Our Team

Erik Herzfeld brings more than three decades of experience in quantitative finance and investment management to his leadership of the Jacob Zabara Foundation. His career spans senior derivatives and foreign exchange roles at JP Morgan Chase and Lehman Brothers, including serving as Head of JP Morgan FX Derivatives Correlation Trading in Tokyo.

He holds an SM in Financial Engineering from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University. That foundation in financial engineering, systems thinking, and global markets informs how Erik approaches the Foundation’s work — with rigor, strategic vision, and a belief that the right capital, deployed to the right people, deployed at the right moment, can accelerate scientific breakthroughs that transform lives.

Erik’s commitment to the Foundation is also deeply personal. A close friend and mentee of Dr. Jacob Zabara, Erik considers it both an honor and a responsibility to carry forward the legacy of a man he admired deeply — and whose conviction that science could reshape our understanding of the human mind continues to guide everything the Foundation does.

Megan Murphy Wolf brings to the Jacob Zabara Foundation a career built at the intersection of philanthropy, operations, and mission-driven leadership. She has served in senior roles across foundations, advocacy organizations, and public policy — including as Chief Operating Officer of the Women’s Funding Network, where she led the organization through a transformational growth period, scaling the budget from $1.4 million to over $5 million and building a team and operational infrastructure aligned with the organization’s justice values.

Her work spans strategic planning, grantmaking, financial management, and the design of the systems and processes that allow organizations to do their best work. Prior to her work in philanthropy, Megan served as Legislative Director for two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, developing deep expertise in policy, coalition building, and navigating complex institutional environments.

Megan first worked with the Zabara Foundation as a consultant, helping to establish it from the ground up — defining its mission, grantmaking strategy, and governing structure. She returned as COO with a commitment to building an organization worthy of Jake Zabara’s legacy: rigorous, mission-aligned, and built to last.

Steven Abood brings a rare combination of scientific depth and legal expertise to the Jacob Zabara Foundation. An attorney and molecular biologist, he holds a JD with honors from Emory University School of Law and a PhD in molecular biology, and was awarded a fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, during which he conducted research at the University of Tokyo.

Steven’s career has moved fluidly between science and law in service of biomedical innovation. He spent six years working on medicinal patents at Emory University in conjunction with attorneys at King & Spalding, and later practiced as an attorney in biomedical litigation — giving him a distinctive ability to understand the scientific, intellectual property, and legal dimensions of the foundation’s work simultaneously.

At the Zabara Foundation, Steven leads the development and stewardship of the foundation’s intellectual property — bringing his expertise in neuroscience, molecular biology, and biomedical IP to bear on the questions at the heart of our mission: which science is worth funding, which innovations can be protected and advanced, and how Jake Zabara’s pioneering work in vagus nerve stimulation can continue to shape the field for decades to come.

Daniel Robinson brings to the Jacob Zabara Foundation a career at the frontier of science, venture capital, and innovation strategy. He holds a BA summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School, and studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Daniel’s career has spanned some of the most ambitious corners of the life sciences and deep technology investment world. As a Partner at OS Fund, he backed frontier science companies at the intersection of computation and biology, with portfolio investments including Ginkgo Bioworks, Synthego, and Atomwise. He later led platform strategy and climate initiatives at Ginkgo Bioworks, and has served as a venture partner across multiple funds focused on neurotech, techbio, and sustainability.

At the Zabara Foundation, Daniel channels that investment expertise into strategic philanthropy — identifying and funding the researchers and technologies most likely to accelerate the field of bioelectric medicine. His work is guided by the same conviction that drove Jake Zabara: that bold, well-placed bets on the right science can transform how we understand and treat the human nervous system.