Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Michael Knowles, M.D.
Chairman, Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill

Dr. Michael Knowles is a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Knowles specializes in Genetic Modifiers of Disease phenotype in Cystic Fibrosis lung and liver disease, and is currently heading two multicenter studies: 1) Genetic Modifiers of Disease phenotype in CF lung and liver disease, which includes an International Consortium doing a whole genome scan; and 2) a Consortium with eight sites in North America studying rare genetic disorders of mucociliary clearance. He received a BA and an MD from UNC Chapel Hill and has over 30 years of clinical trial experience in the private and academic sectors with an emphasis on the following areas of study: biology, physiology, and clinical trials design. Dr. Knowles has been peer selected for 2017-2018 “The Best Doctors in America” award.

Patrick A. Flume, M.D.
Advisor, Powers-Huggins Endowed Chair for Cystic Fibrosis

Patrick Flume is the Associate Vice President for Clinical Research at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the director of the MUSC Cystic Fibrosis Center.  He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of cystic fibrosis and leads a robust clinical research program within the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine. His research is focused on patients with cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung infections.

Kevin Winthrop, M.D., MPH
Advisor, Professor of Infectious Diseases, OHSU

Kevin Winthrop is the principal investigator and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Studies. Dr. Winthrop is a Professor of Public Health at the School of Public Health and a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Ophthalmology at the School of Medicine at OHSU. He is a former infectious disease epidemiologist with the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Scott Donaldson, M.D.
Advisor, Professor of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill

Dr. Donaldson currently serves as the Medical Director for UNC Pulmonary Clinics; Associate Director, UNC Clinical and Translational Research Center and Director, UNC Chapel Hill Adult CF Care Center. His clinical and research interests are focused on adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). Over the past two decades, he has been involved in the development of several potential new therapies that improve mucus clearance from the lung in CF.

Felix Ratjen, M.D.
Advisor, Professor of Pediatrics at University of Toronto

Dr. Felix Ratjen is the Division Chief of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children, Professor of Pediatrics at The University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist at the Research Institute in the Translational Medicine research program. He also co-leads the Cystic Fibrosis Center at SickKids and serves as Medical Director of the Clinical Research Unit.

Dr. Ratjen completed a majority of his medical education in Germany and at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He later worked at the University of Essen, where in 1998 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Department of Pediatrics and in 2001 appointed Professor of Pediatrics. He served as The Chief Executive of the Scientific Board of the German Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and currently serves on the following organizing committees: American Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society, and the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. He also contributes to multiple grant review panels and is a member of several editorial boards including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Thorax, Pediatric Pulmonology, and the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis.

John Lipuma, M.D.
Advisor, Professor and Director, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Michigan

Dr. John J. LiPuma is Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School. He has been engaged in biomedical research for more than 30 years with a focus on bacterial infections of the airways in persons with cystic fibrosis (CF). His laboratory, which serves as a national reference laboratory for the CF Foundation, maintains an extensive culture collection that includes more than 46,000 strains of respiratory tract pathogens and has developed novel methods of bacterial genotyping to study the molecular epidemiology of CF related respiratory tract pathogens, as well as numerous genotype-based methods for bacterial species identification.

Dr. LiPuma has authored or contributed to over 200 peer reviewed publications related to CF, and he is currently engaged as Principal Investigator/Project Director in sponsored research projects with NIH/NHLBI and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Donald “Dutch” Vandevanter, Ph.D.
Advisor, Consultant and Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Donald “Dutch” VanDevanter, Ph.D, is an independent consultant and an Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. VanDevanter has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications and holds a patent for pure biologically active colistin. His research and publications include CF treatment regimen changes, CF trial designs, and CF drug development and approval commentary. He has held several positions with PathoGenesis, including Program Director and Scientific Product Director, and from 2000 to early 2005, he was the Director of Medical Communications for Chiron Corporation. He graduated in 1981 from the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences with a Bachelor’s of Science Magna Cum Laude in chemistry and biology, in 1983 he received a Master’s of Science in toxicology, and in 1986 he received a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Texas.