Immunological Tolerance and Technology Advisors

Tolera is collaborating with renowned thought leaders in immunology, tolerance, and immunotherapy. Through these collaborations, Tolera gains access to leading edge therapeutic strategies for immune modulation

Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, DSc Co-Founder, Chief Science Technology Officer
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Dr. Siemionow is Director of Plastic Surgery Research, and Head of Microsurgery Training in the Plastic Surgery Department of Cleveland Clinic.  She has a faculty appointment as Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.   She was awarded her medical degree by the Poznan Medical Academy, completed her residency in orthopedics, and then earned a PhD in microsurgery.  She completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Christine Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery in Louisville, Kentucky.   In 2008, Dr. Siemionow led the medical team that performed the first U.S. facial transplantation surgery.  Her research interests include microsurgery, nerve regeneration, regenerative medicine, and induction of tolerance in composite tissue transplant models.  She has been awarded a research grant by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to study minimal immune suppression protocols in composite tissue transplantation.

Stephen D. Miller, PhD
Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine  
Steve Miller is the Judy Gugenheim Research Professor of Microbiology-Immunology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois and Director of the Interdepartmental Immunobiology Center.   Steve earned his MS and PhD in Immunology at Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania.  Steve’s research interests include studying the pathogenesis and specific immunoregulation of T cell-mediated autoimmune responses in type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, and the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms of in vivo T cell anergy on T cell subsets.  Steve has been awarded numerous grants by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Myelin Repair Foundation and the National Institute of Health to advance cutting edge therapeutic approaches to tolerance and autoimmune disease.

John S. Thompson, MD  
University of Kentucky, Inventor  
Dr. Thompson is Professor of Medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center and co-inventor of the company’s underlying anti-ab TCR antibody technology.  He earned his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois and completed his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York.  Dr. Thompson’s clinical research interests include bone marrow and solid organ transplantation and immunology.