Speakers

Jay Backstrom
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Jay Backstrom, M.D., MPH

President & Chief Executive Officer, Scholar Rock
  • Joined Scholar Rock in October 2022 as President and Chief Executive Officer.
  • Previously served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Acceleron Pharma, and Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Regulatory Affairs at Celgene.
  • Prior to joining the industry, served as staff physician and medical director of the Samuel U. Rogers Community Health Center in Kansas City, MO.
  • Holds an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine and an M.Ph. from St. Louis University School of Public Health.
DrCrawford
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Thomas Crawford, M.D.

Co-Director, Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic; Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins Medicine; Lead TOPAZ and SAPPHIRE Principal Investigator
  • Member of the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins since 1987.
  • Practice involves general child neurology with a principal interest in caring for children with neuromuscular, neuromotor, and ataxic disorders. 
  • On the Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and the Medical Advisory Committee for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
DrDarras
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Basil Darras, M.D.

Associate Neurologist-in-Chief, Boston Children’s Hospital; Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; TOPAZ and SAPPHIRE Principal Investigator
  • Chief of the division of clinical neurology in the Department of Neurology at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.
  • Director of Neuromuscular Center and Spinal Muscular Atrophy Program.
  • Special focus is in the care of children with neuromuscular conditions originating from inherited or acquired conditions of the motor unit.
Jackie Glascock, PhD
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Jackie Glascock, Ph.D.

Vice President, Research, Cure SMA
  • Joined Cure SMA in 2016, overseeing the organization’s research programs.
  • Cure SMA is a non-profit organization which has funded and directed over $85 million for SMA research.
  • The organization also advocates for and provides practical support programs.
JL Marantz
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Jing Marantz, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer, Scholar Rock
  • Joined Scholar Rock in November 2022 as Chief Medical Officer.
  • Currently serves on the board of Arcturus Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ARCT).
  • Previously served as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Acceleron Pharma.
  • Holds an M.D. from Tongji Medical College, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Medical University of South Carolina and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Laurent Servais
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Laurent Servais, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Diseases, MD UK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre, University of Oxford; Invited Professor of Child Neurology at Liège University; SAPPHIRE Principal Investigator
  • Joined MD UK Oxford Neuromuscular Center at the University of Oxford in September 2019 as Director of Neuromuscular Center and Spinal Muscular Atrophy Program.
  • Leader of the newborn screening program for SMA in southern Belgium.
  • Main research focus expertise covers the development of innovative outcome measures including connective devices for real-life patients' evaluation.