Our Team
EverythingALS Team is inspired by the mission to bring researchers, patients and patient's biomarkers, and AI/deep learning technology together to help find early diagnosis and treatments for neurological diseases working with MIT, Mass General, UT Austin, Answer ALS, Johns Hopkins, Google and Gladstone Institute. We are a diverse team comprised of Patient Advocates, Medical Professionals, Entrepreneurs, Computational Biologists and Medical Students.
Indu Navar, CEO
Indu Navar is a technology entrepreneur and an investor. After she lost her husband to ALS, in his legacy she founded Peter Cohen Foundation, a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization functioning as EverythingALS.
Lisa Deegan, Community Builder
A Silicon Valley native, mother of two, and experienced Netscape/Microsoft sales and partnership manager, Lisa became committed full time to Everything ALS after her younger brother was diagnosed in ALS in 2014. Her passion is targeted toward using technology and entrepreneurial vision to help in early diagnosis for ALS. Lisa created and oversees our social media, webinars, and research as well as connects with organizations and industries for funding.
McFinn Lovere, ALS Advocate
A lifelong volunteer and caregiver, McFinn has cared for the homeless with a Christian service order, worked with inner-city children with disabilities for Vista, founded and directed a hospice in Northern California, and then, at age 55, was diagnosed with ALS. Through therapy, diet, and supplements, he reversed the paralysis of his legs and arms, and now is dedicated to every ALS PALS or CALS who needs him.
Sarah Diaz, Medical Liaison
Sarah is a Critical Care Registered Nurse who was drawn to ALS due to her losing her dad to bulbar ALS in 2018. Because of her personal experience, she has now decided to go to medical school to become a doctor and work with ALS patients. She is currently at Washington University in St. Louis. Sarah is determined to fill the gaps her family experienced with this disease including early diagnosis techniques, lack of treatment options, and financial strains. She is passionate about combining integrative and traditional medicine to fight for the cure of ALS. Sarah works on the CaringALS team and is the team moderator for the community webinars.
Dr. Aria Anvar, Principal Investigator
Aria is a Practicing Physician with extensive experience in research and health informatics, most recently as a physician consultant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UC San Francisco and MD Anderson. Aria brings his expertise as a principle investigator to conduct EverythingALS research to develop digital biomarkers and commercialized tools for measuring clinical endpoints in ALS – which will help expedite the trials and eliminate the need for placebo. He has been Physician Lead for multiple programs supporting Physician Adoption, CPOE and EHR implementations. Duct research Physician-centric leader with proven ability to effectively liaise between technical, scientific, clinical and business environments in academic/community inpatient and ambulatory settings.
Deb Fabricatore, Advocacy Director
Deb Fabricatore brings her caring and communicating skills gleaned from nearly four decades as a special education teacher. After caring for her younger brother who was stricken with a very aggressive form of ALS, she organized fundraisers in his memory and also brought public greater awareness of the challenges of ALS. She believes collaboration is key and leveraging her insights into the sensitivities of those affected by ALS, she has the ability to bridge various ALS organizations, including support from the political community. Deb is the Student Ambassador Coordinator for the Voice project, as well as recruitment agent for research, Caring ALS, and subscribers.
Sylvia Paull, Public Relations
Sylvia Paull has been called by Fast Company "a Silicon Valley Public Relations icon." A media and marketing strategist, Paull specializes in startups as well as nonprofits, including the Internet Archive, the Greater Good Science Center, OneWorldHealth, and the Open Medicine Foundation. For 20 years, she hosted the Berkeley Cybersalon, a monthly forum engaging high-tech pioneers in discussing the impact of technology on all aspects of life, from education to health and media. She was also the founder of Gracenet, a networking group for women in high-tech, notable for its "DisGraceful Award in Advertising" campaign, which made the news itself on a global scale by motivating companies such as IBM and InfoUSA to withdraw ads depicting women as sex objects.
Murgesh Navar, CaringALS Director
Murgesh Navar is a successful technology entrepreneur. Having experienced his brother-in-law with ALS, his focus is to bring tech innovation to build scalable online community and tools for people with ALS.
Kim Lowe
Kim Lowe, PhD MHS, cancer researcher and yoga/meditation instructor. She is passionate about finding a cure for ALS and helping patients build mind-body connection through mindful movement and a positive mindset.
Dr. Rajani Tadimalla
Rajani Tadimalla, M.D, is a primary care physician. She helped her brother-in-law navigate his ALS. She brings her experience, background, immeasurable compassion and commitment to help people with ALS.
Nadia Sethi, Clinical Trial Recruitment and Awareness
Nadia practiced dentistry for almost 10 years before taking time off to spend with her growing family. Her husband and best friend for 26 years, Sundeep, was diagnosed with ALS in 2019 and passed away only 14 months later. Upon his diagnosis, she recognized the need for a better source of information about ALS clinical trials. She went on to lead the team at I AM ALS to share and highlight patient-critical trial features. She also founded the ALS Clinical Trials and Research Facebook group to establish a community for sharing trial experiences and information. She currently sits on patient advisory boards for several pharma companies and is co-chair of the NEALS Patient Education and Advocacy Committee. She is a proud Bruin, holding a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Art History as well as her DDS from UCLA.
Richard Sperry, Research Partnerships and Collaborations
A healthcare leader with 18 years as chief of staff at Novo Nordisk, a leading pharmaceutical company. Richard has firsthand experience of the progress that needs to be made on the fight against ALS. He was misdiagnosed with the disease in 2019, and since then had been committed to connecting our team with his contacts in the healthcare industry to drive further research partnerships and collaborations. He sits on the boards of Hope Loves Company, a provider of support to children and young adults impacted by ALS, and on the Latin American Legal Defense Fund, which supports the Latino immigrant community in Mercer County, NJ. He is proficient in Spanish and holds a BA from Georgetown University, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a Certificate of Professional Development from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Neil Olson, Technical Advisor
Neil Olson comes at ALS from a multi-disciplinary science and engineering background. While working as a specialist engineer designing spacecraft flight control systems, his father, Marc, was diagnosed with bulbar ALS in 2019. Neil quit his aerospace work to focus on Marc’s care. Despite not having a formal education in biology (originally in electrical engineering and physics), Neil took on the challenge of working with Marc’s medical team to create a custom treatment regimen. This required him to study ALS pathology in earnest. Despite the medical team’s efforts, Marc succumbed to the disease in early 2021. Even after Marc’s passing, Neil remains committed to bringing the best technological innovations to bear for ALS patients and accelerating the pace of research.
Student Ambassadors
Our Student Interns are very passionate about creating a safe and positive environment to share, learn, and discuss everything from Care to Cure for people with ALS and their families. Student Interns engage in ALS research and study working with principal investigators and partner institutions.
 Tara Tadimalla |  Ria Warrier |  Sabella Singh |
|---|---|---|
 Lilly Mai |  James Sagaser |  Casey Duan |
 Gagandeep Benipal |