Hakon Heimer, Executive Editor

SRF editor Hakon Heimer learned the ropes while researching and writing for the Alzheimer Research Forum. In 2002, armed with the donation of the powerful and elegant Alzforum software—and valuable advice from founder June Kinoshita—Heimer set out to find support for a Schizophrenia Research Forum, eventually gaining funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and NARSAD, the Mental Health Research Association.

Before turning full-time to the SRF, Heimer was a free-lance writer/editor specializing in neuroscience and related clinical specialties. In addition to his work for Alzforum, he coordinated media affairs for the American Neurological Association, and wrote for several of the National Institutes of Health, the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the American Brain Tumor Association, and others.

Heimer's path to the journalistic life was typically meandering. He was an undergraduate English major at the University of Virginia, but a chance summer job landed him in a neurobiology of memory laboratory, where the exploration of the brain/mind relationship began to fascinate him. While working variously as a newspaper reporter, copy editor, and lab technician, he boned up on science and soon found himself a neurobiology graduate student at Duke University. Several years later, while doing his dissertation research (correlating appetitive behavioral development in neonatal rats with neuroanatomical and molecular developmental events), Heimer took leave to travel most of the length of the Amazon River as part of a BBC film expedition. At some point as he floated through the jungles of Peru, he realized that he wasn't formatted to be a bench scientist.

After leaving graduate school, Heimer spent several years as the managing editor and senior medical writer for Analytical Sciences, Inc., a contract research organization. He now lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, the two youngest of his three children, and the bad dog Charley. He dabbles in creative writing and bad tennis.

Alden Bumstead comes to SRF from another academic world, having received a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University. Though a background in women's studies and 20th century U.S. fiction would hardly seem preparation for working on a biomedical website, she brings to SRF a fascination with and respect for human biology that is rather uncharacteristic of her ilk. Her relationship with SRF goes back to its very beginning, since she shares an address with editor Hakon Heimer and was involved with many aspects of the search for funding and institutional support for the website.

Besides her work coordinating various pieces of SRF, Alden is a consultant grant-writer for small social justice and service organizations. The disparate nature of her various work hats keeps her constantly on her toes.

Alden grew up in Washington, D.C., and Paris, France, but prefers the simpler pleasures of her current home in Rhode Island, which she and husband Hakon Heimer share with their two children and a little hound dog.

Tom Fagan is a freelance science writer with a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the National University of Ireland. He has several years' experience as a researcher, first in Japan at Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company and Osaka Bioscience Institute, then at Harvard University as a post-doctoral fellow and research associate.

Fagan finally decided he'd had enough of bench work and long-term projects with very little light at the end of the tunnel, and needed something that offered more regular rewards. Always an avid reader of science, interested in everything from astronomy to zoology-most of which did not relate to his research projects-he searched for a way to combine those interests with his talent for writing. So, in 2001, he waved goodbye to the bench and started out on a new adventure—spending a summer working on Harvard Medical School's publication, Focus, and launching himself into his present career. Among other freelance assignments, he covers science news for both the Alzheimer Research Forum, and the Schizophrenia Research Forum.

Fagan is no stranger to adventure. He holds a black belt in karate, has cycled to some of the highest mountaintops in the Japanese Alps (beating most of the locals to the trophies), has been inducted into the Cape Horn Association (for those who round the notorious Cape under sail), and is one of the very (mad) few who have sailed in the Southern Ocean, braving its roiling storms and contrary winds for 30 days during leg three of the BT Challenge yacht race. He is also a U.S. Sailing Basic Keelboat Instructor, regularly teaching and volunteering for Piers Park Sailing Center, a nonprofit organization in East Boston. When he is not out doing something crazy, he lives in Stow, Massachusetts, with his wife Elaine, who is an artist and a writer, and their twin cats Bustopher and Bounderby.

Mike is part of the SRF technology team. His responsibilities include designing and developing enhancements and new features for the SRF web site. Mike has more than 20 years' experience designing and developing software. He holds a B.S. in computer science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Born and raised in central Connecticut, Jason holds a B.S.B.A in Management of Information Systems from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Information Technology from Bentley College. He now lives outside of Boston Massachusetts, and makes a living as an IT consultant. In his free time he likes to hike, snowboard, kayak, and play video games with his son Ryan.

Tasha Schlake Festel brings to the Schizophrenia Research Forum many years of Web consulting and Internet marketing experience. She joined the team in October 2006 but was no stranger to the "forum" world, having worked closely with the Alzheimer Research Forum several years before.

In addition to filling the role of Web Producer for Schizophrenia Research Forum, Tasha also works as Internet Marketing Manager at Applied Separations, where she maintains their website and all things e-related. When not working, Tasha takes care of her two kids, Addison and Reid. And by the way, anyone who says that's "not working" has clearly never spent time with her children!

Elizabeth Wu, Knowledge Management Consultant

Elizabeth Wu is a consultant specializing in biomedical science knowledge communication. Her role in the Schizophrenia Research Forum includes organization of the site's content, creating and updating the search strategies behind the SRF Papers collection, and developing and maintaining various parts of the site. She has a B.S. in Biology and Biochemistry and a master's degree in Library and Information Science. She led the Systems and Research Department at Harvard Medical School Library for ten years during which she developed the first Harvard Medical Web Site and helped launch a number of additional web sites for the Harvard medical community.

Elizabeth is passionate about her ongoing quest to improve scientific communication and recognizes that online forums such as SRF will speed the scientific knowledge discovery process. She feels fortunate to work with a dedicated, creative, and energetic team of professionals who share the same vision in improving scientific communication for the Schizophrenia Research Community. She believes much more could be done for the community and looks forward to developing new ideas for how the site might help achieve this goal.

When asked what she does for a living, Nico usually answers, "What do you need?" And it is with that attitude that Nico approaches most projects and searches for solutions. Whether it is marketing events, dealing with vendors, coordinating discussions or finding answers, it's all, according to her, a matter of perfectibility (and not perfection), continuance (against permanence), interdependence (above independence) and, of course, above all, common sense.

Nico lives in Chicago (where she [still] cannot park parallel) and owns a meeting and event planning company, World Events Forum, Inc..

Elaine Alibrandi, Developmental, Copy Editor and Production Assistant

As a developmental and copy editor, Elaine Alibrandi loves to play "Spot the Error," an annoying habit she decided several years ago to transform into a useful service. She is related to the SRF by marriage--to Tom Fagan (see above). Theirs is primarily a merging of science and art; Elaine is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art, and exhibits her oil/mixed media paintings at galleries around the country. (See Paintings.)

After college, she worked as a freelance designer for such clients as Legal Seafood, The Players Club, Turtle Lane Playhouse, Shawmut Bank, and the Boston Repertory Theatre. Although the work was interesting, she was dissatisfied with having marketing take precedence over creativity, as it must in commercial design. After a brief detour, during which one of her clients held her hostage for several years in its commercial finance department, she escaped to pursue her freelance editing and writing, which offer hours flexible enough for her to focus on her painting.

Elaine holds a black belt in karate from the Japan Karate Association in Brookline. Her creative writing has been published extensively in literary journals and poetry magazines.

Paula Noyes, Producer Emeritus

With her experience as producer for Alzheimer Research Forum, Paula Noyes helped guide us through our first year. She is now Alzforum's Executive Producer.

C Knep, Web Developer Emeritus

C Knep helped adapt the Alzheimer Research Forum technology for SRF, and continues to work for Alzforum.