Board of Directors

MPN Research Foundation’s Board of Directors provides governance and guides direction for the Foundation, including prioritization of appropriate myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) research and patient advocacy activities.

The MPN Research Foundation Board is comprised of a diverse and dedicated group of industry and non-profit leaders, MPN patients and caregivers.

Robert Rosen

CHAIRMAN EMERITUS

Founder, MPN Research Foundation

Barbara Van Husen

CO-CHAIRMAN

  • Ms. Van Husen has been a consultant in Information Technology and Organizational Development for 30 years, specializing in work for nonprofits which have included the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian Institution. She was a Principal for Chicago-based consulting firm TSG, Inc. for 17 years until its acquisition by Denver-based Ciber, Inc. in 1997. Her non-profit board affiliations include management roles in child welfare (Lutheran Social Services of Illinois), children’s literacy (Reading is Fundamental in Chicago) and her current role as Board President of the Chicago-based MPN Research Foundation.

    Ms. Van Husen has B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in Information Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Brandon Goetzman

CO-CHAIRMAN

Managing Principal, Blue Vista Capital Management

  • Brandon Goetzman is a Managing Principal at Blue Vista Capital Management, a commercial real estate investment management firm headquartered in Chicago that he joined in 2008. He oversees the investment activity for the firm’s middle market commercial real estate investment strategies. Brandon joined the MPN Research Foundation as a director in 2016, has served as the chair of the foundation’s Science Steering Committee, which is focused on the foundation’s strategic investments in MPN research, since 2018, and has served as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors since December of 2024. 

    Brandon graduated “with distinction” from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2008 with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Finance and Real Estate and received the Chairman’s Award from the Wisconsin Real Estate & Urban Land Economics department. In addition to the MPN Research Foundation, Brandon has been passionately involved in other non-profit and mentoring roles including being a board member for the AREIT and Private Equity track programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  

Kapila Viges

Chief Executive Officer

  • Kapila is the Chief Executive Officer of MPN Research Foundation. She has led the organization since September 2020, when it was entering into its 20th anniversary. MPN Research Foundation is now celebrating 25 years of impact — and Kapila has leveraged her diverse experience across startups, public and nonprofit sectors, academia, and industry to drive the Foundation’s mission forward. With a background in engineering and a strategic approach to leadership, she has guided MPN Research Foundation through continued innovation and pivotal growth.

     

    Before joining the MPN Research Foundation, Kapila led a pipeline and launch strategy practice at a top pharmaceutical management consulting firm, where she worked with emerging biopharmaceutical and technology companies transitioning from clinical to commercial stages. She also played a key role in executing launch strategies for oncology and rare disease therapeutics. Previously, Kapila spearheaded incubation and seed funding programs in both academia and the public sector, accelerating the development of novel therapeutics and medical technologies. Her leadership as the life sciences portfolio lead for venture funding facilitated the launch of more than 20 biotechnology and medtech companies emerging from academia.

Dave Boule

TREASURER

Retired Partner, Ernst & Young

MPN Patient

Stephanie Cindric, APRN

DIRECTOR

Nurse Practitioner, Tampa General Hospital Urology Group

  • Stephanie’s contributions to the field of MPN Research are unique. She is a former ET patient whose family became actively involved with ET research fund raising because of her diagnosis with the goal of bringing hope to all MPN patients.

    Stephanie received both her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Florida Atlantic University (FAU). She joined Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Urology Group of Florida, formerly known as Urologic Physicians and Surgeons, in 2013, and is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Practitioner Council of Palm Beach County.

Sam Klepper

DIRECTOR

SVP Products & Corporate Development, SoundThinking

Pamela Murphy

DIRECTOR

VP, Incyte

  • Pam Murphy has spent the past 25 years building emerging biotechnology companies. She is well-recognized for her ability to improve a company’s access to capital and people, and preserve its corporate reputation during times of crisis and extreme market volatility.

    Most recently, as VP Corporate Communication & Investor Relations of Incyte, she played an important role in significantly improving Incyte’s corporate reputation and market capitalization as evidenced by the fact Incyte’s stock price was in the low single digits when she joined the comapny in 2003 and was well above $80 when she retired in April 2015. As importantly, Incyte’s top-tier analyst coverage and core instituional shareholder base have been in place since 2005.

    In additon to securing excellent relationships with the investment community, she developed and managed a number of multi-disciplined marketing and communications plans that led to equally strong relationships with other key target audiences for early stage biotech companies including investigators, patient advocacy groups, patients, corporate partners and the media.

    Pam is a candid and tenacious team player who is known for a clear focus on the needs of patients and good business outcomes for all. While officially retired from Incyte, and happily focused on becoming a competitive dressage rider, she continues to serve on the Board of Directors for Delaware Bio and provides strategic counsel to emerging life science companies regarding the value of a great reputation.

David Ricci

DIRECTOR

Portfolio Manager, William Blair & Co

Andrew Schafer, MD

DIRECTOR

Director, Richard T. Silver Center for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Weill Cornell Medicine

  • Dr. Schafer is Professor of Medicine in Hematology-Oncology and Director of the Richard T. Silver Center for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist, and an authority in the areas of thrombosis, coagulation, platelet and bleeding disorders, and myeloproliferative disorders.

    Dr. Schafer is the author of over 220 original articles and the editor of 6 textbooks in the field of hemostasis, thrombosis and hematology, and internal medicine. He edited a book entitled “The Vanishing Physician-Scientist?” and is currently Co-Editor of the Cecil Textbook of Medicine beginning with the 24th edition. He has made original research contributions in the areas of hemostasis, thrombosis, platelet function, vascular cell biology, and myeloproliferative disorders; he was the principal investigator of NIH grants for almost 30 consecutive years. 

    Dr. Schafer has been President of the American Society of Hematology, President of the Association of Professors of Medicine, is President-Elect of the American Clinical and Climatological Association and has been elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation (for which he served as Secretary-Treasurer), the Association of American Physicians, and Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians.  He has served on the editorial boards of a number of major medical and scientific journals, and was the founding editor-in-chief of The Hematologist. 

    Dr. Schafer received his B.A. from Northeastern University in 1969 and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and his clinical and research fellowships in hematology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (formerly Peter Bent Brigham Hospital) and Harvard Medical School. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, rising to Associate Professor of Medicine, until 1989 when he was appointed Chief of Medicine at the Houston VA Medical Center, Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rice University in Houston. Dr. Schafer then served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Baylor from 1996 to 2002, the Frank Wister Thomas Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the E. Hugh Luckey Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Physician-in-Chief of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Well Cornell Medical Center until 2013. 

Ann Oglesby

DIRECTOR

Lois-Lehman McKeeman

DIRECTOR

Mike Brady

DIRECTOR