Jessica Gibson
Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Jessica Gibson leads the business arm of SMART-MD and its businesses, ADAM-MD and allPANCREAS with a focus on human resources, marketing, contracting and compliance. Committed to markedly improving health care, Jessica co-founded SMART-MD, and is dedicated to its growth and development (see Founders)
Jessica LaRusch, PhD
Lead Scientist.
Dr. LaRusch serves a central role in the research and development of SMART-MD products through each of the business enterprises,
including ADAM-MD and allPANCREAS. Dr LaRusch earned her PhD in genetics from Johns Hopkins University in 2004 focusing on
the genotypes and functional domains of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) with Garry Cutting MD,
lead scientist of the CFTR2 project. Dr. Larusch worked as a project manager at Pharmaceutics International before being recruited to the University of Pittsburgh to lead the genetics effort for the North American Pancreatitis Study II (NAPS2) under the direction of Professor David C Whitcomb MD PhD. Integrating a multidisciplinary effort, Dr LaRusch lead the genotyping effort for the fist GWAS for pancreatitis (PMID: 23143602), the first use of whole exome sequencing for discovering complex etiologies in pancreatitis family ( PMID: 22572128), the discovery of CFTR variants that cause a type of cystic fibrosis without lung disease (PMID: 25033378), and new insights into the link between CTRC variants and alcohol/smoking (in review). She also worked with genetic counelors to provide guidance for physicans caring for patients with complex disorders, published in GeneReviews (PMID: 24624459; PMID: 22379635).