Our Team
Founder, President & CEO Susan Schaeffer is joined by a board of directors with experience in nonprofit management, and research administration.
Susan Schaeffer,
President & CEO
Susan founded The Patients’ Academy for Research Advocacy in 2018 after spending 15 years informing and educating biopharma industry stakeholders on best practices and new thinking in clinical development, regulation, pricing, and market access.
In 2002 she dedicated her career to learning about and improving drug development after the loss of a close friend to breast cancer at a very early age.
She joined the biopharmaceutical industry journal BioCentury as a staff writer in 2003, with no background in science or the biopharmaceutical industry, learning about the business and science of developing drugs by interviewing CEOs and scientists about their work.
She became managing editor of BioCentury and the daily news digest BioCentury Extra in 2004, led BioCentury’s Product Discovery & Development coverage as senior editor from 2010 through 2012, and took the helm of the publication in 2012.
As chief editor, Susan became an early champion of patient-centered R&D as an essential practice for translating great science into medicines that patients really want and society will pay for.
Her work has been cited in regulatory filings and has influenced global biopharmaceutical companies to begin working on pricing experiments that can improve access to healthcare innovation.
In January 2020, Susan was appointed as member of the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation, a group of leaders organized by the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to address issues related to drug R&D. She is a frequent speaker at private and public meetings, including the annual BIO International Convention, The Leaders in Global Health and Technology (LIGHT) Forum, the rEVOLUTION Symposium for CSOs, and the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit.
She holds a B.F.A. in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Birger Stamperdahl,
CHairman
Birger serves as President & CEO of Give2Asia, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization driving social impact in local communities across Asia. He joined the Give2Asia team in 2006, bringing 15-years of experience in for-profit and nonprofit business management, marketing, and communications.
Previously, Birger was a Vice President at Porter Novelli, helping lead their Silicon Valley offices and interactive marketing programs for technology clients.
He holds degrees in journalism and in political science from the University of New Hampshire.
Donna Even-Kesef,
Corporate Secretary
Donna is the Finance/Research Administrator in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, managing grant submissions and financial compliance both pre- and post-award. She also manages the administrative operations of the Shakespeare Association of America (SAA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic society.
She was previously an administrative officer at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), with overall responsibility for directing the basic research enterprise of a high-profile principal investigator in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, across multiple institutions and units.
Previously, Donna managed the administrative operation of the Department of Biology at Georgetown University, including central elements of academic programs, from personnel actions through class scheduling and staff management. In 2015, she was awarded the President’s Excellence Award for demonstrating outstanding service on behalf of the Georgetown University community.
Donna has over 20 years of project coordination and management experience in both private industry and academia.
She holds a B.S. in Business and Marketing from High Point University in North Carolina.