FIRST WAVE BIOPHARMA - Key Persons
Dr. Riddell joined our board of directors in September 2015. He is also currently Chairman of a private UK biotech, Nemesis Biosciences Ltd, Chairman of a UK AIM listed medical imaging company Feedback plc and Chairman of the South West Academic Health Science Network, which fosters links between the NHS, industry and universities. He was also on the board of directors of another US private company, Skyline Vet Pharma until April 2017. Dr. Riddell has over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical, life science and biotech industries, 18 years as main board director. After 10 years directing phases 1-4 clinical trials of antibiotics, oncology and intensive care products for companies including Lederle (now Pfizer) and Centocor (now J&J), he spent 5 years managing sales and marketing for oncology and imaging products for Amersham International (now GE Healthcare). This led to 12 years as CEO for 3 UK biotech companies, Pharmagene, Paradigm Therapeutics and Stem Cell Sciences; in these roles he was the principal involved in significant fund raising including an IPO on UK's main list and trade sales to Takeda in Japan and Stem Cells Inc. in the USA. He has since had several roles in UK government initiatives related to promoting cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and the NHS and assessing projects for funding with Innovate UK. He began his career as a medical doctor in a variety of hospital specialties and in general practice. He was recently awarded a Doctorate of Science, Honoris Causa by Aston University.
Job Titles:
- VP of REGULATORY AFFAIRS, QA & COMPLIANCE
Ms. Chandler has more than 25 years of experience in the medical device, pharmaceutical and combination product industries, supporting CNS, cardiovascular, endovascular, consumer and wound care product development and manufacturing. She began her career at Johnson & Johnson where she held multiple positions of increasing levels of responsibilities within the Quality Assurance organization (QAU, QA, QC, QE, SQA). She has expertise in the development of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs organizations and systems throughout all stages of a product life cycle. In addition, she has created both US and international strategies and submissions to secure key regulatory approvals and ensure quality and compliance. Ms. Chandler holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry, a M.S. degree in Textile Technology, and is RAC (Global) certified.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR
- INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
- Professor
Dr. Khosla is a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Stanford University and the founding director of the university's Innovative Medicines Accelerator. He received his Ph.D. in 1990 at Caltech. After completing postdoctoral studies in 1992, he joined the faculty of Stanford University. In 2002 he and his collaborators discovered that the immunotoxicity of dietary gluten in celiac disease is causatively correlated to its intestinal proteolytic resistance, a finding that led to the invention of latiglutenase by his laboratory. He has co-authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on more than 80 issued U.S. patents. Dr. Khosla is an elected member of the American Academy for Arts and Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. Over the past three decades, he has helped launch and build four biotechnology companies including Kosan Biosciences (NASDAQ:KOSN; acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2008) and Sitari Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2019).
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the COMPENSATION COMMITTEE
- DIRECTOR
- INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Mr. Casamento joined our board in March 2017. Since 2007 Mr. Casamento has been executive director and principal of The Sage Group, a health care advisory group. He was president and CEO of Osteologix, a start up company which he eventually took public, from October 2004 until April 2007. Mr. Casamento was the founder of Questcor Pharmaceuticals where he was president, CEO and chairman from 1999 through 2004. At Questcor he acquired Acthar, a product whose sales eventually exceeded $1.0 Billion. Eventually Questcor was acquired by Mallinckrodt. At RiboGene Inc. he was president, CEO and chairman from 1993 until 1999 when he merged the company with another company to form Questcor where he continued as CEO and Chairman. He was also co-founder, president and CEO of Indevus (formerly Interneuron Pharmaceuticals). Eventually Indevus was acquired by Endo. He has held senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President, American Hospital Supply, where he was Vice President of Business Development for the Critical Care division, Johnson & Johnson, Hoffmann-LaRoche and Sandoz. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of First Wave Bio, Relmada Therapeutics, where he is also Chairman, GT Biopharma, PaxMedica, Inc. and Eton Pharmaceuticals. He was previously a director and vice-chairman of the Catholic Medical Missions Board a large not for profit international organization. During his career he has served as a director on the Boards of fifteen public Biotech/Pharma companies. He holds a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from Iona University.
Job Titles:
- the Clinical Research Circle
Job Titles:
- Member of the EPI STEERING COMMITTEE
- Physician - Scientist
Darwin L. Conwell, M.D. is a physician-scientist in gastroenterology specializing in pancreas disorders and currently Professor of Medicine with tenure at The Ohio State University College of Medicine where he serves as Director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. He is an NIH-funded physician-scientist with over 200 peer reviewed publications. He has achieved extramural funding from the NIH-NIDDK, NCI, NIH-CATS, Harvard Digestive Disease Center, American College of Gastroenterology, ChiRhoClin, Inc., Solvay Pharmaceuticals and the National Pancreas Foundation. He is a member of the NIDDK/NCI U01 Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes and Pancreas Cancer (CPDPC) Consortium, where he serves as the PI for The Ohio State Clinical Center. He also is a member of the NIDDK U01 Type 1 Diabetes Acute Pancreatitis Consortium, where he serves as a multi-PI. Dr. Conwell is the former holder of the Charles Austin Doan Chair in Medicine and currently is the Floyd Beman Endowed Chair in Gastroenterology. Dr. Conwell is active in numerous gastrointestinal societies and is former President of The American Pancreatic Association. He has served on several committees and boards at the American College of Gastroenterology and American Pancreatic Association. Dr. Conwell received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with Honors from Ohio University, Medical Degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a Master's Degree in Clinical Research from the University of Michigan. Dr. Conwell completed internship and residency at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio and gastroenterology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Conwell served as faculty at Cleveland Clinic for 15 years and started the Pancreas Clinic. He later served on staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Aiwa Ruth He currently serves as an Associate Professor and Scientific Lead in Liver and Biliary Cancers at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. As a physician scientist, she has more than 15 years of experience as an adult medical oncologist and a researcher investigating cancer biology and therapeutics. As a clinician, she has extensive experience treating patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer (HCC). As a researcher, she has served as primary or co-investigator on many peer-reviewed studies exploring novel therapeutics targeting STAT3 in IL6 signaling, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases in DNA repair, and kallistatin in Wnt signaling pathways. Her work as a clinical investigator has also included trials that supported FDA approval of new therapeutics for advanced HCC patients, including nivolumab, bevacizumab/atezolizumab combination, and nivolumab/ipilimumab combination. Dr. He graduated from the Hunan Medical University in 1991 and earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at East Carolina University School of Medicine.
Dr. Anthony Opipari is a physician scientist known for his recent work at the interface between clinical medicine, basic research, and drug development. He co-founded the former First Wave Bio and served as the company's Chief Medical Officer until its acquisition by AzurRx BioPharma (now First Wave BioPharma). Previously, Dr. Opipari was a member of the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, in the Division of Gynecological Oncology, until he retired from active faculty and was awarded emeritus status in 2019. His NIH-funded research at the University of Michigan resulted in the discovery of novel drug targets and associated novel therapeutic mechanisms of action that formed the basis for multiple biotechnology spinouts, including Lycera Corp., which he co-founded. Dr. Opipari also co-founded and directed translational medicine at IFM Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer. Dr. Opipari earned a medical degree and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IBD STEERING COMMITTEE
Dr. Brian Feagan is a gastroenterologist, with training in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, now serving as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University and Senior Scientific Director at Alimentiv, Inc. He earned his medical degree at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in London, Ontario, Canada. His postdoctoral training included a residency in Internal Medicine and a clinical fellowship in Gastroenterology in the Department of Medicine at UWO, and postgraduate training in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr. Feagan holds membership in the Canadian and American Association of Gastroenterology, the American College of Gastroenterology, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Crohn's and Colitis Canada (CCC) and European Crohn's and Colitis Organization (ECCO). He has authored over 480 articles and book chapters and has given over 600 invited presentations at national and international scientific meetings. In 1997, Dr. Feagan was named Director of Robarts Clinical Trials at the Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario and in 2020, he became Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc. (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials). His research efforts focus on the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials of therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. He has been the principal investigator on numerous large-scale randomized clinical trials.
Dr. Brian Feagan is a world-renowned gastroenterologist, with expertise in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University and Senior Scientific Director at Alimentiv, Inc. Dr. Feagan's research efforts focus on the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials of therapy for IBD. He has served as principal investigator on more than 140 multi-center clinical trials focused on novel IBD therapeutics.
Job Titles:
- Member of the ICI - AC STEERING COMMITTEE
- Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College
Dr. David Faleck is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College and an attending physician in the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where he directs the interdisciplinary management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and patients with gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities associated with cancer immunotherapies. Dr. Faleck also leads research efforts focused on the prediction, evaluation, and management of immunotherapy-related colitis. He is the principal investigator at MSK on a NIH/NIDDK-funded collaborative U01 grant funding research to explore the pathways of inflammation in immunotherapy-related colitis and develop predictive biomarkers and novel management strategies and leads a grant-funded pilot clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of refractory immunotherapy-related colitis. Additionally, Dr. Faleck serves as co-principal investigator on a prospective Registry for Patients with Long-Standing Inflammatory Bowel Disease or Colitis-Associated Cancer that seeks to identify early biomarkers of IBD-associated dysplasia and cancer. Dr. Faleck is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University where he was a recipient of the Golding Research Tuition Scholarship and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He subsequently completed residency in internal medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IBD STEERING COMMITTEE
- Professor and Head of the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata
Dr. Giovanni Monteleone is a Professor and Head of the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy and serves as the lead investigator in First Wave BioPharma's Phase 2 clinical trial investigating a topical formulation of niclosamide (FW-UP) as a potential treatment for patients with ulcerative proctitis (UP) and ulcerative proctosigmoiditis (UPS). Since joining the faculty at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in 2003, Dr. Monteleone has pursued research on the mechanisms involved in the control of mucosal immune homeostasis and inflammatory signals that sustain and amplify pathological processes in the gastrointestinal tract that has contributed to delineating novel pathways of intestinal mucosal damage and the development of anti-inflammatory compounds. Dr. Monteleone has authored 300 peer-reviewed articles, books, and book chapters, and serves as an editorial board member for several medical journals. He received his medical degree from the University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro in Italy, where he also completed an internship, a residency, and a fellowship in gastroenterology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IBD STEERING COMMITTEE
- Professor of Medicine
Dr. Julian Panes is Professor of Medicine and the Chief of the Department of Gastroenterology at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona. His research team works on the identification of new molecular targets for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, the development of cell therapies and the implementation of new diagnostic tools, with a particular focus on cross-sectional imaging. Dr. Panes is an expert on performing early- to late-stage clinical trials for new IBD therapeutics. Dr. Panes was President of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization (ECCO) and is currently a member of the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA).
Job Titles:
- Member of the IBD STEERING COMMITTEE
- Medical Director of the Digestive Health Center at Northwestern Medicine
Dr. Stephen Hanauer currently serves as Medical Director of the Digestive Health Center at Northwestern Medicine and is a Clifford Joseph Barborka Professor of Medicine in the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Hanauer is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Gastroenterology, respectively. He holds membership in several professional societies and is a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American College of Gastroenterology and the American College of Physicians. In connection with the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), Dr. Hanauer served as chair for the Inflammation, Immunology, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Section and the Clinical Practice Section and subsequently served as Councilor for Clinical Research on the AGA Governing Board. He is a prior member of the Specialty Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Among his many honors, Dr. Hanauer received the AGA Fiterman Foundation Joseph B. Kirsner Award in Gastroenterology in 2001 and the Janssen Award for Clinical Excellence in 2004. He has served as a Member and Chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Panel for Gastrointestinal Disorders and is a member and former Chairman of the International Organization for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Job Titles:
- INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
- LEAD INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
- Chairman of NOMINATION & GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
- LEAD
Mr. Borkowski joined our board of directors in May 2015. He previously served as the Executive Vice President at TherapeuticsMD and Chief Financial Officer of ConvaTec Healthcare, CareFusion Corporation and Mylan, Inc. and in a variety of finance positions at Pharmacia, American Home Products, Cyanamid and at Arthur Andersen. Mr. Borkowski holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Political Science from Allegheny College and a Master in Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Rutgers University.
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Job Titles:
- CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
- INSIDE DIRECTOR
- PRESIDENT
- Chairman Financial Experts Members
Dr. Syage has over 30 years of experience in creating and leading the development of innovative technologies in the analytical instrumentation field. He is regarded as a leading expert in mass spectrometry and trace chemical detection.
Dr. Syage served as CEO and Co-Founder of ImmunogenX, a global leader in the development of treatments for celiac disease, which developed latiglutenase before its combination with First Wave BioPharma. Previously he founded Syagen Technology, Inc. and led its growth culminating in its successful acquisition by French multinational Safran S.A. in 2011. Dr. Syage sits on the Board of Directors of Advanced Telesensors, PhageTech, Analytical Detection, and Appellation Ventures. He has published over 130 papers, delivered about 100 invited talks, has over 30 U.S. patents issued or pending, and appears on the list of the Most Highly Cited Chemists.
His honorary positions include Fellow of the American Physical Society, Visiting Professor at UC Irvine, Visiting Professor at the Université de Paris-Sud, Editorial Board member of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, and invitee to the Nobel Symposium in Chemistry. He has received a Tibbets Award (SBIR) and was recently inducted into the Orange County OC 500 Directory of Influence. He received BA and PhD degrees from Hamilton College and Brown University, respectively, where he won several academic awards including Best Thesis. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech under Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail.
Job Titles:
- CHAIRMAN
- CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
- INSIDE DIRECTOR
- PRESIDENT
Mr. Sapirstein has served for over thirty-nine years in the pharmaceutical industry. After spending seventeen years in large Pharma companies, Mr. Sapirstein started his career in smaller biotech companies when he later joined Gilead Sciences, Inc. to lead the Global Marketing team in its launch of Viread (tenofovir). In 2002, he accepted the position of Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories. Later, in 2006, he became the founding Chief Executive Officer of Tobira Therapeutics, then a private company. Tobira Therapeutics was acquired by Allergan in 2016. In 2012, Mr. Sapirstein became the Chief Executive Officer of Alliqua, Inc. Thereafter, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Contravir Pharmaceuticals from March 2014 until October 2018. Mr. Sapirstein has raised over $400 Million dollars in venture capital and public capital markets financing in his various engagements as Chief Executive Officer. He was named as a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015 as well as in 2016. Mr. Sapirstein currently holds board positions on Renovaro Biosciences, ZyVersa Therapeutics and Blue Water Biotech. He was Chairman of the Board for BioNJ, an association of biopharma industries in New Jersey from February 2017 to February 2019. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors for BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization), the leading biotechnology trade organization promoting public policy and networking in the healthcare space, where he sits on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board and Health Section Board. Mr. Sapirstein received a BS (Pharmacy) from Rutgers University and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Job Titles:
- VP for RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Sealey-Voyksner has more than 30 years' experience in academic and commercial research and development in pharmaceutical, environmental and food sciences. Her expertise is the study and analysis of protein biomarkers and allergenic proteins.
She has most recently co-founded LCMS Limited, an independent analytical laboratory located in RTP, North Carolina and served as Director of R&D. Previously, she worked for Purdue Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim, responsible for developing mass spectrometric methods for the analysis of new drug candidates in biological matrices. Before that Dr. Sealey-Voyksner served on the scientific staff with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment where she developed separation and mass spectrometric methods for the detection and analysis of environmentally significant compounds.
Job Titles:
- SVP for CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
- VP for CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Krusin is an experienced executive with 20 years of business development, strategic marketing, financing and operating experience in the healthcare, financial services, and consulting sectors. Prior to joining First Wave BioPharma as VP for Business Development in 2014, Mr. Krusin was VP for BD at FluoroPharma Medical, Inc.; Director of Business Development at Clewed (a business services and investment partnership); an Experienced Commercial Leader at GE Capital in its Global Sponsor Finance, Healthcare Financial Services, and Capital Solutions units; Vice President of Marketing & Sales and Director of Business Development at Electro-Optical Sciences (MelaSciences); and an analyst in the Emerging Markets Strategic Planning Group at Citigroup. He has also served as a mentor, business coach and head of coaching to over 20 life-science starts-ups, spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare IT, and bio-materials, in the ELab NYC EDC entrepreneurship program from 2016 to the present. Mr. Krusin received an MBA from Columbia Business School in finance and marketing, an MPhil. in political economy from Oxford University, and a BA in international relations from Swarthmore College.
Job Titles:
- VP of CLINICAL OPERATIONS
Mr. Dickason has nearly 30 years of experience in the specialty pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device fields. Most recently he served as Managing Director of Renaissance Associates, a Contract Research Organization (CRO) he founded.
Previously Mr. Dickason was employed at Allergan, Inc. where he held positions of increasing scope and responsibility in R&D (Formulations Chemist, Clinical Research Manager and Project Manager) as well as Botox® Sales/Marketing (Global Medical Marketing Manager, US Product/Brand Manager and Professional Sales Consultant).
Mr. Dickason is one of few biopharmaceutical professionals who has fashioned a unique career working at the interface of science and business. He graduated with a BS degree in Chemistry and an MBA degree from the University of California, Irvine. As a patent holding scientist and business executive, Matt has participated in domestic and international conferences as a speaker on scientific, entrepreneurial, and marketing topics. He is a member of the UCI School of Physical Sciences Dean's Leadership Council.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EPI STEERING COMMITTEE
Michael Konstan, M.D. is Vice Dean for Translational Research and the Gertrude Lee Chandler Tucker Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the Austin Ricci Chair in Pediatric Pulmonary Care and Research at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Konstan has spent his entire professional career in the care and research of people with cystic fibrosis (CF). He has led numerous national and international clinical trials of potentially new therapies for CF, and his seminal work has led to several therapies that are in use today, including the only therapy recommended in guidelines for treating the lung inflammation in CF using high doses of ibuprofen. Dr. Konstan was the first recipient of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Harry Shwachman Clinical Investigator Award, and later in his career he received the Richard C. Talamo Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award from the Foundation. He has published extensively in the medical literature with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, nearly all related to cystic fibrosis. He has served on multiple advisory boards and committees for the CF Foundation, the NIH and the FDA, all related to advancing the treatment of CF. He currently serves on the CF Foundation's Clinical Research Executive Committee. Dr. Konstan received his bachelor's and medical degrees from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). After completing his internship and residency in Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Buffalo, he returned to CWRU and Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital for Fellowship training in Pediatric Pulmonology.
Dr. Richard Marlink has served at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ since 2016 as the Director of the Rutgers Global Health Institute and the Henry Rutgers Professor of Global Health. A medical oncologist by training, he has extensive experience in epidemic response and capacity building, having worked to establish large-scale HIV/AIDS research, training, and clinical care programs in the U.S. and abroad. This work included helping establish the first AIDS clinic in Boston, serving as the principal investigator for "The Tshepo Study," the first large-scale antiretroviral treatment study in southern Africa, and serving as Scientific Director and Vice President for Implementation at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. More recently, Dr. Marlink's work in NJ has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. He serves on the Newark Reopening and Recovery Strikeforce and helped develop the city's initial COVID-19 testing plan, while also spearheading an initiative to support the safe reopening of small businesses in low-income and minority communities and to better prepare those communities for future public health threats. Dr. Marlink has authored or co-authored 147 peer-reviewed articles, numerous scientific articles and chapters, and the textbook, Global AIDS Crisis: A Reference Handbook. He also co-edited the book, AIDS in Africa, served as chief editor for two special supplements to the journal AIDS and served as executive editor of the 320-author, three-volume textbook, From the Ground Up: Building Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Care Programs in Resource Limited Settings. Dr. Marlink completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from the University of New Mexico and received his bachelor's degree from Brown University.
Sarah Romano, CPA, was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of First Wave BioPharma in March 2022. She previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KPRX) (formerly EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing products for treating ophthalmic diseases, from February 2017 through February 2022 and as its Corporate Controller from August 2016 to January 2017. Prior to joining Kiora, Ms. Romano served as Assistant Controller at TechTarget from June 2015 through August 2016 and Corporate Controller at Bowdoin Group, a healthcare-focused executive recruiting firm, from September 2013 through May 2015. Previously, she held financial reporting positions of increasing responsibility at SoundBite Communications from 2008 until its acquisition by Genesys in 2013, and at Cognex Corporation from 2004 through 2008. Ms. Romano began her career as an Auditor in the Boston office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. A licensed CPA in Massachusetts, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from College of the Holy Cross and a Master of Accounting from Boston College.
Job Titles:
- in 2020 As the Product Development Director
- VP of PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Stover joined First Wave BioPharma in 2020 as the Product Development Director to oversee CMC and Project Management. Prior to joining First Wave BioPharma, Mr. Stover spent 20 years focused on manufacturing operations and analytical method development to support all stages of pharmaceutical drug development. Most recently Mr. Stover served as the Senior Director of Program Management for Biorasi after holding positions of Vice President Manufacturing at SCI and Operations Manager for Prioria Robotics. Mr. Stover earned his MBA from the University of Florida.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the AUDIT COMMITTEE
- DIRECTOR
- INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Ms. Coelho joined our board of directors in August 2021. She currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Gamida Cell Ltd. She previously served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Development Officer of CinCor Pharma, Inc. a clinical stage cardiorenal therapeutics company, having led the company through its IPO in early 2022 and the preparation for its eventual sale to AstraZeneca. Previously, Ms. Coelho served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI), a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company, from January 2019 to November 2021. Prior to her tenure at BDSI, Ms. Coelho served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Balchem Corporation (NASDAQ: BCPC) and Chief Operating Officer for Diversey, Inc., a multi-billion-dollar global private equity carve-out from Sealed Air Corporation. She additionally held senior finance positions at Diversey Care, including that of Division Chief Financial Officer and VP of Global Commercial Excellence, from October 2014 through August 2017. Ms. Coelho has also served in senior finance and operational leadership roles of increasing responsibility with leading global organizations, including Mars, Incorporated for 20 years, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2014, including serving as Global Head of Oncology Development Finance. Ms. Coelho currently also serves on the Board of Directors of HOOKIPA Pharma and the Board of Directors of Inotiv, Inc.. Ms. Coelho earned an MBA in Finance from IBMEC in Brazil and a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and International Relations, summa cum laude, from The American University School of International Service in Washington, DC. She has led Women's Networking ERGs at several companies and is a founding Steering Committee Member of the CFO Leadership Council - Charlotte, North Carolina, chapter.
Job Titles:
- Traders News Source Interviews James Sapirstein CEO