Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Conlon completed his undergraduate degree in genetics at Texas A&M University and his PhD in genetics/biomedical studies at the University of Florida. As the Director of the Powell Gene Therapy Center (PGTC) Toxicology Core and a member of the Pediatrics faculty for 13 years, he facilitated efficient, cost-effective, and rigorous preclinical testing of gene therapy vectors, with a special emphasis on recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. Dr. Conlon has brought 11 gene therapy trials to the FDA with approval. He has been at the forefront of collaborations between the PGTC, the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, and the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine to identify means for treating congestive heart failure, types of Retinal Degeneration and Glycogen Storage Disease Type IA in humans, as well as two types of cardiac problems experienced in dogs. Dr. Conlon has also served industry sponsors by performing safety studies and regulatory consultations for clinical trial approval. Dr. Conlon was the 2014 recipient of the “See the Lights” award from the The Mathew Forbes Romer Foundation for excellence in the fight against children’s genetic diseases and is a member of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Dr. Alonzo completed his undergraduate degree in statistics at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo and his MS and PhD in biostatistics at the University of Washington. His research interests include development of statistical methods for analysis of biomarkers, medical diagnostic tests, and screening tests, and design and analysis of clinical trials. He has published more than 190 peer-reviewed articles and four book chapters. Dr. Alonzo serves as the Group Statistician for the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), as well as lead statistician for the COG Acute Myelogeneous Leukemia Strategy Group. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Biometrical Journal and has served as a reviewer for 25 scientific journals. Dr. Alonzo is a member of a number of societies including the American Statistical Association and the International Biometric Society. He currently resides in Glendora, CA with his family and pets (Tahoe, a Labrador Retriever and Titan, a Maine Coon cat).

Dr. Baer has more than 25 years of experience in the field of laboratory animal medicine, collaborating with multiple institutions to optimize animal welfare. In her career, she has worked in many diverse capacities including as the Director of the laboratory animal program at the California Institute of Technology for 24 years, as an on-call veterinarian for NASA, and as an ad hoc site visitor for the AAALAC. She completed her MS in Veterinary Medicine and DVM at Washington State University, and is specialty board certified member of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Dr. Baer is currently the CEO of Veterinary Consulting Services, PLLC, through which she serves as the Attending Veterinarian for a number of academic and biotechnology organizations. She has extensive experience working with organizations to design, build, commission, and operate new and remodeled laboratory animal housing facilities. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles on various laboratory animal medicine topics and was the first author of a book, Aotus: The Owl Monkey. She has also been the recipient of three NIH infrastructure grant awards and co-authored a fourth funded award. She is currently an active member of four Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees and three Institutional Biosafety Committees.

Dr. Brake completed his BS in Biology at Muhlenberg College. After completing a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at Hahnemann Medical University (now Drexel College of Medicine), he completed a 3-year NIH postdoctoral fellowship at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals in the field of HIV molecular genetics. He was employed as a research immunologist at SmithKline Beecham Animal Health for 5 years, followed by 8 years at Pfizer Animal Health where he held several scientific and management positions in Veterinary Medicine Biological Discovery and Biological Development. During his private industry tenure, Dr. Brake worked on numerous new vaccines for companion animals, livestock, and poultry and published scientific papers in the areas of veterinary immunology, immunoparasitology, and vaccinology. In 2004, he founded the vaccine consulting company, BioQuest Associates, LLC.  Dr. Brake currently serves as a scientific consultant to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology, providing technical and project management expertise for several transboundary animal and zoonotic disease vaccine and diagnostic projects. Dr. Brake also provides USDA consultancy services to clients in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical vaccine industries. He enjoys running, kayaking, tennis, and reading, and resides in East Lyme, CT with his spouse and affectionate geriatric cat, Jasper.

Dr. Graham Cox has been involved in veterinary vaccine research since 1983; first in the small biotech sector and later for pharmaceutical companies: CSL, Pfizer, Schering Plough/Intervet and Merck. Since 2013 he has worked as a consultant in the veterinary vaccine industry specializing in early vaccine research, clinical trials, manufacturing and regulatory affairs. Graham received a B.Sc. in protein chemistry and a Ph.D. in viral immunology from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Contributions to vaccine research include registering the first GnRH vaccine in the USA, attaining USDA clearance for a behavior-modifying vaccine for poultry, and demonstrating the utility of DNA vaccines in cattle. He is the author or co-author of over 20 published papers, book chapters and patents.

Dr. Johnson received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and a PhD in Biology from the California Institute of Technology. He performed postdoctoral research in Neurochemistry and Neuroanatomy at the University of Wisconsin. In 1986, Dr. Johnson joined Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. as Director of Genetics. In 1990, he co-founded NemaPharm, Inc., the first company to focus on using a genetically tractable model animal, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for studies designed to identify human therapeutics. Dr. Johnson joined the Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF) as Executive Director of the ‘Cure Huntington’s Disease Initiative’ in 2001. In 2004, Dr. Johnson became Executive Director for Science of the HDF, managing all aspects of the Foundation’s scientific programs. He retired from that position in 2016. Dr. Johnson consults and reviews grant applications for the Michelson Found Animals Foundation and other groups. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin with wife Susan Curtis, adopted cats Lena and Sammy, and two rescued cattle dogs Tula and Boss.

Dr. Morris is an Associate Research Professor in the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Chicago. After 20 years of preclinical and clinical cancer research, he began focusing his scientific skills on the advancement of animal health and welfare and a better understanding of the impacts of animals on humans through research and analysis; first as the Director of Research at the Animal Assistance Foundation and now as a faculty member at the Institute for Human-Animal Connection. He serves as the Principal Investigator on a wide range of studies aimed at defining the effects of therapy animals in a variety of environments and the impacts of companion animals on human health. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs since 2011.

Dr. Rhodes was educated at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) and Cornell University (PhD). She has 30 years of accomplishments in human and animal drug discovery, development, biomedical research, and clinical veterinary medicine. She has an extensive background in physiology, veterinary medicine, and molecular biology. As a senior research fellow at Merck Research Laboratories for 10 years, she led pre-clinical biology evaluation of several marketed human drugs. Dr. Rhodes practiced clinical veterinary medicine for five years, with experience in both companion and farm animal practice. She worked for Merial Ltd. as director of development projects, leading project teams developing novel compounds for a variety of indications and headed new technology assessment, leading the evaluation of licensing opportunities. In April 2001, she formed AlcheraBio, a consulting, marketing, communications, and contract research firm specializing in developing new drugs for animals, working with biotechnology and animal health companies, with clients in the US, European Union, Canada, and Australia. AlcheraBio was acquired in 2008 by Argenta, and in 2011, Dr. Rhodes accepted a position as CEO of Aratana Therapeutics, a venture capital backed start-up company developing innovative new medicines for dogs and cats, and subsequently, when the company became public (PETX) served as its Chief Scientific Officer. She is currently retired and an independent consultant. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Zoetis and the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, and she serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences at Rutgers University.

Amy received her Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from USC in 1986.  She worked in biotechnology and the bone marrow transplantation/cancer diagnostics field for over 25 years. Her research focused on the detection of low numbers of tumor cells in the circulation of breast cancer patients as a means of targeting early relapse. She is the author of over 75 scientific publications and the holder of three U.S. patents.  Although most of Amy’s career was in the biotechnology industry, she spent three years developing a tissue culture system for bone marrow-derived stem cells in the laboratory of Dr. Ellen Rothenberg at Caltech.  An active USC alumna, Amy was a co-founder of the USC LGBT Alumni Association and is currently a member of the USC Board of Trustees.  She also serves on the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation Board.

Don Schwartz started his career as a freelance science writer then joined Merck & Co., Inc., one of his clients, as a manager of global marketing communications. He is currently executive director, US Business Operations, for Merial Inc., a successor company owned by Sanofi, with direct responsibility for business development, strategic initiatives, customer care, veterinary technical solutions, regulatory and business analytics. He has dotted line responsibility for many other operations functions. Don has extensive experience in contract negotiation, legal affairs, marketing, product management, and product development, among other business skills. He was instrumental in the launch of virtually all of the company’s landmark products including IVOMEC, HEARTGARD and FRONTLINE PLUS. Recently, Merial launched OraVet dental hygiene chews for dogs, a product he developed off-line, which makes use of a novel ingredient (delmopinol HCl) he ran across on the internet, licensed, and incorporated in a fast-melt polymer formulation. He had a lot of help. Don earned an undergraduate degree (English and biology), from Union College in Schenectady, NY, did graduate work in biology (CUNY), and then went to law school. However, he is quick to point out that he is not licensed and therefore is not a lawyer.

Dr. Swanson was educated at the University of Texas, Austin (BS), Texas A&M University (DVM), and Louisiana State University (PhD, Animal Science). He currently leads a multi-disciplinary research team at the Cincinnati Zoo on the preservation of endangered animal species, with a primary focus on maternal and embryonic factors affecting reproductive success in felids. He participates in collaborative studies of endangered small felids in Mongolia, Thailand, South Africa, the UAE, and Brazil, and he trains foreign scientists in conservation strategies. He was Co-Chair of the Felid Taxon Advisory Group of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for ten years and has published and spoken widely on reproductive physiology of endangered and domestic felids. Before joining the Cincinnati Zoo, Dr. Swanson completed a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive physiology of domestic and nondomestic felids, and worked as a gamete biologist at the Conservation & Research Center, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, in Front Royal, VA. He received a five-year Special Emphasis Research Career Award from the National Center for Research Resources of the NIH. Work at the Smithsonian included examination of maternal and embryonic factors affecting reproductive success in felids. Specific studies were directed toward the application of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer for propagation of felid models of human disease and for conservation of endangered cat species.

Marcel van Duin received his PhD from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam after which he started his scientific career in pharmaceutical research at Organon in Oss, The Netherlands, where he worked on immunological approaches to fertility control as well as the discovery of novel targets for the development of new methods for female and male fertility control. In 2001, he moved to Organon Research in Newhouse, Scotland, to become the Head of Target Discovery in cardiovascular and neuroscience therapeutic programs. In early 2003, he returned to the Netherlands to accept the position of Head of Pharmacology at Organon. In this position, he was responsible for all pharmacological research in the areas of reproductive biology, oncology, and immunology, the in vitro ADME and early toxicology group, as well as the animal research facilities. Following Organon’s acquisition by Schering-Plough in 2007, he joined the Research Leadership Team of Schering-Plough as VP and Therapeutic Area Head Women’s Health. In Oss, the Netherlands, he became the head of the Women’s Health department with research programs in male and female contraception, infertility, endometriosis, and menopausal symptoms. Following the merger with Merck in 2009, he was appointed as VP and Worldwide Discovery Head for the Women’s Health and Endocrine franchise with responsibility for the global discovery activities in this therapeutic area.

In 2012 he joined Ferring Pharmaceuticals. At the Ferring Research Institute in San Diego he is now VP and Therapeutic Area Head for Research in Reproductive Medicine & Women’s Health.

Dr. Wildt has conducted research at Michigan State University, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University, the National Institutes of Health, and now the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute. He leads a group of scientists, fellows, students and technicians who study the biology of animals, from the domestic cat and dog to frogs and elephants. Dr. Wildt also manages the wildlife animal collection at the National Zoo’s 3,200-acre Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, a living laboratory in Virginia. Basic and applied research is devoted to creating scholarly knowledge that leads to better management and conservation of small populations, especially of endangered species. Efforts are centered on reproduction, but also are linked to genetics, veterinary medicine, behavior, nutrition, ecology, small population biology and the reintroduction of species to nature. This cross-disciplinary integration is fundamental to Dr. Wildt’s philosophy and his team’s research on the cheetah, Florida panther, black-footed ferret, and the giant panda, among others. Besides a text edited by Dr. Wildt and his colleagues, Giant Pandas: Biology, Veterinary Medicine and Management (Cambridge University Press), he has more than 285 publications in the peer-reviewed literature and 57 book chapters spanning more than 50 vertebrate species.

Dr. Zahorsky-Reeves attended Cornell University both undergraduate (BS with Honors ‘90) and veterinary school (’95). She completed her PhD in Comparative and Experimental Medicine at the University of Tennessee School of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville (’99). She worked as a post-doc in xenotransplantation genetics at the University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (’99-’04). Dr. Zahorsky-Reeves now serves as the laboratory animal veterinarian in the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and is board certified in lab animal medicine (DACLAM) (’11).

Aimee was born with a love of animals, which eventually led to her position as Found Animals’ Executive Director. In her role as head of the social entrepreneurship and innovation focused non-profit in the pet space, Aimee is responsible for the development and launch of all major programs including the $75M Michelson Prize & Grants program, pet adoption programs that place nearly 5,000 shelter animals per year, and a free, nationwide online microchip registry. She also serves as a Board Member for Spay4LA and the Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles, which together have four clinics that provide over 30,000 subsidized surgeries to underserved communities each year.

Before Aimee joined Found Animals as its first employee in March 2008, she earned her MBA from Stanford University and rose to Principal at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a management strategy consulting firm that works with Fortune 500 companies to solve complex business issues. During this time, in an effort to introduce balance and service into her busy business career, Aimee began volunteering for a local animal rescue group. It was here Aimee fell in love with one of the most popular yet misunderstood breeds of dog, the pit bull. She eventually adopted a pit bull of her own – Rufus — who accompanies Aimee to the Found Animals’ office daily.

Earlier in her life Aimee received a full scholarship to attend the University of Arizona, where she earned her B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, graduating summa cum laude in 1996. She began her career in biotechnology and was hired by Motorola Corporation’s R&D division. Aimee was the third member of a team recruited to start a biotechnology research program with the goal to develop a biochip device for use in personalized medicine.