Alice McConnell is the Founder of Speragen, Inc. A niche pharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for ultra-rare pediatric neurometabolic disorders. Prior to founding Speragen, Alice worked as a Civil Engineer (PE) with a focus on administering both private and government contracts, designing, planning, coordinating, scheduling, estimating, and managing large complex multi-year engineering projects. Alice received her Bachelors of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Alice’s interests have always been driven by her deep desire to improve communities and solve problems.
In 2009 Alice’s daughter, Evie, was born. Not long after in 2011 Alice’s son Jack came along. Shortly after Jack was born, Evie was diagnosed with Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADH). Jack was tested and he was also diagnosed with SSADH. SSADH causes global developmental delays and health issues. Their diagnosis lead Alice to put her PE license on inactive status and submerged herself into the world of rare diseases.
Alice quickly understood after hitting a wall with traditional bio\pharma companies that, due to the current diagnosed population size of SSADHD, a different model was needed to commercialize a treatment. This awakened Alice to the complexity of developing a treatment for an ultra-rare disorder and the founding of Speragen.
Her project management skill set has been highly transferable to her role at Speragen. Speragen partners with outstanding researchers and is developing in-house staff. Speragen has a focus in keeping the power and decision making with the patients and researchers. Spreagen does this by securing intellectual property, engaging the FDA, supporting clinical trial enrollment and progression, aiding diagnosis and always involving the patient’s voice.
Outside of Alice’s professional career she enjoys ashtanga, running, rock climbing and anything to do with art and design. The best part of the day of course is getting to play and laugh with her family, friends, and children.