) and UT Southwestern Medical Center (Postdoctoral).  After establishing his independent laboratory at the University of Southampton, UK, he moved to the RNA Therapeutics Institute in 2015.  He has won over 20 awards including the 2013 OTS Young Investigator Award, the 2015 Vice Chancellor’s award for teaching, and the 2018 Angel Award for ALS research.
Current work in the Watts lab is focused on the optimization of ASO chemistry for use in the CNS and lung, and on the chemistry of guides and donors for genome editing.  The Watts group works on both platform technology and disease applications, and has contributed to the development of two drugs that have reached patients on a compassionate use basis. Jon is on the Board of Directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society from 2015 to 2021.

Dr. Christina Webber is currently working with the Digital Health Center of Excellence on efforts to advance the appropriate use of digital health technologies, or DHTs, in the regulatory space. She is a Regulatory Science Program Manager on the Partnerships to Advance Innovation and Regulatory Science (PAIRS) team in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Her other work at the Agency focuses on promoting inclusion of the patient voice in clinical investigations using patient-reported outcomes (PROs), patient-generated health data (PGHD), and patient preference information (PPI). Dr. Webber also coordinates CDRH’s intramural funding programs, public-private partnership efforts with the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, Network of Experts program, and fellowship programs. She began her time at the FDA as an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Scholar. Prior to joining the FDA, she completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and Physiology at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Her doctoral research focused on upper extremity biomechanics, characterizing the independent function in adults with traumatic brachial plexus injuries. Dr. Webber also holds an M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering, specializing in biomechanics, from the University of Akron where she conducted lower extremity prosthetics research. She earned her B.S. in Bioengineering at the Pennsylvania State University.

MATTHEW WOOD F.Med.Sci. is Professor of Neuroscience and Deputy Head of the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. He directs the Laboratory of RNA biology and Neuromuscular Disease investigating development of RNA-based medicines for neuromuscular disease focusing on the development of advanced generation antisense oligonucleotides for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions. He is currently Director of MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre and Director of the Oxford Harrington Rare Disease Centre. He has pioneered the development of novel drug delivery systems including peptide and exosome-based technologies for RNA delivery. He is a co-founder of the biotech spin-outs Evox Therapeutics and PepGen, and has recently led a major UK national initiative to establish a UK Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator (NATA).

Clinton B. Wright, M.D., M.S, is a vascular neurologist and specialist in cognitive disorders. He is Director of the Division of Clinical Research and Associate Director for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and a member of the Stroke Branch within the Division of Intramural Research. NINDS is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Division of Clinical Research provides oversight for clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of innovative treatments of neurological disorders and stroke, epidemiological studies of the natural history of neurological disorders, biomarker studies, and studies designed to elucidate the causes of neurological disorders. The Division develops new clinical science initiatives, maintains the scientific integrity of clinical trials, and provides expertise in monitoring the safety of human subjects research as well as statistics and clinical trial design, both to the Institute and to extramural investigators.

Before joining NINDS, Dr. Wright served as the Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Learning and Memory in the Aging, and was a tenured professor of neurology, public health sciences, and neuroscience, as well as Chief of the Division of Cognitive Disorders in the Department of Neurology and the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami. He served as Scientific Director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Miami from 2008 until joining the NIH. Dr. Wright is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and of the American Heart Association. His research focuses on the effects of vascular risk factors and vascular damage, including both subclinical cerebrovascular damage and clinical stroke, on brain structure and cognitive function. Dr. Wright earned his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York City, and completed a neurology residency and a vascular neurology fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. During fellowship, he earned an M.S. in neuroepidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health as part of a T-32 program.

Dr. Takashi Yamamura graduated Kyoto University, Faculty of Medicine in 1980. After clinical and research training in Japan and abroad (Max-Planck Society, Germany, 1987-1989; Harvard Medical School, 1989-1990) as a visiting scientist.  he has been serving as Director of the Department of Immunology, National Institute of Neuroscience, NCNP, Tokyo, since 1999, and as Director of Multiple Sclerosis Center, NCNP, since 2010. His main interests are the immunological pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, and neuromyelitis optica, and development of new treatments through investigator-initiated clinical trials. NKT cell biology, nuclear receptors, and gut flora with regard to MS pathogenesis are the major targets of his research. He is an international advisory board member of International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI), and awarded the 6thHuman Immunology Research Award from Japanese Society of Immunology in 2019.