The Honorable Richard A. Gephardt
Chairman, Board of Directors
Mr. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives (from 1977 to 2005), representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, home to his birthplace St. Louis. In his first year in Congress, he was appointed to both the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees.
He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. In his role as Leader, Mr. Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms in healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence and trade policy.
Mr. Gephardt began his career in public service in 1968 as a precinct captain for St. Louis’ 14th Ward, and from 1971 to 1976, served as its Alderman. In 1976, he was elected to the Congress, succeeding 24-year incumbent Leonor Sullivan. Mr. Gephardt earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in 1962 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965.
Cris Arnou, MSE, MBA,
Board of Directors Member, Co-Founder and CEO
Cris Arnou is AgoneX Biopharmaceuticals Inc. Co-Founder and CEO. As a migraine sufferer for more than 35 years he is determined and committed to implementing the migraine treatment and prevention throughout the U.S. via existing medical offices.
In the past, Mr. Arnou has worked for two start-up companies and knows what it takes to build a successful, prosperous business. Additionally, Cris spent 10 years working at Ford Motor Company covering different aspects of product development, marketing and product launch.
Cris holds Bachelor and Master Degrees in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA from Wayne State University in Detroit. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army.
Robert P. Cowan, MD, FAAN
Board of Directors Member, Co-Founder
Robert Cowan, MD, FAAN is Professor of Neurology and Director of the Headache Program at Stanford University. Prior to coming to Stanford, he was the founding medical director of the Keeler Center for the Study of Headache (Ojai, CA) and senior clinical research scientist in molecular neurobiology at Huntington Medical Research Institutes (Pasadena, CA). Dr. Cowan attended University of Southern California, Keck Medical School, completed a residency program at USC Department of Neurology and served on faculty there until 2000. He is Board Certified in the areas of: Psychiatry and Neurology and Pain Medicine. He also holds subspecialty certification in Headache Medicine. Dr. Cowan is widely published in various scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association Cephalalgia, and Headache as well as authoring books, book chapters and scientific presentations. Dr. Cowan lectures both nationally and internationally on a variety of headache topics, and has appeared on NBC, CBS and has been featured in articles ranging from the San Francisco Chronicle to Vogue Magazine.
Dr. Cowan holds several nationally elected positions, including chair of the section on Chronic Daily Headache for the American Headache Society. He is immediate past-President of the Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society. He is on the boards of the Alliance for Headache Diseases Advocacy, the Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, the American Headache and Migraine Association, and the American Council for Headache Education. He is an editor of Headache Currents, a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, including Headache, Cephalalgia, and the Western Journal of Medicine. Dr. Cowan is the author of The Keeler Migraine Method (Penguin/Avery, 2008).
Along with Dr. Alan Rapoport, Professor of Neurology at UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Cowan co-founded Bon Triage, LLC that develops computer-based tools to aid in the diagnosis, education, and care of people with chronic medical conditions. Before medical school Dr. Cowan founded and subsequently sold Continuing Health Education Systems, one of the first computer-based CME programs.
Dr. Cowan’s primary interest is in improvement of headache care, utilizing novel resources to provide more accurate diagnosis, more effective treatment options while reducing delays in service and decreasing costs. He has been the recipient of NIH, foundation, industry and individual grants and gifts for his research, in excess of 6M dollars. His current research focuses on chronic daily headache, including resting state imaging with fMRI, CSF and whole blood analysis, deep phenotyping, TMS, and electrophysiologic measures.