The Scientific Advisory Board was established in 1986. Through the Board's invaluable expertise, grant applications to Families of SMA are reviewed and evaluated. We would like to thank the members of the Scientific Advisory Board  for their expertise in ensuring that the "best" SMA research is funded. The members of the SAB annually review all applications for research grants, using a procedure similar to that used at NIH.

Jill Jarecki, Ph.D., FSMA Research Director.
Dr. Jarecki serves as the coordinator of the FSMA Scientific Advisory Board. Prior to joining FSMA, Dr. Jarecki studied neuromuscular development. Most recently she was the lead scientist working on the early phase drug discovery program to identify potential small molecule therapeutics for SMA, which has continued at deCODE Genetics.
   
Current Members of the FSMA Scientific Advisory Board

Arthur H. Burghes, Ph.D.
Dr. Burghes is a Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Department at Ohio State University. Dr. Burghes developed the first animal model of SMA and demonstrated that high copy numbers of the SMN2 gene can rescue the SMA mouse (see Large Amounts of SMN2 cures SMA in Mice.) Dr. Burghes joined the SAB in 2002.

Tom Crawford, M.D.
Dr. Crawford has been interested in all aspects of SMA since 1980. He is currently at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD) and continues to be involved in research and clinical care of children with SMA. Dr. Crawford is also a member of FSMA's Medical Advisory Board. He joined the SAB in 2002.

Mark Gurney, Ph.D.
Dr. Gurney has had a long and continuing interest in neurodegenerative diseases. He served in academia for 13 years in the Dept. of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at the University of Chicago and in the Dept. of Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology at the Northwestern University Medical School For the last eight years Dr. Gurney has worked in the private pharmaceutical sector. He joined the SAB in 2003.

Douglas Kerr, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Kerr is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School in the Department of Neurology with a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Kerr is also the Director Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center. Dr. Kerr also investigates neural stem cells as a potential tool for functional recovery in patients with motor neuron disease, such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Dr. Kerr joined the SAB in 2005.

Adrian Krainer, Ph.D.
Dr. Krainer is a Professor at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and his research focuses on the regulation of RNA splicing. For the past several years, his lab has been investigating the mechanisms that control SMN transcript splicing and has been assessing different strategies for inhibiting exon 7 skipping in the SMN transcript. Dr. Krainer joined the SAB in 2005.

Louise Simard, Ph.D.
Dr. Simard is an Associate Professor (University of Montreal / Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Centre) actively involved in SMA research. Her contributions revolve around molecular diagnostics of SMA, regulation of SNM gene expression and SMN function in neuronal cells, and more recently, analysis of SMN nRNA and protein as biochemical markers of SMA type for clinical trials. She joined the SAB in 2005.

Chris Spancake, Ph.D.
Dr. Spancake is a research scientist in pharmaceutics at Glaxo Smith Klein where he has returned after working 2 years at Amgen. Dr. Spancake served as FSMA’s Research Director from 1998 to 2005.

Stephen Strittmatter, M,D., PhD.
Dr. Strittmatter is the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Strittmatter is interested in the molecular mechanisms of axon regeneration in the adult CNS, including after spinal cord injury. Dr. Strittmatter joined the SAB in 2005.

Kathryn Swoboda, M.D.
Dr. Swoboda is an Assistant professor, Neurology and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Medical Genetics) at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is a neurologist and geneticist with expertise in the diagnosis and management of children with neuromuscular disorders. Her primary clinical research interest is SMA. Dr. Swoboda also a member of FSMA's Medical Advisory Board. She joined the SAB in 2002.