Leadership
Leadership Team
Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., MBA
Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., MBA
President & Chief Executive Officer, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Dr. Saphire is a professor in LJI’s Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research and the Director of the Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium (CoVIC), which united academics, non-profits, small and large biotechs, and major corporations from around the globe to address the urgent need of identifying the most efficacious antibody therapeutics to prevent and treat COVID-19.
Throughout her career, Dr. Saphire had her sights firmly trained on the global threat of highly infectious diseases. Before CoVIC, she galvanized the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium (VIC), a multidisciplinary, five-continent collaboration of former competitors that together accelerated the research pipeline against emerging viral threats such as Ebola and Lassa. In her own lab, Dr. Saphire studies the three-dimensional structures that drive immune recognition and protection. Her research reveals where viruses are vulnerable, how a successful immune response can be mounted, and draws the blueprints for better vaccines and treatments.
Dr. Saphire received an undergraduate degree from Rice University with a dual major in Biochemistry and in Cell Biology and Evolutionary Biology. She received her Ph.D. degree in 2000 from Scripps Research. After postdoctoral work at Scripps Research, Dr. Saphire joined the faculty at Scripps Research as an Assistant Professor in 2003. Dr. Saphire was steadily promoted there, becoming a full Professor in 2012. In 2019, she joined LJI.
Dr. Saphire’s work has been recognized at the White House with the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, with young investigator awards from the International Congress of Antiviral Research, the American Society for Microbiology, and the MRC Centre for Virus Research in the United Kingdom. She has been awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar fellowship from the United States Department of State and a Mercator Fellowship from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, to develop international collaborations using cryoelectron microscopy to further global health.
President & Chief Executive Officer, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
John Keegan
Chief Operating Officer
Gina Kirchweger, Ph.D.
Gina Kirchweger, Ph.D.
Chief Communications Officer / Chief of Staff
Gina Kirchweger joined the Institute in January 2015 and serves as the Chief Communications Officer and Chief of Staff. A scientist by training, and a communicator at heart, Gina has spent most of her career writing about science. Prior to joining the La Jolla Institute, she led science communication teams at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City and, most recently, at the Leibniz Institute for Age Research in Jena, Germany.
A native of Austria, Gina received her master’s degree in Molecular Biology and her doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of Vienna. After a short stint as a postdoctoral researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she completed the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and for several years honed her reporting skills working as a foreign science correspondent for European newspapers and magazines.
Chief Communications Officer / Chief of Staff
858.752.6640
Shane Crotty, Ph.D.
Shane Crotty, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Shane Crotty, Ph.D., and his team study immunity against infectious diseases. They investigate how the immune system remembers infections and vaccines. By remembering infections and vaccines, the body is protected from becoming infected in the future. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective medical treatments in modern civilization and are responsible for saving millions of lives. Yet, good vaccines are very difficult to design, and very few new vaccines have been made in the past 10 years. A better understanding of immune memory will facilitate the ability to make new vaccines. Dr. Tony Fauci, NIH, referred to some of the Crotty lab work as “exceedingly important to the field of immunogen design.”
Chief Scientific Officer
Richard Stryjewski, C.P.A.
Richard Stryjewski, C.P.A.
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Richard Stryjewski leads financial planning and operations to advance essential growth and ensure La Jolla Institute’s long-term financial security.
An active California Certified Public Accountant, Stryjewski started his career at Ernst & Young LLP, and subsequently held various accounting and finance positions with multiple large organizations including PacifiCare Health Systems and the Walt Disney Company. Most recently, he spent 12 years at Scripps Research, where he oversaw general accounting, financial reporting, budget, treasury, risk management, compliance, endowment accounting, and donor financial stewardship.
Stryjewski is a Southern California native, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
Chief Financial Officer
Maria Ortega
Maria Ortega
Chief Compliance Officer
Maria Ortega joined the Institute in June 2022 with nearly thirty years of experience in Sponsored Research Administration. As the Institute’s Chief Compliance Officer, Maria works closely with organizational leadership in identifying, designing, implementing, and monitoring the processes by which the Institute will comply with all applicable laws and regulations to safeguard research integrity. Maria serves as the Chair of the LJI Compliance Committee and reports regularly to the LJI Managing Director and the Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee of the LJI Board of Directors.
Prior to joining LJI, Maria held a leadership position at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute where she managed the day-to-day operations as the Director of the Sponsored Research Office. She worked closely with scientific personnel to advise and guide on best practices related to research administration and compliance.
Chief Compliance Officer
Kelsey Dale, CFRE, CSPG
Kelsey Dale, CFRE, CSPG
Vice President of Advancement
Kelsey Dale was appointed to lead the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Advancement Department as the Vice President of Advancement in June 2022. She joined the Institute in September 2016 as Deputy Director of Advancement, in which she co-led record philanthropic growth at the Institute. As Vice President of Advancement, Kelsey continues to work very closely with the Institute’s Board of Directors and oversee departmental operations, programs, annual giving, and special events, while leading the Institute’s relationships with elite philanthropic partners and donors to secure private support for the Institute’s research. Kelsey is also responsible for overseeing the Institute’s planned giving program and working with LJI’s Planned Giving Advisory Council.
Prior to joining LJI, Kelsey worked in the fundraising and donor relations field for more than nine years at various San Diego organizations with a range of foci from higher-education, to global health and medical research. Early in her career she also served as an AmeriCorps Service Member in Seattle, WA.
She is an Active Member with ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) San Diego, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization founded and administered by women who support scientific advancement in STEM areas to address the national need for scientists by providing funding for the country’s brightest U.S. graduate Scholars. She is also a current member and has served on the Board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) – San Diego Chapter, and is also a member of the North County Philanthropy Council and corporate member of the La Jolla Rotary Club.
Kelsey earned a B.A. in History and graduated with Honors from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. She lives in Carlsbad with her husband and two daughters.
Vice President of Advancement
858.752.6542
Margaret (Ng Thow) Hing, J.D.
Margaret (Ng Thow) Hing, J.D.
Chief Legal Officer
Margaret Ng Thow Hing, M.Sc., JD, is the Chief Legal Officer at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI). She is responsible for managing the legal affairs of the Institute including providing legal support and strategic guidance across business functions and overseeing activities related to ,intellectual property protection, technology transfer and business development, contract negotiation, compliance and legal risk mitigation, and corporate and Board governance. Margaret has been supporting LJI’s technology development efforts for over 12 years and works with LJI scientific personnel on a daily basis to support their research activities by facilitating access to research tools and technologies, ensuring intellectual property protection of research discoveries and negotiating agreements for funding of research and commercialization of technologies. Prior to joining LJI, Margaret was an attorney with Smart & Biggar, Fetherstonhaugh, a leading intellectual property and technology law firm. She advised clients on patent prosecution matters with a focus in the area of biotechnology. Margaret obtained a Master of Science in Molecular & Medical Genetics and J.D. from the University of Toronto, Canada. She is licensed to practice law in the State of California and the Province of Ontario, Canada. Margaret is also a member and strong supporter of LJI’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Advocacy program.
Chief Legal Officer
Pam Fettu
Pam Fettu
Vice President of Human Resources
Pam leads a team of Human Resources professionals strengthening La Jolla Institute’s friendly culture while keeping diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at the forefront.
With over 20 years of experience within dynamic and community-based organizations, she finds innovative ways of creating opportunities that will holistically strengthen the Institute’s community of international, multi-generational, workforce.
Pam is a Southern California native, and has obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences, and a Master of Science degree in Human Resources from Chapman University, and has earned the designation of Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).
Vice President of Human Resources
Michael Scarpelli
Michael Scarpelli
Vice President of Information Technology & Core Services
Michael Scarpelli coordinates information technology at the Institute to help ensure that LJI’s researchers always have the technological infrastructure, tools and support that they need for their vital scientific efforts. He focuses on delivering efficient and friendly IT service that scales and expands in whatever direction LJI’s research requires.
Michael joined LJI over 20 years ago and has worked in all levels of the Information Technology program, and has been collaborating broadly with colleagues across nearly every administrative and scientific group at the Institute during his tenure. In 2020, Michael began to help with coordination among LJI’s core scientific facilities, and in 2021 he was a founding member of LJIdea, the Institute’s committee for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Michael is a Southern California native, and attended the University of California, San Diego where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in the Literature program.
Vice President of Information Technology & Core Services
Michael Croft, Ph.D.
Michael Croft, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Affairs
Dr. Croft is a Professor at LJI and currently serves as Director of Academic Affairs. Dr. Croft’s research focus is on the cellular regulation of immunity and tolerance, and how membrane bound and soluble stimulatory molecules control function of T cells and cells such as epithelial cells and fibroblasts that contribute to inflammatory and autoimmune disease.
Dr. Croft received a BS in Biology from Brunel University in London, U.K, and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Sussex University in the U.K. In 1989 he moved to the Biology Department of the University of California, San Diego as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1996, Dr. Croft joined LJI as Assistant Professor, and was appointed as an Associate Professor in 2001. Dr. Croft was tenured in 2003, and became a Professor in 2005.
Director of Academic Affairs
