Michael Sherman JD retired from his position as a Managing Director at Barclays Plc in 2018, where he had worked since 2008. Previously he was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, Inc. He has worked in investment banking for 30 years. Mr. Sherman has significant experience in healthcare finance, most recently assisting on a $450 million convertible transaction for Neurocrine Biosciences. He has worked on successful financial transactions for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Amgen Inc., Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., and Cardinal Health, among other companies. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Sherman received his JD, cum laude, from the Harvard Law School.
Steven Gorlin founded many biopharma companies including Hycor Biomedical, Theragenics, Medicis Pharmaceutical, EntreMed, MRI Interventions, DARA BioSciences, MiMedx, Medivation (sold to Pfizer for $14 billion) and NantKwest. Mr. Gorlin served for many years on the Business Advisory Council to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and on The Johns Hopkins BioMedical Engineering Advisory Board. He is currently a member of the Research Institute Advisory Committee (RIAC) of Massachusetts General Hospital. He started The Touch Foundation, a nonprofit organization for the blind, and was a principal contributor to Camp Kudzu for diabetic children.
Robert Hariri MD, PhD, Chairman, founder, and CEO of Celularity, Inc., a leading cellular therapeutics company. He was the founder and CEO of Anthrogenesis Corporation, and after its acquisition served as CEO of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics. Dr. Hariri co-founded the genomic health intelligence company, Human Longevity, Inc. Dr. Hariri pioneered the use of stem cells to treat a range of life-threatening human diseases. He is widely acknowledged for his discovery of pluripotent stem cells and for assisting with discovering the physiological activities of tumor necrosis factor (TNF). He holds over 170 issued and pending patents and has authored over 150 publications.
Sigmund Rogich CEO of President of The Rogich Communications Group and serves on the Board of Keep Memory Alive, a philanthropic organization which raises awareness about brain disorders and Alzheimer's disease. Keep Memory Alive funds clinical trials to advance new treatments for patients with Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as multiple sclerosis. Mr. Rogich was formerly the US Ambassador to Iceland. He has served as a senior consultant to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Mr. Rogich serves on multiple boards of directors for charitable causes.
Terren Peizer’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors are primarily based on his experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and financier with a particular interest in healthcare, having founded and successfully commercialized several healthcare companies. Mr. Peizer is the founder of Ontrak, Inc., a leader in behavioral and mental health management services, having served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Ontrak, Inc. since inception in 2004. Mr. Peizer also is the Founder, Chairman and CEO and majority shareholder of NeurMedix, Inc., a biotechnology Company with a focus on inflammatory, neurological and neuro-degenerative diseases. Mr. Peizer is Chairman of Acuitas Group Holdings, LLC, his personal holding Company that owns his portfolio Company interests. Through Acuitas, he owns Crede Capital Group, LLC, an industry leader in investing in micro and small capitalization public equities, having invested over $1.2 billion directly into portfolio companies.
Jonathan Adams’s qualifications to serve as our President and Chief Operating Officer are primarily based on his founding of LAT Pharma LLC and his over 26 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience. As Chief Executive of LAT Pharma LLC, Mr. Adams was a key contributor to inventing the BIV201 product candidate. He also helped to secure an Orphan Drug designation for a terlipressin analogue (a prior product candidate which is no longer in development). Mr. Adams’s biopharmaceutical experience includes work in corporate finance, company acquisitions and licensing deals, marketing and sales support.
Wendy Kim’s qualifications to serve as our Chief Financial Officer are primarily based on her 35 years of accounting experience and having served as CFO for several companies and the provision of interim CFO services, accounting and business consultative services to various organizations through Group JWK, BDO USA, LLP and KPMG.
Dr. Markham’s qualifications to serve as our Scientific Officer are primarily based on her years of experience with LAT Pharma, as well as having been a member of NIH grant review panels and consulted for several pharmaceutical companies in a variety of therapeutic areas including Orphan Drug development.
Cuong Do’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors are primarily based on his decades of experience as an executive in the pharma, biotech, and other high technology industries. He was previously the Chief Strategy Officer for Merck, a leading U.S. pharmaceuticals Company, Tyco Electronics, and Lenovo. Mr. Do is a former senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where he spent 17 years and helped build the healthcare, high tech and corporate finance practices.