Advisors

Dr. Michael Camilleri has been Professor of Medicine and Physiology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine since 2001. He also serves as Scientific Advisor of Irritable Bowel Syndrome at Ocera Therapeutics. Dr. Camilleri joined the staff of the Mayo Clinic… SHOW MORE in 1987. He serves as President-elect of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society (ANMS) 2007 and as a member of the SAB of Edusa Pharmaceuticals (formerly Dynogen Pharmaceuticals) and Synergy Pharmaceuticals. He served on the Governing Board of the ANMS from 1996 to 2000, and as Chairman of Clinical Practice Section from 1997 to 1998. He has authored over 300 articles, co-authored three books, and has served on the editorial boards of a number of journals. Dr. Camilleri has a long list of awards, including the Mayo Clinic Department of Internal Medicine’s Outstanding Investigator Award. He received his undergraduate training and medical degree from his native Malta in 1975, and got academic and clinical training at Hammersmith Hospital and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. His received a Masters degree from the University of London, and he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh.

Dr. Rubinstein is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. He is also an NIH/NHLBI and AHA funded physician scientists with a focus on translational cardiology. He is also the director of the Physician Scientist Training Program at UC. SHOW MORE His research spans a broad spectrum of drug and device development from basic molecular work that has elucidated novel calcium handling pathways at the level of the cardiomyocyte up to clinical trials. Dr. Rubinstein has also recently been appointed the Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. He has continued to maintain an active inpatient and outpatient clinical practice for the entirety of his eight years as faculty at the University of Cincinnati. He is recognized by his peers for his clinical acumen by being voted to the “Top Doctor” list in Cincinnati Magazine for 2016 and 2017, he was  recognized for his advancements in clinical development by the president of the University with the “Emerging Entrepreneur Achievement Award” for 2016-2017” and for his basic research work he obtained a second place recognition by the Northwestern Cardiovascular Forum in 2014 and was a finalist at the AHA Basic Cardiovascular Science Young Investigator Prize in 2013.

Matt holds nearly a decade of drug development experience.  Originally trained as an immunologist and an expert in preclinical animal models, Matt has been involved in the development of different drug modalities… SHOW MORE (biologics, small molecules, cellular therapeutics, vaccines) across multiple therapeutic areas including, GI, immuno-oncology, inflammatory and cardio-metabolic diseases.  Matt has held former positions as drug discovery team leader at Cephalon and global pharmacology project leader at Teva Pharmaceuticals.  Matt is a co-inventor on several patents and has contributed to the intellectual property base of Advaxis and founding of Oncoceutics.  Most recently, he served as program director at United Therapeutics where he was responsible for oversight of clinical oncology activities.

Dr. Steven Johnson currently serves as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Medpace, and is globally responsible for all regulatory affairs and medical writing activities. Dr. Johnson completed his Bachelors of Science, Bachelors of Pharmacy, and Doctor of Pharmacy… SHOW MORE degrees from Washington State University. He has over 18 years of experience in regulatory drug development, of which 8 were at the FDA as a Clinical Pharmacology Extern, Clinical Pharmacology Reviewer, and eventually, a Master Reviewer in the Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Projects (Rockville, MD). Dr. Johnson’s regulatory expertise spans across many areas, including global regulatory strategy development, clinical development, licensing applications (NDA, BLA, MAA), investigational applications (IND & CTA), and regulatory planning, review, critique, and plan execution. He has gained extensive knowledge through his work with the following regulatory agencies: US FDA, EMA (CHMP; PDCO); EU National Authorities (e.g. DHMA, PEI, BfRM, MHRA); Health Canada; PMDA.

Mark Kessel co-founded Symphony Capital LLC, a private equity firm investing in the clinical development programs of biopharmaceutical companies. He is widely recognized as a leader in structuring product development investments… SHOW MORE for the biopharmaceutical industry. Mr. Kessel was formerly the managing partner of Shearman & Sterling, with day-to-day operating responsibility and is currently of-counsel to the Firm where he co-heads its healthcare practice. He is also the Chairman of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), a member of Fondation Santé, an Editorial Advisor to Nature Biotechnology and a director of Organovo and Vincerx. He previously served on strategic advisory committees of biotechnology companies, as a director of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Dynavax Technologies Corporation, OXiGENE, Inc., Antigenics, Inc., Heller Financial Inc., and Harrods (UK) Limited, a Trustee of the Museum of the City of New York and on the advisory committee of the Mt. Sinai Rape Crisis Center. He has written on for the biotech industry and on world health for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Nature Biotechnology, The Lancet, The Scientist, Science Translational Medicine, Start-Up, BioCentury and other publications and on issues related to governance for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Deal, NACD Directorship, BNA’s Corporate Counsel Weekly, Bloomberg BNA, Corporate Law & Accountability Report and Euromoney. He received a B.A. with honors in Economics from the City College of New York and a J.D. magna cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law.