FARA President and Co-Founder

Ron Bartek

Co-founder/President, Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance; Board of Directors/past Chairman, National Organization for Rare Disorders; Vice President & Board of Directors, Alliance for a Stronger FDA, Board of Directors, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine; Member, NIH/NCATS National Advisory Council; Vice Chair, NCATS Cures Acceleration Network Review Board; member, FDA/CTTI Patient Engagement Collaborative; 4-year member, NIH Neurological Institute National Advisory Council; former partner/president, business development/government affairs firm; twenty years in federal executive and legislative branches in defense, foreign policy and intelligence (six years on House Armed Services Committee staff; four years at U.S. State Department, one year on U.S. Delegation to Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces Treaty talks, Geneva; six years as CIA analyst, including a year as Intelligence Community representative to U.S. arms control committees); after graduation from United States Military Academy, West Point, four years as Army officer, as company commander in Korea and Infantry and Military Intelligence officer in Vietnam; Master’s Degree, Russian Area Studies – Georgetown University.