Joseph F. Arboleda -Velasquez M.D.,Ph.D.- Dr. Joseph F. Arboleda-Velasquez is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Scientist at Mass Eye and Ear. He has a background in clinical medicine and molecular biology, with decades of work in neurovascular biology, small vessel disease, and neurodegeneration. He trained as a physician at the University of Antioquia in Colombia and earned his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard Medical School.  He completed postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Schepens Eye Research Institute, focusing on ischemic stroke, retinal vasculature, and neurodegeneration. Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez has made major contributions to understanding how Notch3 signaling drives CADASIL, the most common inherited small vessel disease. His work links CADASIL mechanisms with ischemic stroke and pericyte dysfunction. He led groundbreaking research identifying protective genetic variants like APOE3 Christchurch and Reelin COLBOS, which delay neurodegeneration. His findings have been published in top journals including Nature Medicine, NEJM, and Science Translational Medicine. He is the Principal Investigator on multiple NIH and foundation-funded projects and has raised over $20 million in research funding. He also co-founded several biotech companies focused on therapeutic development, including Vastora Inc., X1 Biotech, Epoch Biotech, and Intelligent Science Group.

Barbara A. Hunt - Founder of cureCADASIL and thinkCADASIL, over 15 years of leadership, advocacy, and dedication to the CADASIL community.

Michael Kennedy - Children’s book Author and community fundraiser living with CADASIL, a powerful voice for resilience and community connection. Since his CADASIL Diagnosis in 2015, Michael has focused his time and efforts into raising Awareness and raising financial support for CADASIL Research. In the span pf the last ten years he has co-managed (3) Million Dollar Bike Rides for cureCADASIL, which generated a little over $300,000 for CADASIL Research Grants. He has also written five children’s books of which all proceeds go to support CADASIL programs. After attending over 20 book fairs and hosting an additional 13 fundraising events in the Albany, New York area his family has generated another $50,000 in supporting funds.

In addition he has been a part of a patient study at NIH since 2017 and has participated on the CAG Board with cureCADASIL and as a volunteer for both cureCADASIL and thinkCADASIL.