Teresa Srajer
Teresa’s grandmother began battling HD before Teresa’s birth and the disease continues to impact her family including losing her Dad in 1998. Her family started supporting HD families during the CCHD days. Teresa supports her local chapter as a committee member for the Naperville Team Hope Walk and the IL Celebration of Hope. She also serves on the Center Programs Education and Advisory Committee. She participated on the Chapter and Affiliate Advisory Committee (CAC) 2018-2022 serving as the chair November 2019-August 2022.
Teresa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and an MBA in her educational pursuits. She works as a Global IT Product Owner for an agricultural and construction manufacturing company. Teresa along with her husband, Craig, give back to HDSA and other charities to recognize their life contains more blessings than negatives.
Jenne Coler-Dark
Jenne Coler-Dark is gene positive for Huntington’s Disease and has two children at risk. She found out HD was in her family in 2014 and has been working to advocate for patients, and raise funds for HDSA ever since. In 2016, Jenne along with her family hosted the Freeze HD event in Los Angeles. She continues to participate in the HDSA annual Freeze HD event, along with other HD volunteer engagements with HDdenNoMore, and CHDI.
Jenne graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in International Business. She has worked for Experian for the last 13 years in a variety of roles from Professional Services, Account Management, and Program Management.
After living in the Bay Area for over a decade, Jenne and her family relocated back to Southern California to be closer to her mom and sisters.
Angela Allen
Angela Allen has two children who are at risk of HD. The family was unaware of their at-risk status until her children’s grandmother became symptomatic and was diagnosed in the early 2000’s. Angela and her family found HDSA during this time as they sought help to learn how to support her children’s grandmother and their father who also died of HD in 2019. She finds HDSA invaluable as she and her children come to terms with what it means for them to be at risk.
Professionally, Angela Allen is an executive coach, leadership consultant and business advisor. She is passionate about helping leaders and organizations grow. She brings rich leadership and organizational development experience to her work having held executive roles in sales, human resources, operations and as interim CEO for several successful organizations in the human capital arena. Angela has a B.A. in Organizational Psychology from The University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Serving on the HDSA Board of Trustees and giving back to this wonderful community is a top priority to Angela and her family.
Jay Hughes
An at risk individual from a large HD family, Jay has served on the HDSA Board of Trustees since 2019. Being as close as possible to the cure and providing assistance along the way was the motivation. He is so thankful to have discovered HDSA and the people that make it so special.
Jay is the EVP of Sales and Marketing at MGIC, a Milwaukee based insurance company where he has held a variety of business development roles over 35 years. He also serves as treasurer on the board of the Marcus Performing Arts Center. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the Villanova School of Business. Jay and wife Diana are avid runners and plan to tackle the 550 mile Camino Santiago pilgrimage in Spain in the summer of 2023.
Victor Sung, MD
Dr. Victor Sung, a native of Houston, TX, graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a minor in music in 2001. He received his medical degree from UT-Southwestern in Dallas in 2005. He completed residency training in neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2009, during which time he was elected to membership of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and received the Argus Award for Best Neurology Resident. He currently serves as Director of the UAB / HDSA Huntington’s Disease Center of Excellence, serving more than 200 HD patients across the southeast. The UAB COE was awarded the HDSA Excellence in Clinical Care Award in 2017. Dr. Sung was awarded the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Dr. Sung has been honored to serve on the HDSA Board of Trustees since 2017.
Kamran Alam
Kamran has over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Kamran held various finance, accounting and project management roles with increasing responsibility at Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Fresenius Kabi, Naurex, AveXis, and Rocket Pharmaceuticals.
Kamran received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan and MBA in Finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
Jeffrey Brown, PhD
Dr. Jeffrey Brown is a seasoned biotech leader with deep experience in preclinical and IND-enabling research, with a particular focus on genetically defined disorders. Jeffrey has worked across multiple therapeutic areas, including neuropsychiatry, neurodegeneration, neuromuscular, and metabolic diseases.
He has led more than 20 preclinical programs, successfully advancing a number of these into clinical development. Throughout his career, Jeffrey has built several drug discovery platforms focused on small molecules and nucleic acid-based therapeutics across multiple organizations including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Alexion, Voyager Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, and Deep Genomics. Jeffrey received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Utah and an eMBA from Suffolk University. 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, Jeffrey founded Scientific Foundation LLC, an organization dedicated to helping families, patients, and biotech start-ups navigate the challenges of preclinical drug development.
Jeff Carroll, PhD
Dr. Jeff Carroll is an Associate Professor in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program and the Department of Psychology at Western Washington University. Dr. Carroll is CoFounder of HDBuzz.net and continues to serve as the site’s Editor-in-Chief. During his PhD he trained with Michael Hayden (University of British Columbia), his postdoctoral studies were conducted under the supervision of Marcy MacDonald (MGH, Harvard Medical School). As well as conducting research, Dr. Carroll is a member of an HD family and carries the mutation which causes HD.
Mark Coe
Mr. Coe is the CEO of CTI Meeting Technology, a global provider of workflow and virtual meeting application software to the meeting & event industry he has worked at for 38 years. Having watched HD take an aunt and a cousin, he is grateful for the work of the HDSA and eager to lend a hand to the fight. Mark is married to Kristen Coe and is the father of four children.
Chris DeCesaris
Chris is the Chief Finance & Business Officer at the American Society for Microbiology. His primary duties include oversight and management of all finance, meetings, and business development activities.
Prior to joining ASM, Chris was the Controller for National Public Radio (2011-2013) and VP, Controller & Assistant Treasurer for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2003-2011). Chris initially joined PBS in 2003 as the Director of Internal Audit. Before joining PBS, he served as an Assurance Manager at Grant Thornton, LLP. As a member of Grant Thornton’s Not-for-Profit Solutions Group, he managed the audit engagements for more than 30 not-for-profit organizations.
Chris holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland. Chris serves, or has served, in various volunteer governance roles with numerous not-for-profit organizations.
Erin Furr-Stimming, MD
Dr. Furr-Stimming is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, McGovern Medical School. She is passionate about treating the underserved and as a result, she served as the Chief of Neurology at Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital for seven years. She is the Founder and Director of the HD clinic at UTHealth, McGovern Medical School which has been designated as the Huntington’s Disease Society America (HDSA) Center of Excellence. She is an active member of the UTHealth Movement Disorders division, UT MOVE. She serves as the Neurology Clerkship Director and has received the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching award every year since 2009. She has received the Dupont Master Clinical Teaching Award and she is a member of the Academy of Master Educators and a McGovern Society leader. She continuously strives to enrich the educational experience of the students, residents and fellows. She is the Chair of the American Academy of Neurology Consortium of Neurology Clerkship Directors. She has been named a Super Doctor by Texas Monthly and a Top Doctor by Houstonia magazine for the past several years. She received her medical degree from The Chicago Medical School in 2003 and completed her post graduate training, including a neurology residency and Movement Disorders fellowship at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where she became an Assistant Professor of Neurology in 2007.
Dr. Furr-Stimming is actively engaged with the Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease community. She is the Chair of the Medical Advisory Board for the Houston Area Parkinson’s Society and a member of local HDSA affiliate and frequently volunteers for both nonprofit organizations. She previously served as the President for the Texas Neurologic Society, the largest state neurologic society in the country. She is currently the Vice President of the Houston Neurologic Society and Chair of the Education Committee for the Texas Neurologic Society. Dr. Furr-Stimming is the PI of multiple HD clinical trials and collaborates closely with basic scientists at UTHealth, McGovern Medical School to enhance and optimize treatment for individuals living with Huntington’s disease.
Beth Hoffman, PhD
Dr. Beth Hoffman is the Founder and CEO at Origami Therapeutics, Inc. At Origami, Dr. Hoffman is leveraging lessons learned during 20 years of CNS drug discovery to create a novel, precision medicine approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases by “fixing broken proteins”. Dr. Hoffman served on the Board of Directors at HDSA’s San Diego Chapter and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Tau Consortium. Dr. Hoffman received an AB in Molecular Biology from Wellesley College, a PhD in Cell Biology from the Johns Hopkins University and was Chief of the Molecular Pharmacology Unit at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Jonathan Klein, Esq.
Jonathan Klein is Chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group at DLA Piper in New York City. He concentrates his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance, securities matters and restructuring for both domestic and international clients.
Jonathan has represented public and private companies in negotiated domestic and cross border acquisitions and dispositions (including mergers, stock transactions, asset deals and divestitures), as well as bidders in contested transactions. Jonathan’s private equity experience includes domestic and international leveraged transactions for both financial and strategic parties. His corporate finance experience includes public and private offerings of equity and debt securities.
Jonathan’s general corporate practice includes advising public companies on SEC compliance and reporting issues, internal investigations, joint ventures, licensing and distribution agreements and providing general corporate advice and counsel to public and private companies, partnerships and individuals. He regularly counsels senior management, corporate boards and controlling stockholders with respect to acquisitions, dispositions, buyouts and general corporate and securities matters.
Jonathan has represented US and foreign clients in connection with cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, private financings, loan restructurings and workouts and general corporate matters.
Jonathan received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where he graduated cum laude and his B.S. from Cornell University.
Amber Southwell, PhD
Dr. Amber L. Southwell, Associate Professor, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Neuroscience, has been working in preclinical therapy development for Huntington disease (HD) since 2002. In 2009 she earned her PhD at the California Institute of Technology working with Dr. Paul Patterson to develop an intrabody gene therapy for HD. From 2009-2016, she did postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Michael Hayden where she developed several novel mouse models of HD, a selective mutant huntingtin gene silencing therapy, and a CSF biomarker for brain huntingtin. She began her laboratory research group at UCF in January 2017.
Dom Thomas
Ms. Dom Thomas joined Ochsner Health, as a Lead Medical Assistant in 2012 and currently works as Clinic Operations Manager for Our Community Health, partner site for Ochsner Health. Dom manages interdisciplinary clinics for Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Tourette’s Disease for adult and pediatric neurology patients. She also works closely with telemedicine team for acute management across the system for acute care areas.
Dom currently leads Ochsner’s Diversity and Inclusion Group ABLE (African Americans Building and Leading Equality) as Event Liaison Chair. She is also LEAN Yellow Belt Certified, IMPACT Certified Level 1 Training Instructor. She is also member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and a Member of Phi Beta Chi Society.
Dom is very involved in community outreach focusing on underserved populations in the Greater New Orleans Area.
In Dom’s free time, she is a Zumba® Instructor and has been for the past 7 years. She has a high passion for fitness and bringing health and wellness to the movement disorder’s communities.
