On behalf of The Miami Project Executive Committee, including Barth A. Green, M.D., Marc Buoniconti, W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., and Allan D. Levi, M.D., Ph.D., we are pleased to announce that Mr. John Fox has accepted the position as the new Executive Director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis beginning April 22, 2019.
For the last 25 years, The Miami Project has thrived and evolved into what today is considered one of the world’s leading centers for innovation in Neuroscience. In no small part, due to the skills and leadership of Suzie M. Sayfie and Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard, The Miami Project is a center of excellence at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and is dually supported by its fundraising arm, The Buoniconti Fund. This amazing partnership has resulted in what many consider a prototype for “bench to bedside research”. With over 20 active clinical trials involving patients with spinal cord injuries, the breadth of neuroscientific research has been expanded under the theme of repairing the nervous system, to other neurological injuries and diseases who share the common need for such reparative strategies.
For more than 25 years, John has served many voluntary roles within The Miami Project and The Buoniconti Fund, including donor, chair, and participant of multiple events. Being inspired not just by Marc Buoniconti’s courageous journey following his catastrophic paralyzing injury, but also through John’s own personal experience with spinal cord injury. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise from his many years not just in corporate office but as a leader of many philanthropic organizations. John served as Vice President of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd for more than 28 years and also voluntarily served on the boards of the Greater Miami Easter Seal Society as chairman, the National Advisory Board of the Make A Wish Foundation, the Jackson Memorial Foundation, as chairman of the Mast Academy Advisory Committee, and also raised funds for cystic fibrosis and The Starkey Hearing Foundation.
It is with great enthusiasm that we embark on this new chapter of scientific and medical discovery that will continue to improve the quality of life of victims, not just paralysis, but other neurological injuries and diseases and ultimately achieve our goals.