Founded in 2017 in response to calls for increased transparency across academic and industry funded research, CBMRT is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in New York, NY. CBMRT is managed by A/Prof. Sandra Petty, CEO subject to its founding charter, governed by an independent board of directors, and supported by CBMRT's Scientific Advisory Committee. The Null Hypothesis - CBMRT's collaboration with major societies, journals, publishers, funders and research institutions - operates under the oversight of CBMRT's Scientific Advisory Committee, with each partner journal operating under the oversight of their respective independent editorial boards.

A/Prof. Sandra Petty, MBBS FRACP PhD
CEO & Founder

A/Prof. Sandra Petty MBBS FRACP PhD is an academic and clinical neurologist focusing on epilepsy and its co-morbidities. She undertook combined clinical and research training in neurology and in bone health. She is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Melbourne Medical School, involved in teaching and medical student curriculum development, particularly transition to medical practice and medical cognizance. She completed specialist training in Neurology in 2006 and currently works in epilepsy at St Vincent’s Hospital and at Alfred Health in Melbourne. Sandy was awarded her PhD 2009, examining bone health, body composition, falls and fracture risk in twins and siblings discordant for anti-epileptic medication use. She completed postdoctoral work utilising a mouse primary calvarial osteoblast model and patch clamping technique to examine effects of epilepsy medications on ion channels in osteoblasts. Sandy is an adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University School of Medicine.

Sandy is the founder of the Null Hypothesis initiative and is keen to facilitate transparent reporting of results in biomedical research - particularly regarding studies where there are negative or inconclusive results. This facilitates communication of results between scientists and clinicians, and will improve research efficiency and better inform research study design and ultimately, patient care.

Board of Directors

Dr. Hugo Stephenson, MBBS BSc
Co-Founder & Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Hugo Stephenson is a Melbourne Medical School alumnus, a technologist, biotech services entrepreneur and founder of many businesses in the clinical trials industry. These include: DrugDev, a leading provider of eclinical technologies and clinical trial payment services; MediGuard, the largest online medication monitoring service; Health Research Solutions, a late phase contract research organization; and MedSeed, a pioneer of hospital and GP decision support software. Hugo is passionate about organizations that think out of the box to solve problems and this has motivated him to establish CBMRT to address the current imbalances in biomedical research practices. Hugo has a wide range of interests that include proteomics, public health, robotics and high-power rocketry. Hugo is also a non-executive director of the Induction Healthcare Group PLC, a leading developer of digital care tools for healthcare systems around the world.

Dr. David Tovey, MBBS
Board Member & Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee

David is Chair of the CBMRT Scientific Advisory Committee and also Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. He also chairs the Technical Advisory Group for the Campbell Collaboration. David was Editor in Chief of the Cochrane Library from 2009-2019 and was appointed as Emeritus Editor in Chief to Cochrane in 2019. Prior to 2019 he was Editorial Director at the BMJ Knowledge department, having also been a GP in South London from 1989 to 2003. David lives in Sussex and London, UK. His professional interests focus on the need to provide health and social care decision makers with credible, actionable, relevant and up to date information to guide practice and policy.

Dr. Annalisa Jenkins, MBBS FRCP
Board Member

Annalisa Jenkins is a biopharma thought leader with more than 25 years’ industry experience. She has extensive experience in building and financing biotech companies pursuing cures for challenging rare diseases. She has built and led teams advancing programs from scientific research through clinical development, regulatory approval, and into health care systems globally. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, particularly for women in science.

Annalisa has served as President and Chief Executive of Dimension Therapeutics and other leadership roles have included senior positions at Merck Serono and at Bristol Myers-Squibb. She is a medical trustee for the British Heart Foundation; a committee member of the Science Board to the US Food and Drug Administration; advisory board member at FasterCures; and Chair of Court at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Earlier in her career, Annalisa was a medical officer in the British Royal Navy.

Dr. Norbert Tavares, PhD
Board Member

Dr. Norbert Tavares is a 2017-19 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives (CSSI) at the National Cancer Institute at the NIH. In his role, he supports the goals of CSSI to identify and promote emerging and innovative solutions to cancer research problems. He is involved in ongoing trans-NCI programs, including the Provocative Questions Initiative and initiatives related to the Beau Biden Cancer MoonshotSM, such as the Human Tumor Atlas Network. Other areas of interest include technologies for the reduction of cancer health disparities and building interdisciplinary collaborations, in particular at the intersection and application of microbiology in understanding and treating cancer.

Norbert is a microbiologist with a background in bacterial genetics and enzymology with an emphasis on anaerobic microbiology/biochemistry. His previous research area involved the investigation the bacterial and archaeal biosynthetic pathways of coenzyme B12, and the regulation of metabolism by Sirtuin-dependent posttranslational modification via acylation/deacylation in Salmonella enterica. He started his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, then moved with his lab to the University of Georgia where he received his doctorate in microbiology. Prior to his graduate work, Norbert had a brief stint as a research associate at CuraGen Corporation where he was involved in the process validation of large-scale bacterial protein drug production. He also has four years of procurement experience for ESPN/Disney Corporation. Norbert has strong interests in problem solving and advancing science by supporting basic research, rigor, reproducibility, transparency, and the advancement women and underrepresented individuals in science and other areas.

Eric Jaffe
Board Member

Eric Jaffe, AIA, NCARB, is East Region District, Architecture, at HDR Inc, a global engineering and architectural company and has extensive experience as a project architect, project manager and principal in charge of innovative architecture projects all over the world. Eric has spent the majority of his career in research environments at leading academic institutions including Duke, Princeton and Yale, as well as with corporate clients such as Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK. Prior to HDR, Eric was East Region Director for Science and Technology and Office Practice Leader at CannonDesign.

Carrie Delente
Board Member

Carrie Delente, BFA, is Founder & COO of Enforme Interactive, a US-based company that builds successful web presence and content for academic journal sites, online education platforms, and non-profit healthcare and science organizations. Since founding Enforme in 1997, Carrie has overseen the design, development, implementation and ongoing operations of dozens of large-scale portals and hundreds of smaller and midsize web sites, mobile and tablet applications for clients. She has deep expertise and understanding of the needs of physicians, allied healthcare staff and scientists which is reflected in the strategic, business, architectural, technical and usability facets of the systems developed by Enforme. Carrie also has a strong interest in the arts and sits on several local community arts boards.

Dr. Robert A. Gross, MD PhD FANA FAAN
Board Member

Robert A. Gross graduated from Harvard College with an AB in Biology, summa cum laude, in 1975. He entered the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University, St. Louis, earning the MD and PhD (Pharmacology) degrees (1981). After internship in Medicine at the Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, he was a resident in Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident (1984-85). Faculty positions followed at the University of Michigan (1985-1991) and the University of Minnesota (1991-1994). Dr. Gross joined the faculty of the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in 1994, where has served as Associate Chair for Academic Affairs (Neurology) until 2020. Now part-time, his practice is restricted to inpatient care on the Epilepsy Unit, with a particular interest in the pharmacology of anti-seizure drugs.

Robert's research interests have centered on various aspects of cellular neuropharmacology (regulation of voltage-gated Ca channels by neurotransmitters and therapeutic compounds, regulation of hippocampal neurogenesis by seizures and chemotherapeutic drugs). Collaborative efforts have focused on mechanisms of excitotoxicity. He was involved in several clinical trials of novel anticonvulsants and served on a multi-center task force to design trials to compare brand to generic AEDs. He was the recipient of the S. Weir Mitchell Award of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in 1988.   He served as an Associate Editor of Neurology® for 8 years, two of which were as Deputy Editor. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Neurology® journals through Q1 2020.