ATLANTA (November 14, 2023) The CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF), a patient-led, non-profit focused on delivering treatments and cures for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease*, today announced that Dr. Grace Pavlath has joined its newly formed Research Advisory Committee (RAC). Other members include: Dr. William Motley (Rapport Therapeutics), Dr. Paul August (ReviR Therapeutics), Dr. Arthur Suckow, Co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of DTx Pharma, and Dr. Charlotte Sumner (Johns Hopkins). Collectively, the RAC members represent decades of insights, experience, and accomplishments within the therapeutic and drug development space for CMT and other neurological diseases.
The RAC is tasked with maintaining and enhancing scientific strategies that support the Foundation’s singular mission to find treatments and cures for CMT. They will work closely with the Scientific Advisory Board to fine-tune project selection and prioritization in order to fund the types of research that have the greatest potential for impact. Moreover, they will provide scientific guidance to the Board of Directors.
“We are pleased to have Grace rejoin CMTRF,” says Cleary Simpson, CMTRF’s CEO. “She was our first CSO and she led our approach to funding projects with the greatest impact.”
Dr. Pavlath was Chief Scientific Officer for the CMT Research Foundation from July 2019 to May 2020 managing funded research projects while curating more projects and acting as the steward for all scientific efforts and funding allocation. Currently she is Vice President, Translational Development for Solid Biosciences and before that was Vice President, Research. She was Vice President, Research at Aavanti Bio just prior to its merger with Solid Biosciences.
Dr. Pavlath served as Chief Research Officer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) from 2014-2019. Prior to joining MDA, Dr. Pavlath led an internationally known laboratory as a tenured professor of Pharmacology at Emory University establishing herself as a leading researcher in cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in muscle regeneration and muscular dystrophy. She earned her doctorate in Pharmacology at Stanford University and then completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University and the University of Arizona.
