Director

Mr. Olds is President and Chief Executive Officer of the NEOMED Institute, an R&D organization dedicated to advancing Canadian research discoveries to commercial success. Prior to NEOMED, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Telesta Therapeutics Inc., a TSX-listed biotechnology company. In 2016, he led the successful sale of Telesta to a larger public biotechnology company. Prior to Telesta, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Presagia Corp., and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Aegera Therapeutics. At both Telesta and Aegera, Mr. Olds was responsible for raising more than $100 million in equity financing and leading regional and global licensing transactions with life sciences companies.

Mr. Olds is currently Lead Director of Goodfood Market Corp (TSX:FOOD), Chairman of Oxfam Quebec and Director of Presagia Corp. He has extensive past corporate governance experience serving on the boards of private and public for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He holds an MBA (Finance & Strategy) and M.Sc. (Renewable Resources) from McGill University.

Director

Mr. Kavuru has created and led several pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Kavuru brings, in his vision and management, a broad-based understanding of the global pharmaceutical industry with expertise in strategic planning, product and business development, and operations. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Grace board of directors, Mr. Kavuru is the founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rising Pharma Holdings, Inc., a U.S. generic pharmaceutical company, and Acetris Pharma Holdings, LLC, a generic pharmaceutical company serving U.S. government agencies. Previously, Mr. Kavuru founded Citron Pharma & Lucid Pharma, which were sold to Aceto Corporation in 2016, Casper Pharma LLC, an emerging specialty brand pharmaceutical company, and Gen-Source RX, a national distributor of generic pharmaceuticals that was acquired by Cardinal in 2014. In 2007, Mr. Kavuru also co-founded Celon Labs, a specialty oncology and critical care pharmaceutical company acquired by Zanzibar Pharma, a portfolio company of CDC Group. He is a registered pharmacist in the state of New York, holds a B.S. in Pharmacy from HKE College of Pharmacy, Bulgarga, India, and attended Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York with specialization in industrial pharmacy.

Director

Mr. Derby brings more than two decades of experience and a proven track record within the biopharmaceutical industry, with particular expertise in strategic drug repurposing. Having founded or co-founded seven biopharmaceutical companies, he most recently launched TardiMed Sciences LLC, a company creation and investment firm in the life sciences. TardiMed has formed, capitalized and advanced multiple biopharmaceutical companies through development, including Timber Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: TMBR), PaxMedica, Inc. and Visiox Pharma LLC. Mr. Derby has served as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for all of these companies. Prior to TardiMed, Mr. Derby co-founded Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals, which he built into a multi-product, late clinical stage company focused on treating rare and debilitating dermatologic conditions. He also founded Norphan Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs for orphan neurologic disease, which he led through its early stages prior to selling the company to Marathon Pharmaceuticals in 2013. Prior to founding and managing life sciences companies, Mr. Derby was a private equity investor and venture capitalist, and also worked in management roles at Merck & Co. and Forest Laboratories. Mr. Derby holds an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an M.S. from the University of Rochester, and a B.S. from Johns Hopkins University.

Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Dean and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School. As one of the top nutrition institutions in the world, the Friedman School's mission is to produce trusted science, future leaders, and real-world impact. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored nearly 400 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches to reduce these burdens in the US and globally. He has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in a wide array of media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Time Magazine. In 2016, Thomson Reuters named him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. Dr. Mozaffarian received a BS in biological sciences at Stanford (Phi Beta Kappa), MD at Columbia (Alpha Omega Alpha), residency training in internal medicine at Stanford, and fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Washington. He also received an MPH from the University of Washington and a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Taekwondo Black Belt (third degree). The Friedman School pursues cutting-edge research and education across five Divisions, several centers, and multiple academic programs. Areas of focus range from cell to society, including: molecular nutrition, human metabolism and clinical trials, nutrition data science, behavior change, community and organizational interventions, media and communication, agriculture, food systems, and sustainability, hunger and food security, humanitarian crises, and food economics and policy. Friedman School graduates are leaders in academics, US and international government, policy, advocacy, industry, public health, community service, and innovation and entrepreneurship. The School's unique breadth, engagement with the world, and entrepreneurial spirit make it a leading institution for nutrition education, research, and public impact.

Barrow Neuroscience

Andrew Ducruet, MD, is an endovascular neurosurgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. He is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Ducruet’s practice is focused on the use of minimally invasive endovascular techniques to treat patients with vascular disease of the brain and spinal cord. He is an active member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery.

Dr. Ducruet attended Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City and also completed his residency in neurosurgery at Columbia University Medical Center. He then completed a two-year postgraduate fellowship in endovascular neurosurgery at Barrow. Dr. Ducruet practiced for three years as an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh before returning to Barrow in 2016, where he has continued his highly-specialized practice of neuroendovascular surgery.  He currently serves as the surgical director of the BNI Intensive Care Unit, and the Associate Program Director for the Neuroendovascular Surgery fellowship at the BNI.

Dr. Ducruet’s research focuses on ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. His laboratory performs basic and translational research using experimental models of cerebral ischemia, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies for patients with stroke. Dr. Ducruet also performs clinical research and has served as a principal investigator of multiple clinical trials investigating new strategies for stroke treatment.

Community Health Partners

Dr. R. Loch Macdonald is a scientist, researcher and neurosurgeon and a recognized expert on brain hemorrhage, including subarachnoid hemorrhage and delayed cerebral ischemia. For the past 25 years, his research interest has focused on improving patient outcome after brain hemorrhage, with a specific focus on developing a cure for cerebral vasospasm and DCI. Dr. Macdonald was the former Head, Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto and Chief Scientific Officer of Edge Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Macdonald has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and authored multiple textbooks, including one of the definitive textbooks on cerebral vasospasm. His publications have been cited thousands of times and he has spoken at many national and international conferences on the topic of subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia. Prior to St. Michael’s Hospital, he was Professor of Surgery and Radiation & Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Dr. Macdonald completed medical school at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and completed his Ph.D. in Experimental Surgery at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He completed his Neurosurgery residency at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is currently a neurosurgeon, medical director of neurovascular surgery and of research at Community Neurosciences Institute, Community Health Partners in Fresno, California.

Memorial Hermann Hospital

Dr. Alex Choi is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at UTHealth Houston/ McGovern Medical School. He is Director of Neurocritical Care at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The neurocritical care program at Memorial Hermann is one of largest and busiest in the country with 77 dedicated neurocritical care beds across 3 hospitals in the city of Houston.

Dr. Choi attended Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and graduated with a degree in Neurobiology. He received his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City and completed his residency in neurology at Columbia University Medical Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He then completed a three-year neurocritical care fellowship in Columbia University Medical Center where he was on a T32 training grant to study cardiopulmonary consequences of SAH.

Dr. Choi’s primary research focus has been the study of pathophysiological processes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and the development of interventional treatments to improve patient lives after this devastating disease. To that end, he has conducted several clinical trials to examine the potential for therapeutic interventions after SAH. Most of his research is in the realm of clinical translational research. He focuses on using translational and bioinformatics tools to study the clinical pathophysiologic processes seen at the bedside.