TRI Board

David Saperstein

Chairman
Business Affairs Committee Educational Affairs

Mr. Saperstein is one of the public advisors for the institute. He is the founder and Chairman of Five S Capital,
Ltd., a Houston-based partnership that specializes in strategic investments and is engaged in a number of
diverse enterprises. David Saperstein is currently the Chairman of Tree Town USA, the largest container tree
farm nursery in the world, and he was the founder, past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Metro Networks,
Inc., the largest supplier of local content to the broadcast industry. Mr. Saperstein has also been involved
in many children’s charities over the years and has received the highest Civilian Award given by the US Marine
Corps for his work with Toys for Tots.

Janet Morel

Chairperson
Educational Affairs

Ms. Morel is one of the public advisors for the institute. She has appeared as a guest speaker for numerous workshops
and seminars on disability awareness including the Dr. Dean Edell show. She has written a book on toxoplasmosis
for parents entitled “Playing the Hand that’s Dealt to You”.

Fiona Forward

Business Affairs
Educational Affairs Committee

Ms. Forward is one of the public advisors. She has considerable interest in developing educational programs about
toxoplasmosis and better treatments for the prevention of toxoplasmosis.

Trisha Rooney Alden

Business Affairs Committee

Ms. Rooney Alden is President, Founder, and majority owner of R4 Services, LLC, a full-service information management
company. R4 has grown to be a leader in the records management industry largely due to its commitment to
the highest standards of quality and customer service. Ms. Rooney Alden is involved in a variety of organizations
including: member of the Visiting Committee to the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzer School
of Medicine at the University of Chicago, member of the Board of Trustees of the Francis Xavier Warde School,
member of Old St. Patrick’s Church Parish Council, member of the Northwestern University Women’s Board, member
of the President’s Council for Denison University, and member of The Economic Club of Chicago. Ms. Rooney
Alden received her B.A. from Denison University.

Jeffrey Zorek

Business Affairs Committee
Education Affairs

Jeffrey Zorek works at Saxo Bank, as the trading and investment specialist, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Sales based in London.. He has over three decades of financial services experience, managing businesses in securities trading, high speed electronic execution, risk management, clearance, settlement and financing at firms such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Nomura International. Jeff holds an MBA from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a special interest in Business Affairs and Philanthropy of TRI.

Douglas Palonder

Business Affairs Committee
Education Affairs

Mr. Palonder is a Chicago native who holds multiple degrees from Youngstown State University: a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology/Sociology, a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, an Associate Degree in Nursing, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. He later received his Master of Science degree in Health Management. In 1989 he opened his own insurance practice, Main Street Insurors. He is currently a Rotary District Governor in Pinellas County, Florida, one of 530 across the world that help guide 1.2 million members in 170 countries.

Woody Freiman

Education and Business Affairs

Vice President, Production and Programming, Yankees Enterntainment and Sports Network, Emmy award winning sports television veteran, Volunteer, with his wife, Paulette Douglass in Aiding Syrian Refugees with safe passage from Middle Eastern wars, in Greece, Founder of foundation to aid women film producers.

Peter Mann

Business Affairs

Businessman, Pilot FIA, Ferrari race car driver and enthusiast,.Mann has raced in the 24 Hours of Spa (which he won, in 2014), the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona. Collector of Ferraris, Honorary President of the Club Ferrari France (2010). A remarkably compassionate person, reaching out to children needing surgeries and assistance in Africa, he also has an unusually deep understanding of, and recognizes the importance of research to eliminate Toxoplasma infections, and work to help those who could not otherwise have medicines . He and his family are responsible for many advances toward medicines, vaccines, screeing, undertanding genetics, and providing sight saving care for those with toxoplasmosis.

David L. Taub, JD

Education Affairs

David L. Taub JD, at McDermott, Will &Emery focuses  in the field of municipal derivatives, distressed municipal credits and financial technology (FinTech). David is head of the Firm’s Financial Institutions Advisory Practice and is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Super Lawyers 2016 to 2017, Top Rated Securities & Corporate Finance Attorney, The Legal 500 United States, 2012 – 2019The Best Lawyers in America 2019 and 2020, Derivatives and Futures Law. He was an undergraduate at Brown University and a graduate of Berkeley School of Law. He, his wife Leigh Bishop Taub, JD, New York City Child Abuse Prosecutor and National Advisory Board Legal Committee of Sarah Jane Brain Foundation,  and their two children Jack and Violet have a special interest in helping children with toxoplasmosis enjoy their medical visits to Chicago, providing small gifts for children who visit the NCCCTS in Chicago, over many years from the time they were very small.

Alison Engel MS, Blythe Engel, and the Engel Family

Education Affairs

Alison Engel, a graduate of Darmouth College with a MS in Communication from Syracuse University, Board of Driectors Compass Family Services which helps homeless families and aims to end homelessness for families in San Francisco, and treasurer of our sister organization , Taking Out Toxo(TOT), which also includes Trisha Rooney and Nancy Kehoe , Suzanne Rooney and Blythe Engel(Junior Ambassador) have been working to provide resources to develop curative medicines. Alison also is a Book Group Moderator for Literary Masters, on the Board of Directors of TOT with fundraisers including “Why am I covering  one eye” , Bake and Jewelry sales, Petrali wines that donates their sale profits to Toxoplasmosis research, dinner and wine tastings. She works in TRI with philanthropy and with Trish Rooney, Suzanne Rooney and Blythe Engel  as a liason to  TOT.

Charles Swisher

Clinical Affairs

Dr. Swisher specializes in child neurology at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He is also
the Pediatric Neurologist for the National Collaborative Toxoplasmosis Treatment Trial currently being carried
out at the University of Chicago, and an associate professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Northwestern
University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He trained at the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal,
Canada and completed his postgraduate training at Washington University School of Medicine.

Nancy Roizen, MD

Clincal Affairs

Dr. Roizen is Director of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Psychology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Professor, Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Roizen is board certified in pediatrics, neurodevelopmental disabilities and developmental – behavioral pediatrics. Dr. Roizen received a bachelor’s degree in biology cum laude from Tufts University, Medford, Mass., and earned her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass. She served her internship in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass, a residency in pediatrics at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD., and completed fellowships in developmental pediatrics at Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Md., and the University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif. Dr. Roizen has authored or coauthored more than two dozen chapters in medical textbooks and presented nearly 75 abstracts at medical conferences and meetings. She is an editor of the textbook, Children with Disabilities, 7th edition. Dr. Roizen was named to Castle Connolly Top Doctors 2012-2013, selected for inclusion in Guide to America’s Top Pediatricians 2007-2011 and named to The Best Doctors in America 2003-2013. She has special skills in the evaluation and care for children with toxoplasmosis in Developmental Pediatrics.

Lloyd Kasper

Scientific Affairs

Dr. Kasper is Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and Microbiology at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. He studies immunology of and immunopathology in Toxoplasma infections. He trained at the University of Illinois and completed his post graduate training at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois.

Ben Stark

Scientific Affairs

Dr. Stark is a Professor of Biology at The Illinois Institute for Technology specializing in the study of the molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology of respiration in bacteria. He discovered RNaseP. Currently, his laboratory studies the hemoglobin and terminal respiratory cytochrome of the bacterium Vitreoscilla, and genetically engineers useful bacteria with the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene to improve their performance in applications such as bioremediation and production of biofuels. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and completed his post graduate work at Yale University.

Mark Rust

Legal Counsel

Mark Rust, JD, is the managing partner of the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg, and the chair of its healthcare department. His practice is focused primarily on the representation of physician organizations, associations, and healthcare entities throughout the country. He regularly addresses organizations on current topics in health care law and frequently argues before the US Supreme Court.

Mari Sautter, MBA

Executive Administrator and Board member

Ms. Sautter is Director of Marketing at the Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago. She was The Clinical Coordinator of the National Collaboartive Chicago Based Toxoplasmosis Study before her employment at The Booth School of Business.

Katie Bauman

Junior Board