Congratulations to Dr. Kevin Grimes, who has joined The Kenneth Rainin Foundation as a Scientific Advisory Board member!
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation welcomes the addition of Dr. Scott Snapper and Dr. Kevin Grimes to our Scientific Advisory Board. The new appointments will broaden our translational research and clinical science expertise, and coincide with the Foundation’s strategy shift to go beyond funding basic science to be more patient focused. In addition, Dr. Tejal Desai has been named to the position of co-chair, joining long-time chair, Dr. Averil Ma.
“ I am excited to help facilitate innovation and collaboration in IBD research. ”– Dr. Tejal Desai
The Rainin Foundation’s Health strategy is to dramatically transform the prediction and prevention of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) on our way towards a cure. The Scientific Advisory Board provides valuable insights and scientific expertise. They make recommendations for health grants, help shape content for our annual Innovations Symposium, and advise on strategies to improve patient outcomes.
“To solve IBD, we must work together with the most creative and experienced scientific minds,” said Laura Wilson, PhD, Rainin Foundation Director of Health Strategy and Ventures. “Our extraordinary advisory board brings perspectives from basic, clinical and translational science to ensure we pursue the most promising research.”
Enhancing Our Clinical And Translational Expertise
As a leading IBD researcher and physician, Scott Snapper, MD, PhD, nurtures discoveries and his patients. He is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and heads up the translational program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also the Wolpow Family Chair and Director of the IBD Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Snapper uses basic, translational, and clinical research strategies to understand the mechanisms that control immune responses and function in the gastrointestinal tract and host-microbial interactions that, in turn, regulate intestinal homeostasis.
According to the National Institutes of Health, for every 10,000 potential new medicines sitting on laboratory shelves around the country, only one will ever reach patients in need. As co-director of SPARK for more than a decade, Kevin Grimes, MD, professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University, has established a collaborative program to help researchers overcome these odds. SPARK is housed at Stanford University and provides education and mentorship to help faculty, postdocs, and students advance their research discoveries into promising diagnostics and treatments. Additionally, this group, which includes industry representatives, proposes solutions to hurdles in drug development to get therapies to patients more quickly and for less money. Dr. Grimes’ research interests include translating promising discoveries into novel therapeutics, as well as repurposing existing drugs against new targets.
“ I look forward to providing input that may help the Foundation’s outstanding group of researchers progress their discoveries.”
– Dr. Kevin Grimes
“I am very excited to join the Scientific Advisory Board at the Kenneth Rainin Foundation,” said Kevin Grimes, MD, Stanford University. “I look forward to providing input that may help the Foundation’s outstanding group of researchers progress their discoveries into innovative new biomarkers and treatments for individuals living with IBD.”
The Rainin Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board helps us take smart risks and think creatively about how the Foundation can best support promising research. You can meet these exceptional scientists, as well as many other researchers, trainees and clinicians at our annual Innovations Symposium on July 13-15, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii.