BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Dr. Alex Carlisle

 

Founder, Chair, CEO

Anthony Johnson, MBA

 

Treasurer

Lawrence Cooper, ESQ

 

Secretary and Chief Legal Officer

Dr. Carlisle has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare and biomedical research and holds a BA in Biology from Fisk University, a Doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Howard University, and received post-doctoral training at the NIH where he helped lead the NCI Cancer Genome Anatomy Project and identified molecular therapeutic targets in Parkinson’s Disease at the NINDS. After the NIH, he went on to lead research efforts at several top academic medical centers, including: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he helped establish the Inova Neuroscience Research Institute and Inova-George Mason University Neuroscience Translational Research (INTR) Laboratory, and served as Founder and Director of the Laboratory of Neuro-Oncology.

 

Dr. Carlisle later went on to Northrop Grumman Health where he led the development of their Precision Oncology Analytics Platform, and founded and managed a partnership with UCSF to design decision support user interfaces to support the I-SPY Clinical Trial, all while serving as Chief Scientific Officer and Program Manager for their Precision Healthcare Business Unit. In addition to his professional career, Dr. Carlisle has a deep history of advocacy and community outreach having worked with former longstanding community leader Roscoe "Mr. Chic" Bradley and his Colonial Park Community Services, Inc. to provide social programs and services for at-risk communities in Harlem, NY.

 

Dr. Carlisle has broad experience building and leading public-private partnerships with stakeholders such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), and the State of New York, where he has focused on creating programs and research infrastructure aimed at addressing health disparities and improving patient outcomes through bringing advanced precision medicine-based care to underserved populations in various communities.

 

Dr. Carlisle now continues this legacy as the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the National Alliance against Disparities in Patient Health (NADPH). In addition to his work at NADPH, Dr. Carlisle consults organizations on their scientific and health business development strategy and provides thought leadership and community service at a National level in science, patient advocacy, and health policy through his representation on Boards for organizations like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Personalized Medicine Coalition, and the EP3 Foundation.

Mr. Johnson is co-founder, President, and CEO of Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions, a next-generation non-viral gene therapy company. He is also a founding partner of Buffalo Biosciences, a life science strategic business management firm that supports the evaluation and commercialization of bioscience technologies from concept to market. Previously he was president and CEO of Empire Genomics, where he transformed a concept formed at a university lab into a preeminent oncology molecular diagnostic testing enterprise. He also served as the business leader of the stem cell and regenerative medicine franchise for Thermo Fisher (Invitrogen Corporation).

 

Mr. Johnson has leveraged his business experience and numerous board positions to mentor technology startups and entrepreneurs, spur state and local job creation, and introduce STEM curriculum into early childhood education. Mr. Johnson is an Aspen Institute Health Innovation Fellow and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He currently serves as a Non-Executive Independent Director to 22nd Century (XXII Nasdaq), Secretary of the board of NewYorkBio, and Director of WNED/PBS broadcasting service of Western New York. Mr. Johnson is a founding board member of the Communities of Giving Legacy Initiative, which works to create positive change in the lives of low-income youth of color. Additionally, he serves as Michigan Street African-American Heritage Corridor Commissioner. Mr. Johnson holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK, with an emphasis in international strategy, and a BA in biology from Fisk University, Nashville, TN.

Mr. Cooper holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and has over 30 years of experience as a practicing attorney in the areas of Nonprofit, Tax, and Media & Entertainment, Corporate and Business Transactions and Finance. After earning his JD, Mr. Cooper served as an associate and shareholder with the Law Firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand in the Tax Group where he formed, advised and represented various tax-exempt organizations before the Internal Revenue Service.

 

After serving as Senior Commercial Counsel for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Mr. Cooper later went on to manage his own law firm and supported his client Black Entertainment Television in its merger and acquisition into Viacom, Inc. Mr Cooper eventually transitioned in-house and served as Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel of BET Networks overseeing and managing budgets and operations for the Business & Legal Affairs group as well as all content management & network media library operations. After his tenure with BET Networks, Mr. Cooper now serves as General Counsel of the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment where he oversees the cable/regulatory group handling all legal matters associated with the District's cable franchises, PEG channel programming content matters, ongoing legislation, the Film Rebate Program and all agency initiatives to support sustainable entertainment and media industries and a thriving creative economy in the District of Columbia.

 

Mr. Cooper has advised and served on several non-profit boards including Young Audiences of DC, The BET Foundation and currently, the United Way of The National Capital Area. In May 2017, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University. Mr. Cooper also holds a Bachelor of Music from Boston University.


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