About Farber > Executive Advisory Board
Executive Advisory Board The Executive Advisory Board of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences of Thomas Jefferson
University is comprised of outstanding community leaders who have committed themselves
to the ongoing support and growth of the Institute. Each brings a wealth of business acumen
and a history of philanthropic endeavors, and each has been personally touched by the loss
of a loved one to a neurological disorder.
Vickie and Jack Farber and their daughter, Ellen B. Kurtzman, all of the Farber Family Foundation, Inc, head
the Executive Advisory Board. Institute Director Sam Gandy, M.D., Ph.D., also sits on the Board. Additional
members of the Board are:
Edward C. Driscoll
Edward C. Driscoll is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of L.F. Driscoll Co., a construction management
firm based in Bala Cynwyd, Penn and founded by Driscoll’s father in 1929. Following service in the U.S.
Navy, Edward Driscoll joined the family business in 1954 as a trainee, rising to Chairman and CEO in 1980.
He has served on the Board of Trustees of Thomas Jefferson University since 1974, including terms as
Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board. He has also held Board positions with the Wills Eye Hospital,
University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging, the Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital, the International
House, the Library Company, Provident National Bank, and the National Building Museum. Driscoll’s first
wife, Nancy, died of fronto-temporal lobe dementia (a disease related to Alzheimer’s) in June 2001, just
three months shy of the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. He has since remarried Joan B. Reese.
Katharina (Kitti) Paparone
Kitti Paparone is Vice President of the Samuel J. Paparone Foundation, a philanthropic organization
founded by her late husband, Samuel Paparone. Mr. Paparone died in 2001, 10 months after being diagnosed
with a glioblastoma, a particularly lethal type of brain tumor. Following an operation by neurosurgeons
at Jefferson, the Paparones were so impressed with the kind and caring attention they
received that they became founding members of the Capital Campaign Committee for the Jefferson
Hospital for Neuroscience; Mrs. Paparone continues to be involved in fundraising efforts for the
Committee. She also sits on the Board of Directors of Urban Promise Ministry, a non-profit organization in Camden, N.J., that is devoted to equipping children and young adults with the necessary skills for
academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth and Christian leadership. A resident of
Moorestown, N.J., for 17 years, Paparone is also active in community service and her church.
Ellyn C. Phillips
Ellyn C. Phillips is president of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association (ALSA) and a
member of the national ALS Association Board of Trustees. Since losing her husband, Alan, to ALS in
1984, when he was just 36 years old, Phillips has tirelessly devoted herself to helping people with ALS
and to finding a cure for the disease. Her fundraising efforts with the Philadelphia Phillies have raised
more than $6.8 million for the local ALS Association chapter over the past two decades. Phillips served
four years on the Food and Drug Administration's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory
Committee, and is a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Institute for Neurological
Disorders and Stroke, one of the National Institutes of Health. She earned her M.S. degree from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Orien Reid
Orien Reid is Vice Chair of the Alzheimer’s Disease International and a respected consumer advocate and
media personality in the Philadelphia area. She was the first woman to ever hold the position as Chair of
the National Board of Directors of the Alzheimer's Association, one of the country’s largest voluntary health
associations. Her mother died of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 75, and Reid’s aunt, uncle, and grandmother
also had Alzheimer’s. As the primary caregiver for her mother at a time when she had young
children of her own, Reid learned first-hand the struggles and sacrifices of caring for a person with a chronic
neurological disorder. She has testified before Congress about the need for increased funding for
Alzheimer’s research and patient-care programs. Reid earned her bachelor of arts degree from Clark
College and a master’s degree from the Atlanta University School of Social Work, and currently runs a
media consulting business called Consumer Connection.
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