Shelley Ross was named President of The Cure Alliance in 2010 following a chance meeting
with founder Dr. Camillo Ricordi that evolved into a shared mission: dismantling barriers to
curing modern disease. Ricordi’s haunting question—“Why don’t we cure diseases anymore?”
—resonated deeply. With decades of experience shaping public narratives, Ross recognized
she could bring urgency, clarity, and public engagement to that challenge.

A three-time Emmy Award–winning television news executive, Ross built a distinguished career
across NBC, CBS, and 17 years at ABC News. She is best known for her tenure as Executive
Producer of Good Morning America, where she assembled the anchor team of Diane Sawyer
and Charles Gibson and helped elevate a new generation of correspondents, including Robin
Roberts, Jake Tapper, and Lara Spencer. Under her leadership, GMA became a formidable
competitor in morning television.

Ross began her network career in 1981 at NBC’s Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Within
weeks, she produced the program’s most controversial broadcast—the first interview with
convicted cult leader Charles Manson—tripling ratings for the time slot and establishing her
instinct for stories that captivate mass audiences.

At ABC News, Ross partnered with Diane Sawyer for 17 years, producing award-winning
investigations and high-impact journalism. Her work on PrimeTime Live, including “Murder in
Beverly Hills,” earned a News & Documentary Emmy. Alongside Sam Donaldson, she exposed
systemic abuses within the military, including the Navy’s Tailhook scandal, prompting the
resignation of the Secretary of the Navy and reforms to sexual assault reporting policies.
Additional investigations led to anti-hazing reforms in the Marine Corps and the closure of the
Bermuda Naval Air Station, saving taxpayers $100 million annually.

Ross also led ABC News coverage of the O.J. Simpson case, producing more than 100
segments and securing key interviews. In 1999, she was named Executive Producer of Good
Morning America, where she oversaw ambitious, headline-making broadcasts—from the White
House following the Columbine shootings to historic live programs from the Tower of London
and the Vatican.

On September 11, 2001, Ross commanded GMA’s live coverage from Times Square as the
attacks unfolded, leading continuous broadcasting in the days that followed. ABC News
received a George Peabody Award for its coverage. Just two months later, Ross produced the
first live wartime broadcast from an aircraft carrier, anchoring from the USS Enterprise in the
Gulf. She later reported from Kuwait, Jordan, and Baghdad ahead of the Iraq War, securing a
rare interview with a key Iraqi weapons scientist. 

In 2005, Ross became Executive Producer of Primetime Live, and in 2006, she was recruited
by CBS as Senior Executive Producer of The Early Show. Within months, she reversed
decades-long ratings stagnation, growing the audience significantly and surpassing
competitors in key demographics. 

Her partnership with Ricordi brought her into the world of medical advocacy, where she helped
advance support for the 21st Century Cures Act while confronting the realities of policy and
lobbying. She remains a vocal advocate for accelerating cures and empowering patients.
Ross continues to produce high-profile television specials, including projects wiith David Blaine
and Nik Wallenda, and is developing film projects with major studios—bringing the same
storytelling power that has defined her career to new platforms.

Dr. Brunicardi brings more than three decades of experience in academic medicine and patient care, serving on the faculty at three medical schools and as Chair of two departments of Surgery and Vice-Chair of another.

Dr. Brunicardi is currently Senior Vice President and Dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate where he serves as the head of the COVID-19 task force. He joined SUNY in December 2019 from the University of Toledo where he served as Chair of Surgery and Academic Chief of Surgery for the ProMedica Health System, roles in which he still serves. Additionally, he has served as Director of the Cancer Program since 2017 and was named the John Howard Endowed Professor of Pancreatic Cancer Research in 2018. Since 2018, he has been serving as a medical director of the Ebeid Social Determinants of Health Institute at ProMedica; he previously was the Department of Cancer Biology Interim Chair during 2018-19, as well as the Department of Cancer Biology Professor in 2018.

Before joining the University of Toledo, Dr. Brunicardi was the Jerry Moss Professor of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Vice-Chair of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His other notable past appointments include serving as the DeBakey-Bard Professor and Chair of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, George Jordan Professor and the Founding Chief of the Division of General Surgery, Founder and Director of Elkins Pancreas Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, and as Chief of Surgical Services, Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas.

Dr. Brunicardi also served as the Founding Director, Human Islet Program, UCLA/VA Medical Center, Chief, General Surgery Group, and Vice-Chair for Surgical Services, UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital. He was Surgical Director, UCLA Center for Gastrointestinal Diseases, UCLA-Santa Monica Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, and Founder and Executive Director of the UCLA Santa Monica Breast Center.

Dr. Brunicardi has been a continuously funded researcher since 1992. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute as well as by a variety of foundations, including the Jerry Moss Foundation and most recently the Hal Federman Foundation and the Mel and Jeannie Miller Foundation, as well as the Ohio Department of Medicaid where he serves as PI on a Medicaid Equity Simulation Project. His research has broadly focused on genomic translational medicine and surgery and specifically on pancreatic cancer. He holds several patent applications related to early detection and targeted treatment of pancreatic cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, among others.

His clinical expertise includes GI surgery, precision therapy for pancreatic cancer, and hernia repairs using minimally invasive and robotic surgery. Dr. Brunicardi has published 304 papers and has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery since 2000. The 11th edition of Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery, considered the world’s leading surgical textbook, was published in March 2019.

Dr. Brunicardi earned his undergraduate degree in Chemistry with Honors at the Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree at Rutgers University School of Medicine. Dr. Brunicardi has been perennially listed among the nation’s “Top Doctors” by Castle Connolly, Ltd. and is a member of numerous professional and medical associations. He is often invited as a speaker for visiting professorships and medical and scientific presentations.

Camillo Ricordi, M.D. is Professor of Surgery, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami (UM), Florida, where he serves as Chief of the Division of Cellular Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Director of the Cell Transplant Center and Director Emeritus of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI). Ricordi has been serving as Medical Director of the NIH funded cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) Advanced Human Cell and Biologic Product Manufacturing Facility since 1993, that has been providing an invaluable service distributing human tissues, cells and other biologic products, for research and clinical applications at UM, in the US and worldwide.

Acknowledged by his peers as one of the world’s leading scientists in diabetes cure-focused research, cell transplantation and regenerative medicine, Ricordi is well-known for inventing the machine that made it possible to isolate large numbers of islet cells (insulin-producing cells) from the human pancreas and for performing the first series of successful clinical islet allotransplants that reversed diabetes after implantation of donor purified islets into the liver of recipients with diabetes. The procedure is now used by laboratories performing clinical islet transplants worldwide. In addition to diabetes cure -focused research, Ricordi’s interests include the definition of anti-inflammatory nutrition, protective substances and regenerative medicine strategies, to prevent or treat chronic degenerative disease conditions, and to prolong healthy lifespan (Healthspan).

Ricordi led the team that performed the first successful transplants of a bioengineered endocrine pancreas implanted within a 3D bioactive resorbable scaffold in the abdominal cavity of recipients with a severe form of Type 1 Diabetes and chaired for over a decade the steering committee of the first successful, NIH funded, FDA Phase 3 multicenter trial. He has also developed highly innovative strategies with the objective to transplant cells and organs without the continuous requirement for anti-rejection drugs and for the reversal of autoimmune disease conditions. He led the international team that successfully completed the first FDA approved double blind, randomized controlled trial to treat the most severe cases of COVID-19 with mesenchymal stromal cell infusions that resulted in 91% patient survival at one month compared to 42% survival in the control group. Ricordi has also launched the program www.Fit4Healthspan.org to help the general population become resistant to severe viral infections through nutrition, fitness and selected protective molecules. These strategies are now also studied to prevent or halt progression of autoimmune diseases and age related chronic degenerative conditions, to prolong healthy lifespan (healthspan).

He is currently serving as SC Chairperson and UM-DRI Principal Investigator of the stem cell derived islet transplant trials (Vertex; VX-880) and within an immune-isolating device (Vertex; VX-264) without anti-rejection drugs. Ricordi is also working with iTolerance towards the first trial of stem cell derived islets within a tolerance inducing microgel, without chronic recipient immunosuppression (proof of concept trial planned for 2025).

Ricordi was founding president of the Cell Transplant Society and of the International Association for Pancreas and Islet Transplantation (IPITA) and served on the board of The Transplantation Society and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. He served on the FDA Biologic Response Modifiers Advisory Committee, and has been serving on several NIH study sections, in addition to serving as an advisor/reviewer of several international funding agencies.

Ricordi has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2001 World Prize in Surgery (University of Geneva) for developing a technology that significantly contributed to the advancement of a surgical field. He was awarded the 2002 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award by the American Diabetes Association and in 2009 was Knighted by the President of the Republic of Italy. In 2010 he was the only surgeon and one of the few ever inducted into the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and in 2018 he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors USA for contributing outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.

Ricordi ranked as #1 world expert in transplantation of insulin producing cells for treatment of diabetes, for the decade 2008-2018 (expertscape), among over 4,000 surgeons, physicians and scientists evaluated, and was appointed to the Supreme Council of Health (Consiglio Superiore di Sanita’) by the Ministry of Health of Italy. He has also served on several editorial boards and is currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of European Reviews for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences.

In 2023 he was awarded the Leonardo Da Vinci Award (co-shared with Nobel Prize winners Yamanaka and Semenza – Taormina TaoBuk) and the Venice Golden Lion Award.

Ricordi also serves as President of the Board of ISMETT (Mediterranean Institute of Transplantation and Advanced Therapies and was appointed President of Fondazione Ri.MED by the Italian Prime Minister, for the 2013-2017 term, successfully completing the partnership with ISMETT for the creation of an unprecedented biotechnology center linked to ISMETT to foster clinical translation of novel therapeutics (http://www.fondazionerimed.eu/content/progetto-CBRB.aspx).

Ricordi was founding president of The Cure Alliance and Chairman of the Diabetes Research Institute Federation, coordinating and promoting cure focused research at leading institutions worldwide. Ricordi serves as consultant and/or on the board of advisors of several non-profit foundations, government and federal agencies, venture capital and investment funds, as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations.

Ricordi contributed over 1,170 publications, received over 54,000 citations, had 114 H-index and 28 patents awarded.

In 2022 he published the Oscar Bestseller Mondadori book “IL CODICE DELLA LONGEVITÀ SANA” now available also in its English edition: “THE HEALTHSPAN CODE” (Amazon.com).

Patricia Silverstein has been named to the board of The Cure Alliance after her years of dedication to fundraising for diabetes, kidney disease, and other humanitarian causes.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, she developed a business and sales career that reached to Australia. She eventually moved to New York where she became a counselor and certified life coach under her own brand, Coaching X Humanity.

Three years ago, Patricia’s younger sister became debilitated by acute diabetes, which she had battled since age six. Now, the disease was quickly worsening, impacting her sight and kidneys, and threatening amputations. Patricia knew in one phone call that she would dedicate her time and resources to help her sister overcome the complications of her disease and support scientists with novel innovations.

Patricia launched her first fundraiser in August 2021, The Hamptons Garden Gala, raising funds from her backyard patio, which financed the first pilot trial done in the US to cure kidney disease and improve diabetes with stem cell therapy infusion. Her sister was the recipient of the treatment developed for the clinical trial, which proved to be an important step on the way to a cure. The Hamptons Garden Gala remains one of the most successful fundraising events in the Hamptons for Diabetes Research.

Patricia also founded the Silverstein Dream Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports Diabetes Research and Respiratory illnesses.

In December 2022, she became the first woman honoree elected in the history of the Foundation at the Empire Ball Gala, hosted by the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation in New York.

As a member of The Cure Alliance Board, she has pledged a personal lifetime goal to help scientists find a cure for diabetes by raising awareness and funding through innovative strategies. Her broad network, boundless energy, and personal commitment is a proven formula for success.