Scientific Advisory Committee

Milana Dolezal, MD, MSc

Milana Dolezal, MD, MSc is a fellowship-trained hematologist oncologist board-certified in hematology, oncology, and internal medicine. She provides care at the Stanford Medicine Cancer Center in Emeryville. Dr. Dolezal also has extensive experience in research and drug development. She previously held positions as a clinical scientist, assistant medical director, and associate medical director.

W. Lawrence Drew, MD, PhD

W. Lawrence Drew, MD, PhD is the Director, Clinical Virology Laboratory and Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. He has overseen multiple studies of cytomegalovirus infection in people with HIV, including a nationwide, 13-center collaborative study.

W. David Hardy, MD

Dr. W. David Hardy is a scientific and medical consultant focusing on developing novel vaccine and cure/remission strategies for human viral diseases. He serves as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He served as Senior Director of Research at Whitman-Walker Health in Washington D.C., overseeing NIH-funded ACTG trials and HIV Cohort studies and industry-sponsored trials from 2015-2018. During that time he also held an academic appointment as Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Hardy received his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine and completed his residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr Hardy currently serves as Chair of the Education Committee and member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

Dr. Emil Kakkis

Dr. Kakkis is Chief Executive Officer, President and a Director of Ultragenyx, a biotech company dedicated to developing treatments—where one never before existed—for rare and ultra-rare disease.

Prior to founding Ultragenyx, Dr. Kakkis worked for Biomarin where he guided the development and approval of three treatments for rare diseases (MPS I, MPS VI and PKU). He has worked to advance the cause of rare disease treatment through advocacy on policy issues by founding and supporting the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the acceleration of biotech innovation for rare diseases through practical and scientifically sound improvements to development strategies, regulatory policy and law.

Dr. Kakkis received the Life Science Leadership Pantheon award from California Life Sciences, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National MPS Society, the Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment from the WORLDSymposium, and BIO’s Henri Termeer Visionary Leadership award for this transformative work in rare diseases.

Dr. Kakkis graduated from Pomona College, magna cum laude, and received the Vaile prize for his biology research. He received combined M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the UCLA Medical Scientist Program and received the Bogen Prize for his research upon graduation.

Theodore Ruel, MD

Theodore Ruel, MD is a Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses on the optimization of treatment outcomes of children born with HIV. He serves as vice-chair of the National Institutes of Health/Department of Health and Human Services Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of HIV-infected Children and as advisor to the Pediatric AIDS Working Group at the World Health Organization.

Kevin A. Schulman, MD

Dr. Schulman is a Professor of Medicine, Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and, by courtesy, Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He is the Faculty Director of Stanford’s new applied master degree program, the Master’s of Science in Clinical Informatics Management program.

Dr. Schulman is a health economist/health services researcher working at the intersection of business, medicine and technology. With over 500 publications, Kevin Schulman has had a broad impact on health policy.

He has been actively researching the pharmaceutical market for most of his career, including the economics of branded pharmaceuticals and the role of PBMs in the pharmaceutical market. He led a research team that described the economics of drug shortages and price spikes in the generic drug market in the US (Wiske CP, Ogbechie OA, Schulman KA. Options to promote competitive generics markets in the United States. JAMA. 2015 Oct 29:1-2).

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, the New York University School of Medicine, and The Wharton Health Care Management Program.