Twenty-five years of diverse and complex disease program leadership — built for the foundations turning a family's story into a research strategy that can earn pharma's attention and a community's trust.
Hover each tag for context.
"The rarest diseases deserve the most rigorous science — and the most human leadership."
Foundations usually have to choose between an advisor who knows the science and one who can run the program. Kanan has spent 25 years doing both.
Read the full path →"When I read a progress report, I read it with the eye of someone who has stood at that bench. When I run a milestone review, I run it with the discipline of someone who has filed her own grants. That dual perspective is the job."
— Kanan Lathia
Engagements are structured as project-based, retainer, or advisory — scoped to your program's needs. Not sure which fits? Let's talk.
Defining research agendas and building balanced portfolios — from discovery biology through clinical translation.
Connecting researchers, clinicians, industry, and patient organizations into collaborative global research networks.
Grant management, Designing and overseeing RFAs, milestone reviews and longitudinal datasets — keeping programs rigorous and on track.
Biomarker Discovery, building patient registry and trial ready cohort
Keeping the patient voice central — through direct community engagement, science communication, and policy advocacy.
Most scientific advisors speak fluently to one audience. I work across all four — patients, funders, academic labs, and program leaders — without losing anything in translation.
Translating science into language families can act on — and bringing their voice back to the bench, the boardroom, and the funding decision.
Coordinating multi-site programs and shaping field direction — with 14 co-authored publications including Nature and Science.
Funding recommendations built from real conversations with researchers, not just paper reviews — so every dollar goes where it can actually speed a treatment forward.
Helping rare disease organizations grow — from light advisory work to embedded part-time Chief Science Officer roles. Board strategy, milestone setting, partnerships.
"I began asking not just 'does this move us toward a cure?' — but 'does this help a child get through today?' I carry that lesson into every program I now advise."
After meeting parents of children with a rare neurodevelopmental disorder, sitting with what they actually needed to get through the week — Kanan's framework for evaluating research changed for good.
Read more on Why I Do This →"I didn't experience the gaps as problems. I experienced them as a map. I know what a mature rare disease foundation looks like. I also know how to help one get there."
On joining a patient-founded foundation
Whether you're a patient advocacy foundation, a rare disease research program in need of scientific leadership, or an academic lab seeking a strategic partner — Lathia Scientific Consulting is structured for flexible engagement.
I respond within 48 hours. A first conversation is typically a 30-minute call to understand your program — no commitment required.
"The funding recommendation briefs I write are not just summaries of the scientific literature. They are built from conversations. For a donor deciding where to give in a disease that affects only a few thousand people worldwide, every dollar has to carry the weight of a family that is waiting."