Chair of Board for Epygenix Therapeutics, Polaryx Therapeutics and Forest Hills Lab; Owner and CEO of Mstone and Curyx Partners and other drug development companies
Former member of the investment and risk committees for a number of regional and country-focused private equity funds and director roles for both listed and private companies
Former Managing Partner at Kim & Chang Hong Kong and Partner at Ernst & Young Hong Kong in connection with fund formation and financial services industry for the Asia Pacific region
Former Private Equity investment professional and In-house counsel in Morgan Stanley Hong Kong
Former international tax specialist in Coopers & Lybrand and Ernst & Young New York
J.D. and L.L.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law and Bachelor in Economics from Binghamton University
Bar member with the State of New York and a registered foreign attorney with Hong Kong Law Society
Mitchel S. Berger, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.N.S.
Dr. Berger serves as a Director of Brain Tumor Research Centre in University of California.
Dr. Berger completed his 23-year tenure as Chair of Neurological Surgery at UCSF.
Dr. Berger was elected to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons’ board of directors and appointed to the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
Invited to one of the 20-member Blue Ribbon Committee under Biden administration as an exceptional and prominent medical professional
Dr. Berger received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Luis A Rojas, Ph.D. – Head of Clinical Development, Statistical Analysis and Technologies
Luis is highly experienced Research Scientist Statistician with 30+ years in the pharmaceutical, medical device, CRO, and academia industry.
Subject-Matter Expert (SME) in Study Design / Adaptive Design for Phase I through Phase IV studies.
More than 20 years of leadership and project management experience, including managing global staff of 140+ Biostatisticians and Statistical Programmers.
Former Head of Study Designs / Adaptive Design unit within Advisory Service Analytics / Center for Statistics in Drug Development in IQVIA, while acting as lead Senior Research Scientist Statistician for the GI, Rare Diseases, Ophthalmology, CNS, Lupus, RA Center of Excellence.
Dr. Rojas received his PhD in Research Statistics from the Rafael Belloso Chacin, Venezuel
Hahn-Jun Lee, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer
Founder/CEO of Epygenix Therapeutics and Polaryx Therapeutics
Over 20 years of involvement in R&D, licensing, deal-making, business development, and company creation
Former consultant for top healthcare venture capital firms, global pharma and biotech companies including Doman Associates, Shire Human Genetic Therapies, P&G Pharmaceuticals, Melior discovery, CDI Diagnostics, RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals
Former consultant for Korean biotech companies including Binex, Alteogen, and research institutes including Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)
Former Assistant Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Columbia University
Formerly, Staff Scientist at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan
B.Sc. in Life Sciences in Sogang University, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in applied biotechnology in University of Tokyo, Japan.
Dr. Hynda K. Kleinman, Ph.D.
Director of a research lab at the NIH for 31 years.
Author of 430 papers and has 9 patents, 2 of which have been successfully commercialized.
Inventor of Matrigel, which is used worldwide for various in vitro/in vivo assays and was among the top 15 NIH patents bearing royalties for many years.
Consultant of various biotech companies, including Bioqual Inc, Palabra, RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals Inc, and Polaryx Therapeutics.
Recipient of Hildegard Doerenkamp-Gerhardt Zbinden Award, Debio Peptide Award for identifying a peptide which inhibits cancer growth and metastases, WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Award, and Senior Woman in Science Award from the American Society for Cell Biology.
M.S. and Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Postdoctoral fellowship at Tufts University
Colleen Johnson, M.S., D.A.B.T. – Head of Toxicology
Toxicology consultant assisting small- to mid-sized pharmaceutical companies with all aspects of nonclinical development which includes monitoring studies, interacting with toxicology laboratories, representing sponsors at regulatory agencies, and preparing regulatory submissions.
Member of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, the Roundtable of Toxicology Consultants, and the American College of Toxicology.
Associate Member of Society of Toxicology.
Board certified with the American Board of Toxicology.
BSc.Phm. at the University of California Santa Barbara, M.S.in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Arizona.
Dr. David R. Luke, BSc.Pharm., PharmD., FACA, FCCP – Chief Medical Officer
Former Senior Director of Clinical and Scientific Affairs at Target Health Inc.
12 NDA approvals in many different therapeutic areas, more than 2 dozen INDs, active participation in FDA meetings, 120+ peer-reviewed publications, 2 chapters, 100+ posters and presentations, and patent holder of initiatives involving HIV, fungal disease, and acute kidney injury.
Former officer of the Connecticut Medical Reserve Corps and various medical societies.
Former advisory consultant with NASA/Johnson Space Center Steering Committee on the study of drugs in a zero-gravity environment.
RLeadership positions at Pfizer Global Research and Development, Roche, Alexion, and Melinta Pharmaceuticals.
Academic positions at the University of Minnesota, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Houston College of Pharmacy, and Rutgers College of Pharmacy.
BSc.Phm. at the University of Toronto, Pharm.D. at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences, and a 2-year fellowship in infectious diseases and nephrology at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Scott Baraban, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurological Surgery and William K. Bowes Jr. Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research at the UC San Francisco and an Adjunct Professor in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the UC Berkeley.
Scientific advisory boards of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation, ZeClinics, and Epygenix Therapeutics.
Director of the Epilepsy Research Laboratory in the Department of Neurological Surgery.
Recipient of numerous awards including Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Fund Neuroscience Fellowship, UCSF Innovation in Basic Science Award, EUREKA grant from the NIH and an NINDS Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the Research Recognition Award from the American Epilepsy Society.
Developer of the first zebrafish models for epilepsy and drug screening, and the first interneuron-based cell transplantation strategies
BSc. in Johns Hopkins University, and Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Virginia.
Jay Vijayan, Ph.D.
Jay Vijayan is Director of Innovation and Technology Commercialization at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), where he is responsible for the commercialization of life science technologies.
Dr. Vijayan began his career in technology transfer at the University of Illinois. He was then recruited to Rutgers University as Assistant Director, Licensing. Prior to joining HSS, Dr. Vijayan served as Head of Technology Transfer at Rush University Medical Center.
During his more than a decade long career in technology transfer, he has co-founded a medical device company, served as consultant and advisor to biotech and pharma companies, served on various committees of Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), Licensing Executive Society (LES), American Heart Association (AHA), Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and as a Scientist/Technology transfer reviewer on peer review panels of the Department of Defense (DOD) translational and clinical trial grants.
Dr. Vijayan received his PhD in Neuroscience and Physiology from the City University of New York and completed his thesis work in the laboratory of eminent Alzheimer Disease Scientist Prof. Khalid Iqbal. Subsequently, he trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor. He received his MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Illinois.
Dr. Theron (Ted) Odlaug, Ph.D.
Dr. Theron (Ted) Odlaug brings over 40 years of experience with significant leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and allied industries. Ted is currently a Board Member of Signet Healthcare Partners portfolio company Ascendia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
He is also a Board Member of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation and is on the Advisory Board of Carstens Inc. He was a Board Member of CoreRx Inc. until its sale to NovaQuest in early 2021.
Prior to that, he was Executive Chairman of Impopharma Inc. and CEO of leon-nanodrugs GmbH, and a member of its Supervisory Board. He was the Executive Chairman of Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals until the company was sold to Albany Molecular Research Inc. in 2014. From 2011 Ted was the Executive Chairman and CEO of Planet Biopharmaceuticals until the company was sold to Ares Life Sciences in 2014. From 2008 until 2011, he was President and CEO of CyDex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at which time the company was sold to Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and a member of the senior management committee at Fujisawa Healthcare Inc. until its merger with Yamanouchi in 2005, which resulted in the formation of Astellas Pharma. He left Astellas in 2006 after successfully supporting the U.S. post-merger integration process. Earlier in his career he had senior positions at Bayer and Baxter,
Ted holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurological Sciences, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, and the Floyd A. Davis, MD.D., Endowed Chair at Rush University Medical Center.
Research Scientist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.
Award-winner of The Zenith Fellows Award 2017, the highest honor award by Alzheimer’s Association.
Senior editor of Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.
Mary Shatzoff, M.S., Head of Regulatory Affairs
25 years in Regulatory Affairs of pharmaceutical industry in clinical drug development
Experience working at Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer and as an independent consultant
Contributed to over 100 drug and biologic product applications and participated in development and marketing approval of products with therapeutic areas: Anti-Infective, Gastroenterology, Dermatology, Urology, Neurology
Experience with regulatory bodies such as FDA (CDER and CBER); OOPD (orphan). EU; EMA, Canada (HC) and Australia; TGA
Anthony Lam – Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer of Curyx Partners Therapeutics Holdings.
Former Chief Investment Officer of Transpac Capital Limited where his responsibilities include defining investment strategy and market positioning, leading recruitment efforts to build investment team, and leading fund raising efforts on USD and RMB PE funds. Responsible for identifying, structuring and closing transactions.
Former Managing Director and Head of China for Asia Climate Partners (“ACP”) managing a US$450 million fund. ACP targets investments in renewable energy, resource efficiency and environmental industries in emerging Asia with a strong focus on China, India and SE Asia.
Former Managing Director and Co-Head of Asia Pacific for The Rohatyn Group. Here he served on global investment and management committee with responsibility for the investment management process including advising, research and execution in an asset management capacity. Managed an outstanding portfolio of 7 investees with total investment amount of over $600 million in China, Singapore, South Korea as well as Thailand.
Former Partner at Citigroup Venture Capital International. Here he was responsible for sourcing, advising, executing and monitoring private equity investments in Asia Pacific.
BA (Hons) in Computing Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1991) and MBA, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (1995); Chartered Financial Analyst (since 2001) and Certificate of Washington State Certified Public Accountant (CPA–Inactive) (since 2000)
