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M. Austin Stack, President and CEO
(Michael) Austin Stack was diagnosed with X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia (XLA) at the age of three. Growing up immersed in the medical field, he became fascinated with immunology from a young age. His passion brought him to McGill University where he received a Bachelor of Science with a focus on Microbiology & Immunology. After graduating in 2019, he joined the Immune Deficiency Genetics Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). There, he contributed to several groundbreaking discoveries during the COVID-19 pandemic, researched inhibitors of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (Btk), and investigated the immune response in XLA patients. After his time at NIAID, Austin sought his own projects of change, leading to the founding of XLA Life.
Dr. Keith Sacco, Vice-President
Dr. Keith Sacco is an allergist-immunologist who leads the inpatient immunology service at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. He came to the US from his home country of Malta to further his medical studies – initially pursuing internal medicine residency at Mayo Clinic in Florida where he served as acting chief resident and obtained gold certification from the Mayo Clinic Quality Academy. He then underwent fellowship training in allergy and clinical immunology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), where he joined the Immune Deficiency Genetics Section within the Lab of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology. He is a member of the Genetics, Molecular Biology and Epidemiology Committee within the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and Primary Immunodeficiencies Committee of the World Allergy Organization (WAO). He is an ad hoc reviewer for prestigious medical journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) and the Journal of Clinical Immunology among others. His clinical and research interests include improved early screening of severe inborn errors of immunity, describing new immunologic diseases and developing a personalized approach to manage rare diseases.
Terence Stack, Treasurer
Terence is a global financial executive and business partner, corporate officer, and strategic treasurer. He was Vice President, Corporate Treasurer at two leading firms, Harman International Industries, Inc. and The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Prior to that, Terence held finance leadership positions of increasing responsibility at IBM Corporation, including 5 years expatriate experience in IBM Asia Pacific in two locations, Tokyo and Singapore. He is an expert in capital structure, capital allocation and debt and equity capital markets transactions; as well as financial market risk management; cash forecasting and liquidity management; bank and credit rating agency relationships; mergers and acquisitions, investment management as a fiduciary; process improvement, analytics and automation; and talent development. Terence holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Andrea N. McHugh, Secretary
Andrea has an extensive background in healthcare delivery and clinical operations management. Her initial education and training were as a Registered Nurse. More recently, she was accepted as the first non-physician into the Harvard Medical School’s Master in Healthcare Quality and Safety program. In addition, she is currently the Senior Director of Quality and Risk Management for a multispecialty medical group outside of New York City. In this capacity, she has been responsible for developing and managing a quality and risk management program to improve the quality and safety of healthcare provided by the Group. Andrea’s personal connection to rare disease is close, as she has a rare autoimmune disorder related to elevated GAD antibodies.
Want to help?
Reach out to Austin Stack at XLAconnect@gmail.com or text/call (914) 539-0947 with your interest and connection to XLA.