Business and Administration Personnel
Maria Grazia Roncarolo, MD
Co-Executive Director
Maria Grazia Roncarolo, MD is the George D. Smith Professor in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and of Medicine, Director of the Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine, co-Executive Director of the Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine, and co-Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Roncarolo leads efforts to translate scientific discoveries in genetic diseases and regenerative medicine into novel patient therapies, including treatments based on stem cells and gene therapy.
A pediatric immunologist by training, she earned her medical degree at the University of Turin, Italy. She spent her early career in Lyon, France, where she focused on severe inherited metabolic and immune diseases, including severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), better known as the "bubble boy disease." Dr. Roncarolo was a key member of the team that carried out the first stem cell transplants given before birth to treat these genetic diseases.
While studying inherited immune diseases, Dr. Roncarolo discovered a new class of T cells. These cells, called T regulatory type 1 cells, help maintain immune system homeostasis by preventing autoimmune diseases and assisting the immune system in tolerating transplanted cells and organs. Dr. Roncarolo completed the first clinical trial using T regulatory type 1 cells to prevent severe graft-versus-host disease in leukemia patients receiving blood-forming stem-cell transplants from donors who were not genetic matches.
Dr. Roncarolo worked for several years at DNAX Research Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, where she contributed to the discovery of novel cytokines, cell-signaling molecules that are part of the immune response. She studied the role of cytokines in inducing immunological tolerance and in promoting stem cell growth and differentiation.
Dr. Roncarolo developed new gene-therapy approaches, which she pursued as director of the Telethon Institute for Cell and Gene Therapy at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan. She was the principal investigator leading the successful gene therapy trial for SCID patients who lack an enzyme critical to DNA synthesis, which is a severe life-threatening disorder. Based on the results of this trial, gene therapy for ADA-SCID has obtained Orphan drug status from both the FDA and EMEA and it was licensed to Glaxo Smith Klein, which has received European Commission approval to market under the name of Strimvelis. Under her direction, the San Raffaele Scientific Institute has been seminal in showing the efficacy of gene therapy for otherwise untreatable inherited metabolic diseases and primary immunodeficiencies.
Dr. Roncarolo established the Stanford Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine to cure patients with currently incurable diseases through the development of innovative stem cell-and gene-based therapies.
View Dr. Roncarolo's Profile >>
Danielle Osburg
Administrative Coordinator
Danielle joined the Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine in February 2019 as an Administrative Associate II. Since then she has been promoted to Administrative Coordinator and provides full life-cycle human resources support to LCGM managers and staff. Danielle also supports the executive directors and management team with administrative operations of the facility, staff engagement and training initiatives.
Prior to joining Stanford, Danielle was a Skilled Nursing Authorization Specialist and Quality Program Assistant at Kaiser Permanente. She has spent the last decade working on quality systems, streamlining programs and iniating best practice procedures to improve patient care and experience. Danielle has over 20 years of experience in project management, procurement, business finance, process improvement and program support.
Mona Shah
LCGM GMP Intern Program Manager
Mona joined the Laboratory of Cell and Gene Medicine in Nov. 2021 as Project Manager for the Intern program and to build the Certificate program. This position is integral to creating and sustaining training programs that will equip candidates with the knowledge and skills to kickstart a career in cell and gene therapy industry and create opportunities for personal and professional development. She has significant project management experience from the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health where she worked for the past several years as a Program Manager to successfully build and execute the Stanford Clinical Summer Internship program. She has remarkable experience and skills in educational program development and management, and a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Prior to her work at Stanford, Mona has worked for Fortune 500 companies in several Finance roles and later at start-ups in Operations and Marketing roles. She holds a Masters degree in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Crystal Mackall, MD
Co-Executive Director
Crystal L Mackall MD is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Stanford University. She serves as the co-Executive Director of the Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine, Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Associate Director of Stanford Cancer Institute, Leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program and Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford.
During a 27 year tenure culminating as Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, and now through the Mackall Lab at Stanford, she has led an internationally recognized translational research program focused on immunooncology.
She has conducted numerous early phase and first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials spanning dendritic cell vaccines, cytokines, and adoptive immunotherapy using NK cells and genetically modified T cells. Her work is credited with identifying an essential role for the thymus in human T cell regeneration and discovering IL-7 as the master regulator of T cell homeostasis. Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19-CAR in pediatric leukemia, developed a novel CD22-CAR with impressive activity in leukemia refractory to CD19 targeting and identified T cell exhaustion as a major feature limiting the activity of CAR T cells. Recently her group has developed a novel approach to prevent human T cell exhaustion. Dr. Mackall’s clinical trials are notable for incorporation of deep biologic endpoints that further our understanding of the basis for success and failure of novel immunotherapeutics.
She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Americal Academy of Physicians and received the Lila and Murray Gruber Award for Cancer Research in 2019. She serves in numerous national leadership positions, including co-PI on the NCI Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Network (U54), Leader of the NCI Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, and co-Leader of the St. Baldrick’s-StandUp2Cancer Pediatric Dream Team. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Internal Medicine.
Steve Feldman
LCGM Site and Scientific Director
Bio coming soon
Kathryn Melsop
Director of Finance and Facility Operations
Kathryn oversees LCGM finance, human resources and cGMP facility operations for the Laboratory for Cell & Gene Medicine. She has over 20 years of management experience across diverse clinical research and public health areas with a focus on organizational and business development, strategic planning, human resources and team development. Kathryn has a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Miami University and a Master of Science degree in Biology from The University of Cincinnati. Previous roles include: Administrative Director for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) in the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics; Stem Cell Research Oversight Manager in the Research Compliance Office at Stanford University and General Manager for The Stem Cell Advisors, Inc.
Tuli Cruz
Finance Analyst
Tuli joined the Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine in October 2019. She supports the day-to-day finances of the facility. Prior to joining LCGM, she was the finance analyst for the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Stanford. She has worked in healthcare over 20 years and has both clinical and research finance experience.
Tuli is originally from South Florida and graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Communications and Political Science. She is proud to call California home since 2006.
Manruchi Gill
Administrative Associate II
Manruchi Gill joined the Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine in May 2022. She received a Bachelor Degree in Law from Maharshi Dayanand University in India before moving to California. Prior to joining LCGM she worked in Real Estate and the Automobile industries where she supported multiple levels of management and worked to build client relations. Manruchi has adorable twin daughters, loves traveling and trying different foods native to different cultures.