Michael J. Brownstein, M.D., Ph.D., CSO & Chairman of the SAB
In the position of Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Brownstein brings over thirty years of research experience in the fields of genetics, endocrinology and pharmacology and to the company’s drug development program. Dr. Brownstein joined the National Institute of Health (“NIH”) where, after serving as Chief of the Laboratory of Cell Biology of the National Institute of Mental Health (“NIMH”) he was then appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Genetics of the NIMH and the National Human Genome Research Institute. He has since directed the functional genomics program at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD. While at the NIMH, he directed the work in Bethesda on the Brain Molecular Anatomy Project, the goal of which was to catalog genes expressed in the nervous system. Simultaneously, he contributed to the Mammalian Gene Collection, a trans-Institutional effort to clone and sequence cDNAs corresponding to all human, mouse, and rat transcripts. He went to the National Institute of Health to work with Julius Axelrod, recipient of a Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work in the field of neuropharmacology, and stayed there after completing his fellowship. He has worked in the fields of neurobiology, neuroendocrinology, biochemical pharmacology, genetics, and genomics, and is especially interested in developing novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents. He has published more than 200 papers in peer reviewed journals, has served on several editorial boards and has served and continues to serve on several scientific advisory boards including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Translational Genomics Research Institute. He has also participated in founding several successful bio-pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Brownstein earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and completed his medical training at University of Chicago, where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology.
Jeffrey A. Gelfand, M.D.
Dr. Gelfand is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, holds an appointment as Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and is currently an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has served as a program leader with the Boston-based Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (“CIMIT”) since 2000, and led the CIMIT team that evaluated Russian life sciences technologies on behalf of the State Department’s BioIndustry Initiative. CIMIT is a non-profit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools including Harvard, MIT and Boston University, From 1994-1998 he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine of Tufts University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at the new England Medical Center, and subsequently for two years as the Dean for Research at Tufts University School of Medicine and Senior Vice President for Research and Technology at the New England Medical Center. Dr. Gelfand conducts laboratory and clinical research in immunology, inflammation, infection and tumor immunology. His research interests have included a focus on vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer therapeutics, demonstrating an outstanding ability to identify value in research and to link discoveries and scientists with each other and with clinical practices. He has developed a novel monoclonal-based fusion-protein vaccine platform, and the therapy for hereditary angioedema with Danazol, first using that drug in autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Dr. Gelfand’s work has been published in 90 scientific publications and 45 chapters in leading textbooks of medicine. Dr. Gelfand graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine where he received his M.D. and subsequently attended Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute of Health for his clinical training. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Clinical Immunology and Allergy.
Stephen F. Lowry, M.D.
Dr. Lowry is Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Robert Woods Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is one of the U.S. 's most seasoned clinicians in the field of septic shock, and is an acknowledged opinion leader in that field. Dr. Lowry has been the Principal Investigator on clinical trials for a number of anti-sepsis drugs. He is currently or has been on the Editorial board of a number of important journals in this field, including Shock: Molecular, Cellular and Therapeutic Approaches; Sepsis; Surgical Infections; Critical Care Medicine; and Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
John Marshall, M.D.
Dr. Marshall is Professor of Surgery and Director of Critical Care Research at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada. He is Chair of the Shock Society and of the International Sepsis Forum, two of the many positions that reflect his prominence as a leading expert in the field of Sepsis. Dr. Marshall has a special interest in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the resolution of inflammation. He has developed and validated a system, increasingly being incorporated as an outcome measure in ICU-based clinical research, for quantifying the severity of organ dysfunction as an outcome in critical illness.
Robert Moellering, Jr., M.D.
Dr. Moellering is the Shields Warren-Mallinkrodt Professor of Medical Research, Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center, Boston. For his important work with antimicrobial agents, Dr. Moellering is a past recipient of the Feldman Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Hoechst-Roussel Award from the American Society for Microbiology. He has been the principal investigator on the clinical trials of a number of antibiotics. The New England Journal of Medicine and other prestigious journals have called on Dr. Moellering to provide editorial commentary on important developments in the field of antibiotic resistance.
Alexander Tomasz, Ph.D.
Dr. Tomasz holds the Endowed Chair of Bacteriology at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Tomasz is a prominent infectious disease specialist who has played a key role in a number of important organizations dedicated to combating MDR bacteria. For example, (i) he was Chairman of the Board of Scientific Counselors of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease ("NIAID"); (ii) he was a member of the Task Force on Impacts of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, Congress of the United States, Office of Technology Assistance ("OTA"); (iii) he served on the Advisory Board of the World Health Organization ("WHO") Scientific Working Group on Monitoring and Management of Bacterial Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents; and (iv) he is a member of the Anti-Infective Advisory Panel of the FDA. Dr. Tomasz is on the editorial board of several prestigious scientific journals, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Microbial Drug Resistance.
Paul D. Ellner, Ph.D.
Dr. Ellner is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Pathology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Before retiring to establish his own consulting firm, Paul D. Ellner Associates, Inc., he had been the Director of the Clinical Microbiology Service at The Presbyterian Hospital in New York City for 25 years. He is a former Chairman of the American Board of Microbiology, and is the author or co-author of 109 articles, 10 chapters and 3 books, one of which is the highly acclaimed textbook, Understanding Infectious Disease.