LEADERSHIP

 

JENNIFER ALTON

PRESIDENT

 
 
 
 
 

Jenn Alton is a recognized leader in policy design and public health advocacy, bringing more than two decades of experience across senior corporate and federal government roles. She is widely respected in the federal government and across the biomedical community for her strategic insight, commitment to ethical leadership, and deep subject-matter expertise.

Jenn is known for offering clients something rare in Washington: clear-eyed guidance, integrity, and a relentless focus on results. She is the trusted advisor organizations turn to when they need to develop an effective advocacy strategy—and see it through to completion. Her approach emphasizes honesty, realism, and actionable policy solutions grounded in both political and operational feasibility.

Education and Previous Work

Jenn earned her Master of Public Policy degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and her Bachelor’s degree from Whittier College. She has completed executive leadership programs at Columbia Business School (High Impact Leadership) and the Wharton School (Pharmaceutical and Biotech Executives Leadership). She also serves as a member of the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security.

In the biotechnology sector, Jenn led the establishment of the U.S. government affairs office for a multinational company developing vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer immunotherapies. As Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs, she oversaw federal policy strategy, political advocacy, public affairs, alliance development, and trade association engagement for eight years.

Jenn previously served on Capitol Hill as Public Health Policy Director on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee for Senator Richard Burr. She led the development and negotiation of major public health legislation, including the bipartisan Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which strengthened the nation’s health security posture and created two cornerstone offices at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

Her federal government experience also includes serving at HHS as a senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. As a Presidential Management Fellow, she focused on budget formulation and legislative affairs, earning the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service.

Jenn’s top 5 StrengthsFinder themes are: Achiever, Relator, Responsibility, Deliberative, Futuristic

 
 
 

ELLEN CARLIN

VICE PRESIDENT

 
 
 
 

Ellen Carlin is a policy expert in emerging infectious disease, zoonotic pathogens, and policy opportunities to prevent pandemics. Her work in health security is deeply rooted in the science of the problems her work seeks to address. She has worked for the U.S. government, in clinical veterinary medicine, and in field settings in Africa on efforts to advance human and animal health for nearly two decades.

As a consultant, Ellen helps clients develop their policy priorities, execute advocacy plans, draft major proposals, and publish scientific and strategic communications pieces. She specializes in science writing for both technical and lay audiences and analysis of information critical to science policy development. In addition to her applied policy work, she is also actively engaged in scientific studies and believes working across sectors and disciplines allows her to better understand how each can better serve one another.

Education and Previous Work

Ellen received a Bachelor of Science in biology from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine.

Her work has long explored the epidemiological underpinnings of infectious disease and opportunities for policy interventions to prevent and manage infectious outbreaks. She began her policy career with the U.S. Congress working on national security threats. From 2007-2013, she staffed the Ranking Member and then Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, where she covered a broad portfolio that included medical preparedness, biodefense, and science and technology. This position began as a congressional science policy fellowship through the American Association for the Advancement of Science-American Veterinary Medical Association. In 2013, Ellen completed an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education fellowship at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine where she worked on antimicrobial resistance policy. In 2014, she became a founding staff member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and served for several years as co-director of the Commission.

Ellen is also lecturer at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and previously held a faculty position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University. In 2023, she published the book, Catastrophic Incentives: Why Our Approaches to Disasters Keep Falling Short (Columbia University Press), with co-author Jeff Schlegelmilch. She is a member of the District of Columbia Medical Reserve Corps. She maintains her license to practice veterinary medicine and has worked or volunteered as a small animal clinical veterinarian to serve her interests in animal welfare, public health, and parasitology.

Ellen's top 5 StrengthsFinder themes are: Harmony, Intellection, Learner, Input, Relator

 
 
 

TEAM MEMBERS

 
 

JUSTIN YANG

SENIOR ADVISOR

 

Justin Yang is a Senior Advisor at Pathway Policy Group. Justin is a Maryland native and has 10+ years of experience in science and technology development for the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services.

During his time in Federal service, Justin held leadership positions at the Uniformed Services University (Chief of Research Administration, Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program) and at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures.

Justin has managed a portfolio of biomedical life science research programs ranging across many disciplines (HIV, Influenza, STI, Antimicrobials, Diagnostics, Devices, Digital Health). During his time with BARDA, Justin successfully completed 3 advanced development programs culminating with FDA approvals (Achaogen Plazomicin™, Cue Health In-Home Diagnostic, Lucira Health In-Home Diagnostic). He also worked across the interagency serving on the Operation Warp Speed and BARDA COVID-19 Incident Management Team. He represented BARDA on the National Biodefense Strategy creation and implementation and launched BARDA Ventures, the first ever venture capital investment fund out of HHS in 2021.

Justin serves as an expert in Government funding and procurement due to his background as an interagency reviewer for grants and contracts (DARPA, DTRA, NIH, BARDA). He advises companies on government and private sector financing and funding strategies, primarily helping to raise either private equity financing or successful applications to the US Government for non-dilutive support.

Justin earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from East Carolina University, College of Business, and Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Maryland. 

 
 

MATTHEW HEPBURN

SENIOR ADVISOR

 

Dr. Matthew Hepburn recently completed his tour as the Senior Advisor for the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response.  Previously, Dr. Hepburn was the Chief Medical Officer, Joint Program Executive Office, CBRN Defense, after completing an assignment as the Senior Advisor to Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for pandemic preparedness. Additionally, Dr. Hepburn was the Vaccine Development Lead for the Countermeasures Acceleration Group (CAG), formerly known as Operation Warp Speed, a partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DoD) founded in May 2020 to help accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines. Prior to this position, Dr. Hepburn served as the Joint Project Lead of Enabling Biotechnologies for the Joint Program Executive Office for CBRN Defense. In this role, he was responsible for establishing a start-to-finish capability to develop vaccines and therapeutic solutions against current future biological threats. Due to the creation of this foundational capability, the team implemented the DoD Vaccine Acceleration Project, which provides key investments to advance vaccines and antibody therapeutic efforts, with special emphasis on acceleration of manufacturing these products and clinical trials. Dr. Hepburn served 23 years in the United States Army as an infectious diseases physician, retiring as a Colonel. His final assignment was as a Program Manager at DARPA (2013-2019).

Concurrent with the first two years at DARPA, Dr. Hepburn also served on the research and development team at the newly Research, Development and Acquisitions Directorate at the Defense Health Agency. From 2010-2013, he served as Director of Medical Preparedness on the White House National Security Staff. Additional assignments have included Chief Medical Officer, Level 2 Treatment facility in Iraq (2009-2010), for which he earned a Bronze Star.

Prior to deployment, Dr. Hepburn was Clinical Research Director at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (2007-2009), leading domestic and international clinical research efforts on biodefense products. This role entailed extensive service with the Cooperative Threat Reduction program in the republics of the former Soviet Union. Col. Hepburn was also an exchange officer to the United Kingdom (2005-2007) and internal medicine chief of residents at Brooke Army Medical Center (2000-2001) at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Dr. Hepburn completed his infectious disease fellowship and internal medicine residency training at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He received his medical degree and undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

 

ANNE CHEEVER

SENIOR ADVISOR

 

Anne Cheever, Ph.D. is a biotechnology executive and national security leader with over a decade of experience advancing high-impact research, policy, and innovation at the intersection of biotechnology, space, and defense. She is widely recognized for her ability to translate cutting-edge science into operational capability while shaping responsible approaches to emerging and dual-use technologies.

Dr. Cheever has developed, led, and managed more than $380 million in federal R&D investments, most notably as a Program Manager in the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA, where she conceived and launched the agency’s first biomanufacturing-in-space program. Her work helped validate biotechnology as a viable manufacturing paradigm for space logistics and resilience, while also advancing research in synthetic biology, military medicine, and operational biology. She also catalyzed DARPA’s first cross-office initiative on societal implications in the space domain.

From 2023 to 2024, Dr. Cheever served at the White House National Security Council as Director for Technology and National Security, coordinating U.S. government policy on critical and emerging technologies with a focus on biotechnology and biomanufacturing. In this role, she advised senior White House leadership and the National Security Adviser, contributing to an Executive Order and new national strategies, and built international partnerships with allies including the UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and India.

She currently holds multiple advisory and research roles, including Adjunct Staff Member at RAND, Founder of Vela Scientific, LLC, and advisor to organizations such as Beacon Global Strategies and Rhodium Scientific, where she supports innovation across space, biodefense, and national security. Earlier in her career, she held senior roles at MITRE, Booz Allen Hamilton (supporting DARPA), and the U.S. Department of State, where she was an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow.

Dr. Cheever holds a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, along with a certificate in business administration. She is known for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership, and commitment to advancing technologies that strengthen U.S. and global security.