Cara Altimus, PhD is the managing director of the Milken Institute’s Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) and Managing Director of BD2: Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder. An experienced leader in science and philanthropy, Altimus advises individual philanthropists, foundations, and world class scientific organizations on strategy and optimized use of capital to make the greatest impact and accelerate meaningful research progress. Aligning the interests of multiple funders, the research and clinical community, and people with lived experience, Altimus has facilitated the development of more than two dozen initiatives and organizations focused on scientific research and clinical development representing more than $1.5B dollars of new funding to science. Prior to joining the Institute, Altimus worked at the Food and Drug Administration leading the Neural Interfaces Laboratory, which evaluates the safety and effectiveness of electrical stimulation methods in the brain. Altimus holds a bachelor's degree in genetics from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in biology from Johns Hopkins University. She works at the Institute's Washington office.