Prize4Life was founded by a group of Harvard Business School students, including an ALS patient, who believe that prizes will act as powerful incentives to accelerate ALS research to the point where the private sector will invest in developing an effective treatment. Please consider supporting our efforts and/or volunteering some of your time.
Our Mission:
Create powerful incentives to further ALS research, increase global awareness, and explore novel treatment approaches by attracting private investments that ultimately lead to the development of an effective ALS treatment.
Our Values:
- Patients first. Avichai Kremer, one of the Harvard Business School students who founded Prize4Life, was diagnosed with ALS in 2004. We therefore know the disease firsthand and have a sense of urgency to find a treatment. We value patients and their viewpoints. Patients, please tell us what you think.
- Global awareness. We plan to push ALS to the forefront of fatal disease issues. We need your help in order to do this. Get involved.
- New people & new ideas. We believe the solutions to the ALS problems may reside in the minds and laboratories of people who are not currently researching the disease. Our platform is a bridge for reaching these people. Enter the competition.
- Results. Research is traditionally funded upfront, before an idea is even tested. Our prize model ensures that only clear research results, vetted by a team of scientific advisors, are rewarded.
Our Scientific Advisory Board:
ROBERT H. BROWN, M.D., D.PHIL.
Dr. Robert H. Brown is Director of the Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory and Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his doctoral training in neurophysiology at Oxford University. Dr. Brown trained in Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1984, The Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory was founded by Dr. Brown to investigate neuromuscular diseases, including Miyoshi myopathy and ALS. The Day Laboratory is now turning its efforts to finding more ALS genes and making mouse models of ALS with gene defects detected already. Members of the laboratory have also begun to develop cell-based models of some of these diseases predicated on the causative gene defects. These will be used both to study the pathogenesis and to develop models for drug screening. The ultimate goal of these studies is to identify new treatments for these devastating neuromuscular disorders.
LUCIE BRUIJN, Ph.D.
Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D. joined The ALS Association (ALSA) in January 2001 as Science Director and Vice President. Prior to that Dr. Bruijn led a small team at Bristol Myers Squibb developing in vitro and in vivo model systems for neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Bruijn received her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy at Rhodes University, South Africa. She received a Master's degree in Neuroscience and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, specializing in disease mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease, at the University of London, United Kingdom. She joined Dr. Don Cleveland's laboratory in 1994 where she developed and characterized a mouse model of ALS (mice expressing the familial-linked SOD1 mutation). Using this model her studies focused on disease mechanisms. In addition, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Brown she looked for neurofilament mutations in familial and sporadic ALS patients. At The ALS Association, Dr. Bruijn leads an international ALS research program. She has expanded on the existing grant programs, launching a groundbreaking new research initiative Translational Research to Advance Therapies for ALS (TREAT ALS) with the goal to move treatment options from "bench to beside." She has made it a priority to collaborate with other funding agencies, in particular The National Institute of Health and many other not-for-profit ALS organizations, as well as other foundations focusing on neurodegenerative research. These collaborations ensure that increased dollars are spent on ALS research. She is involved in project development, encouraging partnerships with academia and biotech, and has played a key role in forging collaborations amongst investigators. It is her strong belief that only through collaboration among a wide range of disciplines will we be successful in changing the course of ALS and finding a cure.
VALERIE ESTESS
Ms. Valerie Estess, along with her sisters Jenifer and Meredith, founded Project A.L.S., which has revolutionized the way that science and medicine approach disease research. As Director of Research, she motivates world leading scientists and clinicians---many of whom are competitors---to work aggressively, openly, and together toward a deeper understanding of ALS, and the closely related Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and spinal cord injury. In six years, Project A.L.S. has raised over $23 million for research.
With Jenifer, Estess is author of the national bestseller Tales from the Bed. This inspiring memoir urges readers to dream bigger, work harder, and go deeper, regardless of obstacles. Ms. Estess has appeared on Today, Charlie Rose, Larry King Live, NBC Nightly News, Entertainment Tonight, and MSNBC, while the ongoing story of Project A.L.S. has been closely followed by The New York Times, People, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, and Fortune magazine. The story of Project A.L.S. was told in the critically acclaimed HBO original documentary Three Sisters: Searching for a Cure, produced by Academy Award winner Sheila Nevins.
ADRIAN IVINSON, Ph.D.
Dr. Adrian Ivinson is the founding Director of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center (originally the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair), an integrated and tightly managed research center engaged in groundbreaking and collaborative neuroscience research at Harvard Medical School, its affiliated research hospitals, and other leading research groups around the world. By combining programs in imaging, drug discovery, bioinformatics, clinical trials and genetics, the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center aims to advance our understanding and treatment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to joining the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, Dr. Ivinson was a Special Advisor to the Provost at Harvard University. In 1993, Dr. Ivinson began his eight year tenure with the Nature Publishing Group where he served as Senior Editor, Editor in Chief, and Publisher of the monthly journals including: Nature Genetics, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Medicine. After completing undergraduate studies at the University of Aberdeen, and a Masters in Medical Genetics at Glasgow University in 1986, Dr. Ivinson joined the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Manchester, England and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1991.
TOM MANIATIS, Ph.D.
Dr. Tom Maniatis is currently the Thomas H. Lee Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Colorado, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University. After postdoctoral studies in Cambridge, England and Harvard University, Dr. Maniatis held faculty positions at Harvard University, The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology. He is known for his pioneering work on the development of recombinant DNA methods and their application to the study of gene regulation. His academic research has been recognized by numerous awards, including the 1981 Eli Lilly Research Award in Microbiology and Immunology from the American Society of Microbiology, the 1985 Richard Lounsbery Award for Biology, the 1998 Novartis Drew Award in Biomedical Research, the 2000 Scientific Achievement Award from the American Medical Association, and the 2001 Pasarow Award in Cancer Research from the Pasarow Foundation. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1985, and received honorary PhD's from the University of Athens in 2000 and the Watson School of Biological Sciences in 2006.
Dr. Maniatis is also a pioneer in biotechnology, founding Genetics Institute in 1980, ProScript in 1994, and Acceleron in 2004. He chaired the scientific boards of these companies and served as a director. A number of FDA approved drugs were developed for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases, hemophilia, anemia and multiple myeloma. These achievements were recognized by the 1999 Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine given by Brandeis University. More recently Dr Maniatis chaired research and drug development committees for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (ALSA), and has moved into the area of neuroscience where he hopes to investigate the causes of ALS.
DAVID MEEKER, M.D.
Dr. Meeker is the Executive Vice President of Therapeutics, Biosurgery and Transplant at Genzyme. Prior to joining Genzyme in 1994, he was director of the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinical Foundation and an assistant professor of medicine at Ohio State University. Dr. Meeker attended Dartmouth College and has an M.D. from the University of Vermont Medical School.
AL SANDROCK, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Al Sandrock received a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard University. In 1998, Dr. Sandrock joined Biogen Inc., where he served as Director of Medical Research, Director of Clinical Development-Neurology, Vice President of Clinical Development-Neurology, and since 2006 as Sr. Vice President of Neurology Research and Development. Dr. Sandrock is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, and the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. Since 1998, Dr. Sandrock serves as an assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School.
Our Board of Directors:
NATE BOAZ
Mr. Nate Boaz is an associate for McKinsey & Company, former Captain in the United States Marine Corps, and holds an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Political Science from the United States Naval Academy. He co-founded Prize4Life, Inc. in June 2006 and served as the CEO until January 2007. He, with the help of many others, has raised over $4 million for ALS research and ALS research incentives.
JANICE H. HAMMOND, Ph.D.
Dr. Jan Hammond is the Senior Associate Dean, Director of Faculty Planning and Jesse Philips Professor of Manufacturing at the Harvard Business School. She has previously taught courses in Supply Chain Management, Technology and Operations Management, Business Logistics and After-Sales Service, Decision Support Systems, Quantitative Methods, and Managerial Economics in the MBA program, and has served as the Unit Head for the Technology and Operations Management Unit and as Faculty Chair of the January Cohort of the Harvard MBA Program. She has also taught in several of the HBS Executive Education courses for general managers, including Managing the Supply Chain; Manufacturing in Corporate Strategy; Retailing; and Managing Orders, Vendors, & Customers.
Professor Hammond holds an Sc.B. degree in Applied Mathematics from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Professor Hammond has published widely on the topics of logistics and channel coordination. She consults and teaches at several major U.S. corporations.
HARVEY M. KRUEGER
Mr. Harvey M. Krueger is Vice Chairman, Emiritus of Lehman Brothers and has been involved with that firm and Kuhn Loeb & Co., one of its constituent firms, since 1959. Mr. Krueger currently serves as a Director of Delta Galil, Automatic Data Processing Inc., Chaus Inc., and is also Chairman of Stockton Partners Inc. In addition, Mr. Krueger is former Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace, former Chairman of Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, former and honorary Chairman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the Board of Directors of and Beth Israel Medical Center (NY) and Continuum Health Partners.
PATRICIA K. LIGHT, Ed.D.
Dr. Patricia K. Light is Director of MBA Support Services at Harvard Business School. She is a psychologist by training. Light's work focuses on assisting students, faculty and staff at Harvard Business School with an enormous variety of challenges - - academic, personal, health, and disabilities. She also works closely with medical colleagues at the University Health Service, and plays a leadership role in crisis management. Before being appointed to her current post, Light served as Director of the Counseling Service at Harvard Business School for eighteen years. She currently represents HBS on many university-wide policy Committees, including the Student Health Coordinating Board, the University Health Care Planning Committee, the Committee on International Student Health, and the University Disability Coordinators Committee, the Graduate Student Learning Support Advisory Group, and the University-wide Committee of Deans of Students. Light has served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Buckingham Browne and Nicholas School, and chaired the Trustees Committee on Education. Light received her doctorate from Harvard in 1973, and has worked at Harvard Business School since 1974.
CYNTHIA T. MAZAREAS
Cynthia T. Mazareas is an attorney at WilmerHale, where she practices law in the Firm's Corporate Department and serves as a member of its Life Sciences Group and Technology Transactions and Licensing Group. Ms. Mazareas concentrates her practice in corporate and securities law, including venture capital and public securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, corporate governance, SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and counseling emerging businesses. She represents a number of companies in the life sciences, medical device and biopharmaceutical industries. Ms. Mazareas is a member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1993 and her B.S. from Boston University in 1985. Ms. Mazareas resides in Nahant, Massachusetts with her husband George and daughter Eleni.
GEORGE K. MAZAREAS
George K. Mazareas is a native of Lynn, Massachusetts and a graduate of Milton Academy and Tufts University. From 1991 until 2005, Mr. Mazareas served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in various capacities, including as the Director of Economic Assistance and Co-Chairman of the Massachusetts Family Literacy Consortium. In 2005, Mr. Mazareas was awarded the Commonwealth's Performance Recognition Award for his dedicated years of service to the State's Economic and Business Development efforts. Mr. Mazareas has also served on numerous boards and committees, and in 2005, he was inducted into the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in recognition of his life long achievements in serving the business and community interests of the City of Lynn. After his diagnosis of ALS in the Spring of 2003, Mr. Mazareas turned his attention to raising awareness of the disease and money for the Angel Fund, a non-profit organization that benefits the groundbreaking ALS research being performed at the Cecil B. Day Neuromuscular Laboratory at MGH. Through the efforts of Mr. Mazareas, his family and friends, over $500,000 has been raised for the Angel Fund to date. In 2005, Mr. Mazareas was honored with the Angel Fund's Courage Award for his efforts in bringing awareness to the disease and raising funds for a cure. Mr. Mazareas is married and lives in Nahant with his wife Cynthia and their daughter, Eleni.
NICOLE SZLEZAK, M.D.
Dr. Nicole Szlezak, is a research fellow at Harvard's Center for International Development and a doctoral candidate in the Public Policy PhD program at Harvard. She was formerly a clinical researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Tuebingen, Germany, and a science writer contributing to major German print media. She holds an MPA from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a medical degree from Humboldt University in Berlin, and a doctoral degree in medicine (Dr. med. degree) from University of Tuebingen, Germany.
AMY YAMNER
Ms. Amy Yamner, Chairman of the Board, completed her MBA at Harvard Business School where she was awarded the Horace W. Goldsmith Award for outstanding commitment to the non-profit sector. After business school, Amy spent one year at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs, where she was awarded a fellowship from Harvard. In 2007, Amy joined The Monitor Group as a consultant in San Francisco. At Monitor she focuses on marketing strategy. Prior to HBS, Yamner co-founded the local affiliate site of a national non-profit organization, where she was in charge of program development as well as fund-raising. She served as a teacher through Teach for America in Oakland, California and has been active on the boards of several non-profit organizations. Yamner has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.
Our Management Team:
AVICHAI "AVI" KREMER, Chief Executive Officer, is a co-founder of Prize4Life, Inc. and former Chairman of the Board. Kremer was diagnosed with ALS in 2004 and since then he has worked as the CEO of an ALS nonprofit, IsrALS • the Israeli ALS Association, where he raised funds to launch multiple ALS research projects in Israel. He has also worked to promote ALS research at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Before attending Harvard, Kremer was a project manager for Elbit Systems, Ltd. Previously Kremer was a Captain in the Israeli Defense Force. Kremer holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and his B.A. degree in Computer Science from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. Kremer was recognized in 2006 with the Harvard Business School's prestigious Dean's Award for making an outstanding contribution to Harvard and society.
JAMES E. GIESSLER, CFRE, is President & Chief Development Officer. James joined Prize4Life in 2008 after serving eight years as Executive Director of The Wellness Community of Central Indiana. Prior to his tenure at The Wellness Community, James was Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at his graduate school alma mater, Butler University in Indianapolis. James was awarded the CFRE designation as a Certified Fund Raising Executive in 1999 and has served on multiple not-for-profit Boards—Chairing the Board of Partners In Housing Development Corporation for two years, and serving two terms on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. James currently sits on the Member/Chapter Services Committee for the Association of Fundraising Professionals and says that he feels very fortunate that his entire professional career in the not-for-profit sector has been spent working for organizations whose missions are closely aligned with his passions.
DR. MELANIE LEITNER, Ph.D., is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientific Officer for Prize4Life. Prior to Prize4Life, she served as Program Officer for JGPerpich, LLC, a small consulting firm focused on developing and using information technologies to promote collaborations in biomedical research, services, and education, particularly in the neuroscience and mental health fields. She has also held Director positions with the Society for Neuroscience and the DC-based start-up foundation FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, and is the recipient of two prestigious policy fellowships from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Leitner received her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis where she was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellowship to study neuroscience and she graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with an Sc.B. in neuroscience.
ANDREA MARANO, Chief Financial Officer, is an assistant to the CEO at Enel SpA in Rome, former Assistant Vice President of the Capital Group Companies in London, Chartered Financial Analyst® Charterholder, and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Business and Economics from Bocconi University in Italy.
DIVYA VOHRA is Prize4Life's Communications Manager. She earned her Sc.B. in cognitive neuroscience from Brown University, where she also worked with a small domestic violence agency on peer education and HIV prevention in high-risk neighborhoods.
GUY YAMEN, Chief of Strategy, is an associate for McKinsey & Company, former business analyst for McKinsey & Company, former financial reporter for the Marker Media, and holds an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School and an LL.B. (Law degree) and a B.A. in Economics from Tel Aviv University in Israel.
Our Volunteer Team:
PETER BOWEN
Mr. Peter Bowen is a Consultant at Bain & Company and a graduate of Harvard Business School, Class of 2007. His father was diagnosed with ALS in January of 2005, which prompted him to seek out Avi and join Prize4Life during his school years. He has volunteered with Prize4Life since 2006 and works to raise funds for ALS organizations including Prize4Life through a variety of charity events. He resides in Boston and did his undergraduate at Cornell University.
AMIT DOSHI
Amit Doshi is an investment professional at Tiger Global Management, a private investment firm. He was previously a private equity associate at Madison Dearborn Partners and an investment banking analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Amit has been involved with Prize4Life in various capacities since helping to launch the organization. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from Harvard Law School and an AB in Economics from Harvard University.
NIKITA GUJRAL
Ms. Nikita Gujral is a Board Fellow and a first year student at the Harvard Business School. She has worked as an analyst at Morgan Stanley, where she was one of two analysts selected and sponsored to work full-time for the 9/11 United Services Group, which coordinated and managed a network of over 40 human services agencies that collectively served over 85,000 people affected by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. She has also worked as an associate at Azimuth Trust and at the Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation. Nikita earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Business School.
ALLISON KOTZIN
Ms. Allison Kotzin is a second year student at the Harvard Business School. After graduation she will be joining Genzyme corporation as part of the business development group. She was previously an associate for Morgan Stanley. Ms. Kotzin holds an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Her father battled ALS for 20 years, which prompted her to seek out Avi and join the Prize4Life team. She has been instrumental in various development efforts for the organization.
MEEGAN LEMOTT
Ms. Meegan LeMott is a Board Fellow and a first year student at the Harvard Business School. Prior to arriving at Harvard, she worked for Transform Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, where she focused on pharmaceutical development and formulation/platform development. She holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in chemical engineering from MIT.
SARA SHNIDER M.Sc.
Sara is a Ph.D. student in the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Her current research interests are in development and repair of the subcortical projection neurons. During her Ph.D., she plans to focus on characterizing genes involved in target specification during development of cortical projection neurons. In addition, together with Eiman Azim, she plans to modulate expression of single and multiple genes involved in corticospinal motor neuron development, in order to characterize their individual function and the combinatorial interactions between them. In the longer term, she hopes these research findings will contribute to development of novel therapies for cellular repair in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly in motor neuron-specific diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS/MND)
Prior to arriving at Harvard, she completed a M.Sc. degree in bioinformatics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. During her thesis, she worked on reverse engineering of the segmentation gene network in Drosophila, under the supervision of Prof. Naama Barkai. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences with Honors at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
MARK WETZEL
Mr. Mark Wetzel is a Board Fellow and a first year student at the Harvard Business School. He previously worked as an analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co., both in healthcare investment banking and for GS Capital Partners. He holds a B.S. in management from Boston College, where he double majored in finance and philosophy.
For more information please see About Prize4Life.
