Rich is a senior director of clinical development at Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. He received a PhD in liver physiology from Vanderbilt University and has over 18 years of experience focused on the clinical development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of metabolic and rare liver disease with an expertise in Phase 2-4 clinical trial development and execution. Outside of science, Rich enjoys photography, hiking and cooking for friends and family.

Pamela Stephenson is a strategic life sciences executive and board director with a proven track record of guiding R&D-stage biotechs to their first commercial launches. Pamela currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer for Disc Medicine, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with hematologic disorders. Pamela previously was Chief Commercial Officer at Albireo Pharma, where she spearheaded a commercial strategy that launched Bylvay (odevixibat) in the US and Europe. Earlier, Pamela held a series of critical roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she launched the company’s first commercial product, Incivek for hepatitis C, and later held leadership roles in cystic fibrosis sales, marketing, and global market access. 

Pamela began her career in the US Peace Corps as a maternal and child health volunteer in Morocco. She later had multiple marketing roles at Pfizer, ultimately leading Viagra marketing in the US. Pamela also served as a Board Member of Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company specializing in rare neuropsychiatric conditions. 

Pamela earned an MPH from Boston University and a BA in Biology from Brown University. Pamela and her husband Bryan enjoy traveling, skiing, spending time with their daughter and son, and walking their dogs in the Boston area. 

Steve is a cell biologist and drug developer who has been working in the rare disease space for over 25 years.  He hails from Southern California, received his Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin- Madison (Go Bucky!), and headed right back to San Diego after too many Midwest winters!  Steve has been at Travere Therapeutics for 10 years focusing on kidney, metabolic, and liver diseases including Alagille Syndrome.  Prior to Travere, Steve spent 15 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals working on a variety of rare, genetic disorders.  He has been a champion of incorporating the patient voice as early as possible in the drug development process exemplified by Travere’s 3-way research collaboration with the ALGSA and NCATS to discover drugs for Alagille Syndrome.  He enjoys wearing a patient advocacy hat and contributing to advancements aimed at changing the game for rare diseases such as how we collect patient data and modernizing newborn screening.  In his spare time, Steve enjoys spending time with his kids and grandkids, playing softball, and rooting on his favorite sports teams (Go Badgers and Padres!). 

Andrew is currently an Executive pharmaceutical leader leading strategy and operational aspects of drug and biological development for NDA and BLA submissions for pediatric and adult rare diseases, cystic fibrosis, gastroenterology and hepatology. He is currently Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Quality Control at Neurogene Inc, a company devoted to gene therapy approaches to management of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adults including Rett syndrome. Formerly, he served Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at Amicus Therapeutics from 2016-2020 and responsible for the approval of Galafold (migalastat) for the treatment of Fabry disease in adults. He has been involved in the registration planning for AT-GAA, a novel enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease in infants, children and adults.  He served as Division Deputy Director of Gastroenterology and Inborn Errors Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2010-2016.  Before joining FDA, Andrew was Portfolio Leader in Established Products responsible for worldwide leadership of Internal Medicine products in Johnson and Johnson from 2000-2010.  Andrew is a graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University and of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  He completed his residency in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia followed by a Pediatric Gastroenterology Clinical Fellowship and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Cellular and Molecular Physiology at New England Medical Center.  Andrew is Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and has served as Attending, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey caring for children with gastrointestinal diseases.  He is Principal Editor of Pediatric Drug Development: Concepts and Applications published in 2011 and 2013.  He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, American Gastroenterological Association and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.

Brennan is an epidemiologist with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Public Health Risk Sciences Division. He obtained his B.Sc. In Toxicology and his Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada, where he currently resides. His primary research focus is on the integration of new technologies and data in the development of risk assessment models for foodborne pathogens. In 2020, through whole genome sequencing, he was diagnosed with Alagille syndrome and began the process of learning as much as he could about the condition.

Dennis Black, MD, is the James Dustin Buckman Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Physiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis. Dr. Black serves as Scientific Director of the Children’s Foundation Research Institute of Memphis, as well as Vice President for Research for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital (LBCH) and Vice Chair for Research for the Department of Pediatrics.

A native of the Memphis area, Dr. Black graduated from the University of Memphis and UTHSC. He completed his pediatric training and fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at UTHSC and LBCH. His research and clinical interests are neonatal lipid absorption and metabolism and associated disorders, as well as pediatric liver disease and transplantation with a focus on pediatric primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and other cholestatic liver diseases.

Dr. Black has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration, among others, and has authored more than 170 journal articles, book chapters, and abstracts. He has mentored numerous fellows, medical students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty. He has also served as chair and member of several national grant review committees, including those for NIH, American Liver Foundation, North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), and American Heart Association. He served as a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology: GI and Liver Physiology from 2003-09 and has served on the executive councils of the Society for Pediatric Research and NASPGHAN. He was Vice Chair and Chair of the American Gastroenterological Association Council Section on Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition from 2013-18 and was recipient of the Section’s Research Mentor of the Year Award in 2020.

Dr. Black received the UTHSC Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2017 and the Department of Pediatrics 2017 Outstanding Mentor Award. In 2018, he was awarded the NASPGHAN Gerard Odell Prize for Excellence in Hepatology Research. Dr. Black is a member of the scientific advisory boards of PSC Partners Seeking a Cure and the Alagille Syndrome Alliance and is a founding board member and President of the Abetalipoproteinemia and Related Disorders Foundation.

Dr. Black is married to Dr. Gail Beeman, also a pediatrician, whom he met while both were pediatric residents at LBCH in Memphis. They have three children, two dogs, and one cat. Dr. Black is co-owner of Black and Wyatt Records, a vinyl-only record company specializing in Memphis rock ’n’

Ben has worked in the field of biomedical research since 2009. His experience ranges from nearly a decade working at the bench in basic science, to five years working in the clinical research space. Currently, Ben is responsible for translational research projects at Sanford Research. His team maintains a colony of transgenic mice and a vast number of patient and rodent cell lines that model a number of rare disorders. His group then partners with for-profit biopharma companies to screen promising therapeutics. Additionally, Ben and his team assist basic scientists with human subject research projects and coordinate clinical sample collection. Ben has also been responsible for the growth of the CoRDS Registry since 2016. CoRDS is an international, disease agnostic, rare disease registry offered at no cost to people living with rare conditions or to the researchers investigating rare disease. Through this endeavor, Ben has built strong relationships with a number of advocacy organizations, and he constantly works to put the wellbeing of rare patients at the forefront of all phases of his career. Outside of work, Ben is an avid woodworker, musician, husband, and father to four wonderful children.