Episode 4: Michael Kaplan

Dr. Hugh Rienhoff has been many things in his life: an English major, a mathematician, a venture capital representative, a clinical physician scientist and an entrepreneur. But most important of all is being a father to daughter Bea, who was born with a very rare disease that doctors could not identify.  Listen in as he shares with RRP's Executive Director Dr. Katrin Ericson how his professional path took a sharp turn as he spent years in his home office turned genetics lab researching to discover the genetic origin of her disease. 

From her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut to taking on a real life fight with her sister’s cancer diagnosis, Dr. Louise Perkins' deep love of science has been an obvious influence on the trajectory of both her personal life and professional career. Listen as she describes how she moved from a research bench into nonprofit leadership, what she feels are the most important attributes of a leader, and the one piece of advice she’d give her younger self about success.

“I did it because we had to.” That is how current Amicus CEO John Crowley sums up his decision to leave his job and become the Co-founder, President and CEO of a biotech start-up that conducted research on a new experimental treatment for Pompe disease, which he credits as ultimately saving his children’s lives. Listen in as Crowley shares more about his incredible journey in rare disease pharmaceutical development, the four elements he sees as the necessities to being a successful entrepreneur and what he feels is really the greatest trait of a leader.

Michael Kaplan, CEO of the Melanoma Research Alliance, has headed nonprofits and patient advocacy groups across the United States and internationally, as well as managed international and domestic grant-making portfolios focused on disease surveillance, prevention and treatment. In this episode, he shares how his 25 years of experience battling on the front lines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic help him now as he leads the quest to cure melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Listen in as he and Katrin discuss clinical trials, microbiomes, Artificial Intelligence and more.

Dr. David Fajgenbaum, co-founder and Executive Director of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN), shares his personal battle with this rare disease that almost took his life four times, as well as his tireless research that led to the discovery of a life-saving treatment for himself and other patients.

Are you a hedgehog or a fox? Dr. Dave Reese, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen, discusses the importance of pivoting during a pandemic, improving future drug success rates with big data, and his advice on leadership style for those working to cure diseases. 

How salad dressing and a special summer camp lured EB Research Partnership CEO Michael Hund away from becoming an attorney and into a career in fundraising, eventually leading him into venture philanthropy and the quest to find a cure for children with the rare and excruciating skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa.