Loren Eng is the President of the SMA Foundation, responsible for overseeing all projects and relationships.

Prior to establishing the SMA Foundation, Ms. Eng worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, merchant banking at the Lodestar Group, and as a director of business development at KKR’s media company, K-III.

Ms. Eng and the work of the SMA Foundation have been featured in national media including ABC News, Bloomberg Markets, Forbes, Fox News, The New York Times, Nightline, Parents Magazine, and the Today Show. Ms. Eng has testified before Congress on SMA, NIH funding and biomedical research.

Ms. Eng received a BA from Wellesley College, and an MBA as well as an MA in education from Stanford University.

Ms. Eng currently serves on the Boards of Columbia University Medical Center, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the Bank Street College of Education.

Karen Chen is the Chief Scientific Officer and the Chief Operating Officer, responsible for overseeing the full range of our scientific and drug discovery programs, as well as managing the operations activities at the SMA Foundation.

Dr. Chen is a senior research scientist and manager with over 25 years of experience, including 15 years in industry, planning, directing, and conducting preclinical research. She has managed departments and groups working on a variety of projects for the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for neurological disorders.

Dr. Chen joined the SMA Foundation from Roche Palo Alto where she was Director of Neurosciences and Head of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurodegeneration Group. Prior to Roche she was Director of Pharmacology and Head of the In Vivo Neurodegeneration and Behavior Groups at Elan Pharmaceuticals working primarily on therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.

Her post-doctoral training was obtained at Genentech investigating neurotrophic factors therapies for neurodegenerative conditions. Dr. Chen obtained her PhD in Neurosciences from the University of California, San Diego working with Dr. Fred Gage on the behavioral and morphological effects of fetal grafts and neurotrophin administration in models of age-related degeneration. Dr. Chen holds an AB from Harvard University.

Sergey Paushkin is a Director at the SMA Foundation, responsible for basic research and drug discovery programs.

Dr. Paushkin has 18 years of experience in biomedical research related to neurodegenerative and genetic disorders. He has spent the last 13 years working on Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Dr. Paushkin joined the SMA Foundation from PTC Therapeutics where he was the leader of the SMA drug discovery programs. Prior to PTC Therapeutics, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Gideon Dreyfuss at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Paushkin’s expertise in SMA extends from molecular mechanisms of SMA pathogenesis to drug discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Dr. Paushkin studied the molecular bases of neurodegenerative prion diseases.

Dr. Paushkin received his MD from the Russian State Medical University and a PhD in Biochemistry from the Cardiology Research Center, Moscow.

Dione Kobayashi is a Director at the SMA Foundation, focused on developing biomarker tools and protocols for SMA, and managing the SMA Foundation’s in vivo drug testing pipeline.

Dr. Kobayashi has over 15 years of neuroscience research experience, including nine years in industry, where she conducted and managed basic and preclinical research projects and programs, largely in the areas of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. She has expertise in both small molecule and biologic therapeutics. Dr. Kobayashi joined the SMA Foundation from Rinat Labs, Pfizer Inc., where she was a Principal Scientist, moving multiple therapeutic antibody projects from the bench to preclinical and clinical stages. Prior to Rinat, she was an Associate Scientist in the In Vivo Neurodegeneration group at Elan Pharmaceuticals and as a Research Associate worked on neuropathic pain at Genentech.

Dr. Kobayashi earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh where she worked with Dr. Richard Morris on the behavioral and immunohistochemical characterization of the BACE1 KO/PDAPP mouse line. Dr. Kobayashi holds an MSci from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a BSci from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ying Qian is a Project Manager at the SMA Foundation. She has over 5 years of experience improving organizational operations and managing working groups within organizations in a range of industries.

She joined the SMA Foundation from the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) where she served as the Special Assistant to the Chairman, Dr. Philip Ozuah. At CHAM, she led projects to improve efficiencies in hospital operations. Prior to CHAM, she was a consultant to companies in the insurance, energy and utilities sectors with The Brattle Group in San Francisco.

Ying holds a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University’s Mailman School, where she focused on the operations and management of hospitals and non-profit healthcare organizations. She received her BA in Mathematics from Wellesley College.

Kathleen McCarthy is a Research Associate, responsible for providing scientific and general support for various SMA Foundation programs.

Prior to joining the SMA Foundation in June 2010, Kathleen completed a U.S. Student Fulbright Fellowship in Zurich, Switzerland in 2009 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology where she worked on biochemical modeling of the coastal oceans.

Kathleen served as a Research Assistant at the Harvard School of Public Health after graduating with Honors in Environmental Chemistry from Wellesley College in 2008. At Wellesley, Kathleen was inducted into the Sigma Xi Honors Research Society and has received several research grants including the Howard Hughes Summer Research Grant and the NIH Minorities International Research and Training Grant. She also played on the Wellesley Varsity Soccer Team.

Alexandra Strauss is the Office Manager of the SMA Foundation, responsible for donations processing, website administration, event planning, and management of the day-to-day operations of the organization.

Alexandra Strauss joined the SMA Foundation with 15 years of experience as an office manager, specializing in event planning and creative services. While attending Hunter College, Alexandra worked as an office manager for Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services and was the assistant to the Chief Deputy Mayor of New York City. The majority of Alexandra’s career was spent at The Joester Loria Group, a premier licensing agency, where she headed the Marketing Services department, overseeing creative projects and product development for multibillion dollar international brands.

Rachel Mirkin is the Special Assistant to the Foundation President, CSO/COO, and executive team. She is responsible for providing organizational and communications support for various SMA Foundation programs.

Rachel joined the SMA Foundation after graduating magna cum laude from the Barnard College Double Degree program in 2008, with a BA in Psychology and an additional BA in History.

Before joining the SMA Foundation, Rachel gained experience in non-profit work through a position with the Cause Related Marketing team at The Leverage Group, a marketing and consulting firm that specializes in strategic partnerships for both corporations and non-profit organizations.

In addition to her work with the SMA Foundation, Rachel currently serves as a Research Assistant at the Neurocognition, Early Experience, and Development (NEED) Lab at Columbia University Medical Center, where she assists with studies related to neurocognitive development.