The Team
Patti Engel, R.N., B.S.N.
President
Patti is President of TeleRare Health® which was founded in 2023 to create a company that is uniquely built around providing care to rare disease patients in a manner that is consistent with true engagement and an understanding of their needs. This includes designing a novel care model that will fundamentally change the speed of diagnosis and care delivery, as well as challenging traditional beliefs around care coordination, referrals and other issues central to the empowerment of patients and families impacted by rare diseases.
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Patti began her career as a pediatric oncology nurse where she gained a unique patient-centered perspective. She joined 3M Pharmaceuticals – where she worked in sales and marketing. Patti was a founding member of Orphan Medical, an organization committed to the development and commercialization of rare disease therapies. In 2001 Patti founded Engage Health, a health research firm that has worked to bring patient experience and voice to the rare disease drug development process for over 20 years.
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Patti graduated from the College of St. Catherine in St Paul MN, sits on a variety of boards on a volunteer basis and enjoys spending time with family and traveling.
Austin Letcher, M.S.
Chief Operations Officer
As a co-founder and the Chief Operations Officer of TeleRare Health®, Austin provides a strong background in the biomedical sciences. In 2014, he joined Sanford Research working for their rare disease program called the Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford (CoRDS). His experience allowed him to build a variety of long-lasting relationships with rare disease advocacy groups, patients/families, and medical experts in order to further the development of several disease-specific patient registries. He remains passionate about enabling patients and patient organizations to leverage their data to further research and collaborate with industry in the development of new therapies.
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Austin took his experience to WCG where he was able to manage several patient recruitment projects for a variety of clinical trials. After which, he began his work with Engage Health, leading their project and operations team in order to conduct health and market research studies, heavily focused in the non-interventional, qualitative research space.
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When not working, Austin enjoys taking his dog (Toshi) on walks to the park or taking time off to visit new places around the country with friends and family.
Pete Celano
Advisor
Pete co-founded and sold an early remote patient monitoring company, BeClose.com. He then spent 8 years in Innovation at the largest hospital system in the Maryland/DC/Northern Virginia region (MedStar Health). Pete has been a principal with two National Virtual Clinics, in cardiovascular (Heartbeat Health) and rheumatology (Remission Medical).
Amy Gaviglio
Medical Director
Amy Gaviglio is a genetic counselor and the founder and CEO of Connetics Consulting, LLC which provides newborn screening and rare disease implementation, policy, and advocacy services globally. Amy currently works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Expecting Health, Primary Health, amongst many others. She is co-chair of APHL’s New Disorders in Newborn Screening Subcommittee, is the Vice Chair of the NBS Expert Panel for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, sits on the Scientific Advisory Board for the MPS Society and serves on the Executive Board for the International Society of Neonatal Screening. Finally, Amy is the current Chair of the Board of Directors for the EveryLife Foundation.
Tarek Ebrahim
Medical Operations Strategy & Operations Advisor
Dr. Tarek Ebrahim is a global medical affairs and rare disease leader with 25 years of experience across medical strategy, medical affairs, commercial development, patient identification, and patient-centered program development. He is Founder and CEO of NovaHeal LLC, providing strategic medical and scientific consulting across the product lifecycle.
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Dr. Ebrahim has held senior leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, X4 Pharmaceuticals, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Genzyme/Sanofi, where he advanced rare and ultra-rare disease strategies, built medical affairs capabilities, supported global therapy launches, and developed programs to improve patient identification and access to specialized care. His work has brought together healthcare professionals, patient organizations, academia, and industry to address barriers to diagnosis and care and develop practical, scalable solutions for patients and families.