AFAR is pleased to announce four new members of its Board of Directors: Kenneth A. Buckfire, Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, Denise Lefebvre, and Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD. Each member brings a unique set of expertise and experience that will help further facilitate and expand AFAR’s continued mission.
Mr. Buckfire is the President and co-Founder of Miller Buckfire & Co. In addition, he cofounded Marblegate Asset Management in 2008. He is also a Vice-Chairman of Stifel Financial. Mr. Buckfire has been the primary financial advisor in the restructurings of several companies across various sectors and has received numerous industry awards. Prior to founding Miller Buckfire in 2002, Mr. Buckfire was a Managing Director of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers Inc. He has served on the Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and as a Trustee for multiple other organizations across a variety of industries in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors and is a Visiting Professor at Columbia Business School.
Dr. Cuervo is a recognized leader in the field of protein degradation and the biology of aging for her work on the impact of autophagy on aging and age-related disorders, with emphasis in neurodegeneration. In 2002, she started her laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she is now co-director of the Institute for Aging Research. Dr. Cuervo has been the recipient of prestigious awards and grants, including AFAR’s 2000 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and AFAR Grants for Junior Faculty and 2008 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research. She is an elected member of the Valencian Royal Academy of Medicine, the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Ms. Lefebvre is an experienced strategist and operator with a history of driving performance growth efficiencies through technology strategy and execution. Ms. Lefebvre is currently Senior Vice President, R&D Foods & PFNA R&D lead at PepsiCo, a global leader providing food and beverages to consumers in over 200+ countries globally. She has previously served as SVP, R&D Foods Capability and SVP, Nutrition Product Development at PepsiCo. She is a member of the Institute of Food Technologist, Institute of Packaging Professionals, and the New York Academy of Sciences and Network of Executive Women.
Dr. Niedernhofer is recognized for her expertise in DNA damage and repair, genome instability disorders, cellular senescence, and aging. She joined the University of Minnesota in July 2018 to direct the new Institute on the Biology of Aging & Metabolism and Medical Discovery Team on the Biology of Aging. She is also a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics at UMN. Her research program is centered on studying fundamental mechanisms of aging and developing therapeutics to target them. She contributed to the discovery of a new class of drugs called senolytics. She has served on study section for NCI, NIEHS and NIA. She received AFAR’s 2018 Vincent Cristafolo Rising Star Award in Aging Research.
