William f. degrado, Phd
Scientific Advisor, Drug Discovery and Clinical Development
Dr. DeGrado is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where he is also a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. Dr. DeGrado, one of the scientific co-discoverers of Brilacidin, is a renowned medicinal chemist. His lab at UCSF focuses on small molecule and protein design. Before joining UCSF in 2011, he was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and before that a member of DuPont Central Research and DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company (1981-1996). Dr. DeGrado has authored over 400 academic publications, holds more than 25 patents, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also past President of the Protein Society. Among his scientific honors and achievements, in 2003, he received the Merrifield Award by the American Peptide Society, and was presented, in 2015, with The Protein Society’s Stein and Moore Award. Dr. DeGrado graduated from Kalamazoo College and received a PhD in organic chemistry from University of Chicago.
GUSTAVO H. Goldman, Phd
Scientific Advisor, Mycology and Fungal Diseases
Dr. Goldman is a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow of the Institute Advanced Studies of the Technical University of Munich and a Professor in the Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He is an expert in fungal genetics and antifungal resistance and his lab at USP focuses on the molecular biology of human fungal pathogens, with an emphasis on the opportunistic pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus. Dr. Goldman has authored over 300 academic publications and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Microbiology, and a fellow of both the American Academy of Microbiology and the European Confederation of Medical Mycology. Among his scientific honors and achievements, in 2021, he received the “2021 ASM Moselio Schaechter Award in Recognition of a Developing-Country Microbiologist” – an award from the American Society of Microbiology. Dr. Goldman received a BSc in Biology from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), a MSc in Microbiology from USP (Brazil), a PhD from University of Gent (Belgium) and he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (USA).
Francis A. Farraye, MD, MSc
Scientific Advisor, Gastroenterology
Dr. Farraye is a physician in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. His area of expertise is in the management of patients with Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. A frequent speaker and invited lecturer on topics on the diagnosis and management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Dr. Farraye has authored or co-authored over 450 original scientific manuscripts, chapters, reviews, and abstracts. Before joining Mayo Clinic, Dr. Farraye was a Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and served as Clinical Director in the Section of Gastroenterology and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Farraye received a MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a MSc (Epidemiology) from Harvard University.
Paul Ginsburg, PhD
Scientific Advisor, Intellectual Property
Dr. Ginsburg is considered one of the foremost patent experts in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Dr. Ginsburg lectures widely on patent prosecution and licensing. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of the New York Patent Department at Pfizer Inc. Prior to his 20-year career at Pfizer, he was a senior attorney at Schering-Plough. Dr. Ginsburg was subsequently recruited by Merck and then by Fish & Neave. He is perhaps most well-known for authoring the patent covering Schering-Plough's blockbuster drug, Claritin. Since 2011, Dr. Ginsburg has advised Innovation, including authoring the patent for Kevetrin. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the City College of New York. Dr. Ginsburg received a PhD (Chemistry) from the City University of New York and a JD from Columbia University.
Stephen Sonis, DMD, DMSC
Scientific Advisor, Oral Mucositis
Dr. Sonis is one of the world’s foremost experts in the research and clinical treatment of cancer-related oral mucosal toxicities. He currently holds appointments at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine as Professor of Oral Medicine (part-time), and is a Senior Surgeon at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Sonis also is a Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Biomodels, LLC, a preclinical contract research organization. Widely respected by his professional peers, he is the author of over 250 original publications, reviews and chapters, 11 books, and 5 patents, serves on a number of editorial boards, and is a founding member of the International Society of Oral Oncology and the International Academy of Oral Oncology. Dr. Sonis is a graduate of Tufts University and Harvard University and completed his post-doctoral education at Oxford University.