Jin Cao
Co-Founder and Chairman
Jin Cao is currently a research scientist working on natural language understanding problems and he has published research papers submitted to top conferences in the field.
After receiving the 5p- syndrome diagnosis for his daughter Ally and seeing the lack of existing research on the syndrome, Jin started gathering information from research papers and talks on 5p- syndrome and related genes and has been enthusiastically planning a research roadmap and connecting with scientists working in related fields.
Jin holds a Master’s degree in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Zhejiang University in China.
Diana Cao-Shi
Co-Founder, Treasurer and Secretary
As a mother to an amazing 5p- little girl, Diana Cao-Shi is passionate about combining traditional therapy techniques with scientific and research advancements to allow 5p- individuals to live their best lives. In 2022, Diana co-founded 5p- Research Alliance to raise awareness of and to advocate for additional research advancements and potential treatments related to 5p- syndrome.
Diana is currently in the investment banking divisional management team at a major investment bank. She has over 15 years of finance experience, ranging across asset management, corporate finance, financial operations and risk management.
Diana received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she majored in Management Science and minored in Economics.
Christine Genero
Director
Christine Genero is the grandparent of the very charismatic and joyful Sonya. Sonya’s laugh is infectious and she is beloved by all who meet her. Since Sonya’s birth and diagnosis in 2018, Christine is deeply interested in 5p- research with the goal of improving the quality of life of people with 5p- Syndrome. She is incredibly grateful and honored to contribute her time and effort to the 5p- Research Alliance.
Christine is currently the Chief of Staff/Administration at the Altos Labs – Bay Area Institute of Science. Over the past 10 years she has worked in Basic Science in close partnership with scientists at the cutting edge of bio-medical research.
She received her BS in Human Development with concentrations in Neuroscience and Cognitive Development from Cornell University. Christine is a former early childhood educator, teacher and educational researcher.
Paul Kossof
Director
Paul Kossof is the father of a happy, sweet 5p- boy named Aaron and is honored to participate in the 5p- Research Alliance as it seeks to foster a better quality of life for 5p- individuals.
Paul, an international corporate lawyer, oversees the China operations and intellectual property group of an Asia-focused consulting firm. He handles a wide range of matters such as entity formation and acquisitions, business administration, labor, tax, compliance, intellectual property protection, and distressed debt & collections. Prior to Aaron’s birth, Paul spent seven years in Beijing and Shanghai at prominent law firms and as in-house counsel.
He received his BA degree from Villanova University as well as JD and International Business and Trade Law LLM degrees from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.
Paul currently lives outside of Chicago with his wife, two sons, and a mini poodle named Momo.
Sharlene Wu
Director
Working as a Business Analyst for many years then transitioning to a real estate startup, Sharlene Wu is comfortable wearing many different hats, from process analysis and enhancement to project management. She brings a lot of elbow grease to this complex challenge of helping 5p- Research Alliance achieve its goals.
Sharlene received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Sharlene is a lifelong technophile who loves to tinker and a beginner crocheter. She is a mother to a wonderful little boy and looks forward to molding her children into compassionate and diligent humans even when they are having full blown tantrums.