Leadership & Faculty

Leadership

Chad Heatwole, MD, MS-CI
Director, Center for Health + Technology
A neurologist with sub-specialty training in neuromuscular medicine, electrophysiology, and experimental therapeutic development, Dr. Heatwole’s main research focus is the development, evaluation, and testing of novel experimental therapeutics for neuromuscular disease. Under Dr. Heatwole’s leadership, the first/founding institute for outcome measurement for neuromuscular disorders was established at the University of Rochester.

 

Jamie Adams, MD
Associate Director, Center for Health + Technology
Dr. Adams is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Movement Disorders specialist at the University of Rochester and Associate Director of the Center for Health + Technology.  Her research focuses on the use and evaluation of digital health technology, such as wearable sensors, smartphone applications, and telemedicine, in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.  Incorporating these tools into clinical trials may improve outcome measures and facilitate development of therapeutics.
 

Cynthia Casaceli, MBA
Clinical Research & Development Director
Ms. Casaceli has over 20 years of experience in the operational (project, data and central management) and administrative (contracts, budgets) conduct of an academic research organization. Ms. Casaceli has overseen the conduct and compliance of clinical trials that have led to the FDA approval of seven compounds.

Ray Dorsey, MD, MBA
David M. Levy Professor of Neurology, Center for Health + Technology
Through novel applications of technology, he and his colleagues seek to enable anyone anywhere to receive care, participate in research, and benefit from therapeutic advances. Dr. Dorsey’s research has been published in leading medical, neurology, and economic journals and has been featured on National Public Radio and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Disclosures

Eileen Fannon
Senior Director, Clinical Materials Services Unit
Eileen earned a BS in Biology from Lock Haven University. A former Air Force Medical Technologist, she transitioned to pharmaceuticals, excelling from product development scientist to Business Director in Texas. In 2002, she relocated to Rochester, NY, accumulating 20+ years of experience at companies like CellTech, UCB, and Unither Pharmaceuticals. Eileen's diverse roles span leadership, production, quality, packaging engineering, and auditing. She has spearheaded various projects, showcasing expertise in manufacturing, packaging, labeling design, supplier quality, project management, supply chain, pharmaceutical packaging development, and regulatory compliance.

Cornelia Kamp, MBA
Executive Director Strategic Initiatives, Clinical Materials Services Unit
Ms. Kamp has over 28 years of experience in pharmaceutical based research, both commercial and academic. She established and leads the Clinical Materials Services Unit (CMSU) which provides packaging, labeling, distribution, and return/destructions services for investigational drugs/devices. Ms. Kamp’s research interests include clinical trial design, regulatory aspects of conducting clinical trials, recruitment strategies, and site performance metrics.

Brett L. Kinsler, DC
Director, CHeT Health
Dr. Kinsler is a Research Assistant Professor of Neurology and Senior Licensing and Development Director at UR Ventures. He has eighteen years of clinical practice and has served as an advisor to federal and state government agencies, health systems, CROs, payers, and vendors in areas of healthcare technology strategy and innovation. His focus is to help expand the positive impact of CHeT’s discoveries.

Melissa Kostrzebski, MS, MBA
Director, Clinical Trials Coordination Center
Ms. Kostrzebski has worked in the healthcare field for over 10 years, having been engaged in clinical research in the fields of breast cancer, surgical oncology and most recently in Parkinson’s disease. Ms. Kostrzebski has managed multi-center clinical trials at the Clinical Trials Coordination Center for the last 8 years. In January of 2023, she assumed the role of the Director of the Clinical Trials Coordination Center. Ms. Kostrzebski holds a master’s in Biology from SUNY Brockport and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester.

Victoria E. Ross, MA
Director, Data Management
Ms. Ross has been in the healthcare technology field for over 30 years.  She brings technological, analytical and process efficiency to the Clinical Research data collection and handling. Ms. Ross holds an MA in Human Factors Psychology.

Chadwick Roy, MBA
Associate Director, CHeT Finance
Mr. Roy oversees all financial aspects of the Center for Health + Technology. Prior to joining CHeT, Mr. Roy held positions focusing on the financing of health care services for both providers and insurance firms. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, with concentrations in finance, healthcare administration and public policy.

Jennifer B. Tarolli, JD
Associate Director, CHeT Operations/Legal and Regulatory Liaison
Ms. Tarolli is the Legal Liaison/Regulatory Administrator for the Center for Health + Technology. She oversees and facilitates CHeT agreements for data use and transfer, material transfer, clinical trials, and other matters, as well as supporting and advising on regulatory matters for multi-center clinical trials throughout the Center. Prior to joining CHeT, Ms. Tarolli was in private practice as a litigator focused on the defense of medical malpractice claims, insurance coverage litigation, and various other tort and commercial matters. She received her JD from Brooklyn Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University.

Charles Venuto, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Center for Health + Technology
Dr. Venuto is a clinical pharmacologist with expertise in modeling and simulation of drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and disease progression. He founded and leads CHeT Analytics, with the mission to model, predict, and act on data for designing more efficient clinical trials. His research interests are focused on studying the disease progression of neurodegenerative diseases and chronic infectious diseases, and identifying factors underlying disease progression and treatment response heterogeneity.

Renee Wilson, MA
Director, Project Management
Ms. Wilson has worked in the healthcare field for over 20 years, having been engaged in clinical care and research in the fields of neurology, psychiatry and bioethics. She has held various positions in clinical research for the past 15 years, and for the last 10 years has been managing multi-center clinical trials at the Clinical Trials Coordination Center. Ms. Wilson assumed the role of Director of Project Management in 2019 and holds a MA in Psychology.

Norman C. W. Yung, MBA
Executive Director, Operations and Development
Mr. Yung is the Executive Director, Operations & Development, for the Center for Health + Technology. He oversees business development and strategy in the areas of clinical operations and clinical research innovation. Prior to CHeT, Mr. Yung held a number of corporate and consulting positions within the area of health and technology. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from The University of Chicago.