September 1, 2025
Rosenau Family Research Foundation (RFRF) is excited to announce that it has added two new Directors to its board: Zac Leeker and Greg Potter.
ABOUT THE NEW DIRECTORS
Zac’s first experience with Krabbe Disease was in 2000 when his brother, Trevor, was diagnosed at 10 months of age with early infantile Krabbe Disease. Though he was only 6 years old when his brother passed, an advocacy journey was sparked. For the better part of the next 25 years, annual family vacations were spent at medical symposiums learning more about Krabbe Disease, summers were spent hosting “Trevor’s Tournament”, a charity softball tournament raising money for scholarships for those going into the medical field to raise awareness for Krabbe Disease, and any free other free time was mostly spent advocating with state representatives on expanding newborn screening.
Zac’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration. After years of service on the Kansas Newborn Screening Advisory Council and a short stint in local public health, Zac took over as the program manager for newborn screening in his home state of Kansas. 3 years later, Zac was presented with an offer to transition as program manager for newborn screening for the state of Iowa and help lead a quad-state collective of screening programs including North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska.
Greg is currently Associate Director of Molecular Biology at Precigen Therapeutics, where he leads research programs developing next-generation gene and cell therapies. Previously, he was a Scientist at Denali Therapeutics, where he helped advance a small molecule therapeutic program from the lab bench into clinical trials. Over the past 25 years, he has built a career that bridges academia and industry, with expertise spanning neuroscience, immunotherapy, biologics, and drug development. Greg received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
During his postdoctoral work at UCSF, Greg discovered the underlying mutation in a novel Krabbe disease mouse model. He and his wife later established a small research group at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, where they continued to investigate the molecular mechanisms and disease processes of Krabbe disease using this model. As part of this work, Greg’s group received a research grant from the Legacy of Angels Foundation (now RFRF), funding that was instrumental in supporting their lab. He remains grateful for that support and is honored to return to the Foundation as a Board member. Greg brings a combined scientific and industry perspective to support strategic planning and to help accelerate therapies for rare diseases.