Leadership Team

Swapna Onkar

Before joining Vivli, Swapna was the Staff QA automation Engineer at Ripple Science, where she led the automation of Quality proofing the developed/enhanced code resulting in saving of hours of testing. Before Ripple science, Swapna was with NDS (now Cisco) and Tata Elxsi systems in the area of software development.

Swapna holds a Masters degree in computer science from Bellevue University Nebraska.

Amanda Skarlupka

Amanda Skarlupka is a Senior Program Manager for Vivli. She brings over 12 years of experience in pre-clinical and translational research, data management, and program management including providing strategic input and grants management for the National Institutes of Health. Amanda earned her Ph.D. in Infectious Diseases and her M.S. In Biostatistics and Epidemiology from the University of Georgia.

Prior to this role, Amanda was a Health Scientist Administrator and Presidential Management Fellow at the National Cancer Institute within the Division of Cancer Prevention. She oversaw the division’s initiation, development, and close-out of programs designed to build trans-disciplinary bridges between data scientists, oncologists, and federal agencies.

Elizabeth Connolly

Prior to joining Vivli, Elizabeth was an Architect at Insight, Inc., a Vivli development partner. At Insight, Elizabeth was one of the first developers for the Vivli platform, joining the project at its kickoff in 2017 and continuing to work on Vivli for much of the next 7 years. She played a key role in translating complex business requirements into an effective implementation, and became known as the development team’s domain expert. Her other Insight experience included a number of Azure-based projects in the healthcare and life sciences vertical, working as a full stack developer with design responsibility for numerous Web APIs. Prior to Insight, Elizabeth worked in the medical device industry, building native applications for computer-assisted medical devices, with responsibility for all application development, maintenance, and software-related regulatory support.

Zeina Attar

Zeina Attar is a Senior Program Manager at Vivli, where she leads strategic alignment and governance efforts to support operational excellence and sustainable growth. She brings over 15 years of experience driving complex, cross-functional initiatives across health, research, and regulatory domains.

Before joining Vivli, Zeina held program leadership roles at the National Institutes of Health, where she managed high-impact initiatives for the All of Us Research Program—advancing precision medicine through improved data transparency and delivery. Prior to that, she spent a decade at 3E, managing regulatory SaaS implementations and global compliance projects for organizations such as the European Chemicals Agency.

Zeina is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. She is passionate about building high-performing teams, strengthening program delivery frameworks, and driving mission-aligned impact through data and collaboration.

Rylie Garrison

Rylie Garrison, MEd is the Grants and Finance Administrator of Vivli. She also serves as Senior Grants Administrator in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In this position, she oversees finance and compliance for approximately 150 research grants from a variety of federal and philanthropic sponsors. She received her MEd in Higher Education Administration in 2019.

Alex Senra

Alex joined the Vivli team in 2024 as an Executive Assistant where she provides support to our team.

Prior to joining Vivli, Alex worked with a boutique immigration law firm as a Law Clerk, supporting the partners and preparing substantive legal documents. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Studies.

Vivli to host workshop at 2023 Cochrane Colloquium

Vivli will host a workshop at the 2023 Cochrane Colloquium in London on September 4. The Cochrane Colloquium is an annual event for Cochrane in support of its mission to promote evidence-informed health decision-making. 

Vivli’s workshop will focus on “Practical advice for accessing patient-level data from a data sharing platform for evidence synthesis.” This session will provide: 

  • an introduction to the Vivli platform, including an overview of data available and hands-on group work on how to submit a request for data
  • an overview of first-hand experience of using patient level data using Vivli’s data sharing platform as a case study 
  • a discussion session focusing on some of the opportunities and challenges associated with using patient level data (for example: what to do when data needed to answer the hypothesis is not available via a single data sharing platform?)

This session will be a mixture of hands-on practice and opportunities to hear from researchers who have used the platform, patient advocates, and data providers. There will also be time for participants to ask questions about the data access process. 

Vivli Senior Director Julie Wood will be joined by Alan Chant, the patient representative on the Independent Review Panel; Catrin Tudur Smith from the University of Liverpool; and Rebecca Sudlow from Roche to facilitate this workshop. 

For more information on the 2023 Cochrane Colloquium and to register for this session, please see the event schedule. Please note that participation in this session is open only to registered Colloquium attendees. 



Sarah Sweet

Sarah is a Senior Clinical Research Manager at Vivli. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science (BS) from Salem State University in 2015 and a Master of Science in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics (MS) from University of Maryland in 2022.

Prior to this role, Sarah has worked in a Molecular Biology laboratory as an Associate Scientist at Azenta Life Sciences. Most recently, she worked at a precision oncology company, Guardant Health, which specializes in liquid biopsy. Here, she served as a supervisor where she led Biospecimen management operation teams in the San Diego and Redwood City laboratories and gained experience in clinical trial sample management and clinical trial project coordination.

Submitting Your NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan using Vivli

The NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) policy went into effect in January 2023 to promote the sharing of scientific data.

Please watch Vivli’s recent webinar and find out more about how Vivli can help you navigate the NIH Data Management and Sharing policy. Hear from academic staff on their experiences in supporting researchers with their Data Management and Sharing Plans (DMSP).

During this webinar, we:

  • Provide an overview of Vivli, including what types of data should be shared in Vivli
  • Discuss the benefits of using Vivli to meet the data sharing requirements of your NIH grant
  • Review the steps to completing the NIH DMSP and budget justification
  • Hear views from academic staff on their experiences supporting researchers to complete the new NIH DMSP

Speakers include:

  • Anne Seymour, Johns Hopkins University
  • Amy Nurnberger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • John Borghi, Stanford University
  • Rebecca Li and Julie Wood, Vivli

Participants had the opportunity to ask questions. This webinar is most useful for current or prospective NIH grantees or those who support them.

View Recording

Kim Aliffi

Kim joined the Vivli team in 2021 as Administrative Coordinator and currently works as Manager of Administration, where she is responsible for supporting members in their day-to-day operations. 

Prior to joining Vivli, Kim worked with a commercial real estate firm as an Executive Assistant, supporting a team of brokers and developing standard operating procedures. Kim holds an Associate of Science degree in Public Health.