MANAGEMENT
David Kolb, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Founder
Mr. Kolb has nearly 30 years of life science and corporate finance experience including 15 years in the investment banking & equity research industry and over 12 years founding life science companies including Insero (Pediatric Neurology spinout from Harvard; Clinical-stage; Exit), Emunamedica (Wound care diagnsotic spinout from Drexel; Clinical), Partikula (cancer metabolism spinout from UGA; 1st Small molecule multiple checkpoint inhibitor; patents sold) and Significant Supplements (gastrointestinal spinout from Yale; Commercial). David has been working with Yale for over 10 years and has been an EIR at Yale for 5 of those years assisting clinicians and investigators in thinking through the path to commercialization of their inventions. Mr. Kolb has 2 peer-reviewed publications and a number of issued and pending patents.
Demetrios Braddock, MD, PhD
CSO, Scientific Founder
Dr. Braddock is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Yale University where he has spent the past 20 years building his lab as an engine of biologic therapeutics; One of the areas of study for the Braddock lab has been ENPP enzymes – a family of extracellular enzymes that create small molecules in the extracellular environment that regulate organismal homeostasis in processes such as hemostasis, bone mineralization, and vascular development. He is the Scientific Founder of Inozyme (NASDAQ: INZY) which raised over $250 million and was also the Founder and Medical Director of Precipio Diagnostic (NASDAQ: PRPO).
Mia L. Geisinger, DDS, MS
Chief Medical Officer
As Diplomate in the American Board of Periodontology, Dr. Geisinger is Board Certified in Periodontology and Implant Surgery. She serves as a Professor and the Director of Advanced Education in Periodontology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has served on numerous regional and national organized dental committees, including as the Chair of the American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs and as President of the American Academy of Periodontology Foundation. She currently serves as the Vice President for the American Academy of Periodontology and on the Board of Directors of the American Dental Association Science and Research Institute. Dr. Geisinger lectures nationally and internationally and she is passionate about promoting periodontal health and overall wellness for all!.
Paul McGuirk, PhD
Vice President of Chemistry and CMC
Paul R McGuirk has 40+ years of experience in Pharmaceutical R&D including over 25 years at Pfizer. He began his career as a medicinal chemist at Pfizer. He has a proven track record as a “drug hunter” having responsibility for two marketed drugs from inception to commercialization. He led the discovery teams in several therapeutic areas including Antibacterials and Antivirals, Immunology, Allergy and Respiratory Diseases (A&R), and Inflammation. He was chairman of the A&R Early Candidate Management Team responsible for the development of the inhaled candidate Tofimilast. He is an expert in the development and implementation of improved principles for survival of drug candidates through development having served on the leadership team of the “Attrition Task Force” at Pfizer. As a team member he was involved in the effort to improve the survival of clinical candidates in Phase 2 human efficacy clinical trials, a stage at which the success rate for the industry hovers at only 20%. The work resulted in the “Three Pillars of Survival” a set of foundational principles that are known to significantly increase this low success rate when rigorously applied. These are now generally adopted and practiced by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry today. He led the committee for a decade that developed quality guidelines for drug candidates. His committee of senior level executives and scientists at Pfizer reviewed 310 clinical candidates over 14 therapeutic areas as a prerequisite for their entry into formal development.
Lawrence Friedhoff MD, PhD
Vice President - Regulatory*
Dr. Friedhoff has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 40 years. He served as Chief of Research & Development at Roivant Sciences, Inc. since November 2016. He previously served as Roivant’s Senior Vice President, Research & Development from the company’s inception through November 2016. From 2003 to 2014, Dr. Friedhoff served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Pharmaceutical Special Projects Group, LLC, a drug development consulting company to international pharmaceutical companies. From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Friedhoff served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development of Andrx Corporation, leading its Branded Drug Development efforts. From 1988 to 1998, Dr. Friedhoff worked for subsidiaries of Eisai, Co. Ltd., ultimately serving as Executive Vice President, Research and Development of Eisai, Inc., where he led the drug development team for Aricept, a branded drug used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to Eisai, Dr. Friedhoff worked for ER Squibb, Inc., and he currently serves as a director of Senex Biotechnology, Inc. Dr. Friedhoff received his M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University Graduate School.
Dr. Friedhoff assists the company through his consulting arm at Pharmaceutical Special Projects Group
Martha Somerman DDS, PhD
Scientific Founder
Dr. Martha J. Somerman has been the Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Dental Medicine since its launch in 2020. She was the Director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH) from August 2011 to December 31, 2019 then served as a senior advisor for NIDCR until her retirement on May 31, 2021. In addition, she was the Principal Investigator for the Laboratory of Oral Connective Tissue Biology, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIH, from August 2011 to May 31, 2021. Dr. Somerman was Dean of the University of Washington School of Dentistry, Seattle, a position she held from 2002 to 2011. Before joining the University of Washington, she was on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, from 1991 to 2002, and University of Maryland, School of Dentistry, from 1984-1990. An internationally known researcher and educator, Dr. Somerman’ s research has focused on defining the key regulators controlling development, maintenance, and regeneration of dental-oral-craniofacial tissues.
She has received numerous honors and awards throughout her academic career, including: fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, American College of Dentists, and International College of Dentists; the inaugural IADR/Straumann Award in Regenerative Periodontal Medicine in 2010; the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Association of Periodontology in 2016; and the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award for Basic Research in Biological Mineralization in 2018; AADR Jack Hein Public Service Award in 2021; Alan J. Davis SCADA Achievement Award in 2021.
