Leadership
Executive Team
Shekar Shetty
Chief Executive Officer
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30+ years experience in R&D, marketing and commercializing technology in healthcare and specialty chemicals
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Senior management positions at Air Liquide and Nalco
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MBA, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management; MS, Chemical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology
Xinhua Li, PhD
EVP, Drug Development
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30+ years developing therapeutics in pharma and biotechnology companies
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Senior positions at Arsenal Medical, GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme and Dyax Corp.
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PhD, Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis; Postdoctoral fellow, Chemistry, Harvard University; MBA, Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business
Peter Howe
Chief Financial Officer
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25+ years experience in investment banking and startups
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Completed over 30 corporate finance and M&A transactions including public market capital raises for Cephalon, Alkermes and GelTex
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MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management; BA, Emory University
Mitch Zakin, PhD
EVP, Innovation
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35+ years experience developing technologies for life sciences and chemical and biological defense
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Former DARPA Program Manager, visiting scholar, Wyss Institute for Bio-Inspired Engineering at Harvard Medical School; Co-Founder of Soft Robotics, Inc.
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PhD, Physical Chemistry, Harvard University; BS, Chemistry, CCNY
Winston Henderson, JD
General Counsel
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25+ years experience in intellectual property/corporate law and working in technology startups from founding to exit
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Member, Board of Trustees at Boston Children's Hospital, work experience includes Kenyon & Kenyon, Anderson Consulting, and Surface Logix
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JD, Duke University School of Law; BSE, Biomedical Engineering & Electrical Engineering, Duke University
Advisors
John Marota, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. John Marota is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate in Boston, MA. A practicing anesthesiologist, Dr. Marota has over 35 years of clinical & research experience. His research is focused primarily on the use of functional MRI to investigate development of acute tolerance to the cerebral stimulating effects of cocaine that occurs with prolonged drug exposure. He has also investigated the relationship between cerebral blood flow, blood volume, and oxygen consumption during neural activation to better understand the mechanism by which the brain couples cerebral vascular hemodynamics to metabolism; a concept fundamental to the basis of almost all techniques to image functional activity of the central nervous system. He has also conducted research on opiates & pain; specifically, how the CNS responds to acute and chronic pain and chronic opioid exposure. Dr. Marota was Medical Director at the Medicines Company from 2015-2018. He has authored over 37 publications.
Dr. Roneet Lev, MD
Scripps Mercy Hospital
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Dr. Lev is the director of operations of the Scripps Mercy Emergency Department, San Diego CA campus. She has been practicing medicine at the hospital since 1993, was board certified in emergency medicine in 1995 and re-certified in 2005. Dr. Lev served as president of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians for 2000 to 2001, representing more than 3,000 emergency physicians in California. She chairs the Emergency Medicine Oversight Commission (EMOC) with the San Diego County Medical Society, uniting all 19 emergency departments in San Diego to improve emergency care for the community. She was the first Chief Medical Officer, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and instrumental in creating the national Methamphetamine Response Act of 2021 (S.854).
Steven Shoptaw, PhD.
Steven Shoptaw PhD. is Professor in Family Medicine and in Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He directs the Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine and is Vice Chair for Research in Family Medicine at UCLA. The research Prof. Shoptaw conducts is translational, he works with basic science researchers and with clinicians to study the ways that methamphetamine, affects behavioral and biological processes in gut, in brain, and in relevance to HIV transmission. Dr. Shoptaw energetically maintains research, clinical and policy efforts to bring novel and high impact solutions to delivering culturally competent care for persons affected by addictions and HIV. Prof. Shoptaw is active within the Los Angeles County area in working with policymakers, scientists and agency leaders to develop and evaluate initiatives to optimize impacts of HIV prevention and addiction investments. In addition to his extensive research portfolio, Prof. Shoptaw maintains a small clinical psychology practice at UCLA, treating patients with severe substance use and mental health disorders.
Marc Rubin, MD
Marc Rubin, MD, is a member of the Board of Directors of Titan Pharmaceuticals, (previously holding the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Titan Pharmaceuticals) and is a member of the Board of Directors of Curis Inc., and Galectin Therapeutics. Dr. Rubin has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with a focus on drug development and commercialization. Dr. Rubin previously served as Head of Global Research and Development for Bayer Schering Pharma, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of Bayer Healthcare and the Board of Management of Bayer Schering Pharma. Prior to the Merger of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Schering AG in June 2006, Dr. Rubin was a member of the Board of Executive Directors of Schering AG, as well as Chairman of Schering Berlin Inc. and President of Berlex Pharmaceuticals, a division of Schering AG. From 1990 until August 2003, Dr. Rubin was employed by GlaxoSmithKline where he held positions with responsibility for global clinical and commercial development overseeing programs in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Dr. Warwick Tong, MB, ChB, MPP, GAICD
Dr. Tong is a New Zealand trained physician based in Melbourne Australia with over 35 years of executive management and governance roles in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In his career he has been directly involved with the development of one drug that has achieved FDA approval and two others that are in clinical development. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Amplia Therapeutics Limited (ASX: ATX) and a Director of Aculeus Therapeutics. Previously he held positions at GlaxoSmithKline, including country, regional and global roles as Medical Director, Business Development Director and VP Commercial Strategy for Infectious Diseases. In addition, he was CEO of a public-private partnership in oncology drug development and brings decades of experience in clinical development. Before his pharmaceutical industry career Dr. Tong worked in primary care medicine for 14 years, founding two medical clinics in New Zealand.
Joseph Cotten, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Cotten is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate in Boston, MA. A practicing anesthesiologist, Dr. Cotten’s current research addresses the molecular mechanisms by which anesthetics activate TASK tandem pore potassium channel function and in the characterization of breathing stimulants for use in opioid-induced respiratory depression reversal. Dr. Cotten is co-inventor of a sequestrant drug for opioid and stimulant reversal and has authored over 45 publications.
Prof. George M. Whitesides, PhD
Harvard University
Currently the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University, Prof. George Whitesides’ present research interests include materials science, surface science, polyvalency, microfluidics, optics, self-assembly, microfabrication, nanotechnology, and cell surface biochemistry. Prior to joining Harvard, he was a member of the faculty of the MIT from 1963 to 1982. Prof. Whitesides is a co-founder of companies with a combined market capitalization of over $20 billion. In the early 80s, he co-founded biotechnology company Genzyme, which remains one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies; in 1993 he co-founded GelTex, which was acquired by Genzyme for $1.2 billion; and in 1996, he co-founded Theravance, which went public in 2004 and currently has a $1.1billion market capitalization. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the American Philosophical Society, among other organizations.