Drug development veterans joined by preeminent cardiology and pulmonary hypertension experts

Gerald Proehl has served as a director since April 2014 and Chairman since June 2021. Currently, Mr. Proehl is a Founder, President, CEO and Director of Dermata Therapeutics, Inc, a biotechnology company (Nasdaq: DRMA). From January 2002 to January 2014, Mr. Proehl was the President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Santarus, Inc. (“Santarus”), a company that he helped to found in 1999. From March 2000 through December 2001, Mr. Proehl was President and Chief Operating Officer of Santarus, and from April 1999 to March 2000, Mr. Proehl was Vice President, Marketing and Business Development of Santarus. Mr. Proehl helped lead the sale of Santarus to Salix Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion in January of 2014. Prior to joining Santarus, Mr. Proehl was with HMR for 14 years where he served in various capacities, including Vice President of Global Marketing. During his career at HMR he worked across numerous therapeutic areas, including CNS, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal. In addition to Dermata Therapeutics, Mr. Proehl serves on the board of directors of Kinetek Sports, Inc. Mr. Proehl previously served on the boards of Sophiris Bio Inc. (formerly OTCQB: SPHS), Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: RTTR), and Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: ASPX). Mr. Proehl holds a B.S. in education from the State University of New York at Cortland, an M.A. in exercise physiology from Wake Forest University and an M.B.A. from Rockhurst University.

June Almenoff, MD, PhD joined our Board in February 2021. Dr. Almenoff currently serves as a Board Director and advisor to management of numerous biopharma companies and has over 25 years of senior leadership experience. She is currently a member of the investment advisory board of the Harrington Discovery Institute (a venture philanthropy) and an Executive Venture Partner (part-time) at 82 Venture Studios (affiliated with Alloy Therapeutics). She has served as independent Board Director of Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: ATNM) since 2024. Previously, she served as a member of the board of directors of Brainstorm Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI) from 2017 to 2023, Kurome Therapeutics, Inc. from 2020 to 2021, Avalo Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVTX) from 2021 to 2025, and Tigenix NV (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in August 2018) from 2016 to 2018. From March 2010 to October 2014, Dr. Almenoff served as President, Chief Medical Officer and a member of the board of directors of Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously NASDAQ: FURX) (“Furiex”), which was acquired by Actavis plc (now AbbVie, Inc.) for $1.2 billion in July 2014. Furiex developed eluxadoline (Viberzi®), which was approved both in the United States and Europe. Prior to joining Furiex, Dr. Almenoff also served as Chief Medical Officer of RedHill Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ: RDHL) leading a team that was instrumental in positioning Talicia® as a first-line therapy. Earlier in her career, Dr. Almenoff was at GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) for twelve years, where she held various positions of increasing responsibility, including most recently Vice President in the Clinical Safety organization. While at GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Almenoff also chaired a PhRMA-FDA working group, and worked in the area of scientific licensing. She also led the development of pioneering data analytics systems, which have been widely adopted by industry regulators to minimize clinical risk for both development and marketed drugs. Dr. Almenoff has strong expertise in translational medicine, clinical development, commercial strategy, and business development across many therapeutic areas. She has led or contributed to numerous regulatory submissions, product approvals and launches. Dr. Almenoff received her B.A. cum laude from Smith College and graduated with AOA honors from the M.D.-Ph.D. program at the Icahn (Mt. Sinai) School of Medicine. She completed post-graduate medical training at Stanford University Medical Center and served on the faculty of Duke University School of Medicine. She is an adjunct Professor at Duke, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) and has authored over 70 publications.

Dr. Michael Davidson joined the Board in 2021. Since August 2020, Dr. Davidson has served as the Chief Executive Officer of New Amsterdam Pharma B.V., a clinical stage company focused on the treatment of cardio-metabolic diseases. He was the Founder, a Director, and former Chief Scientific Officer of Corvidia Therapeutics, which was acquired in June 2020 by Novo-Nordisk for $2.1 billion. Dr. Davidson also serves as Clinical Professor and Director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He is a leading expert in the field of Lipidology and was named in The Best Doctors in America for the past 10 years. Dr. Davidson was the co-founding Chief Medical Officer of Omthera Pharmaceuticals in 2008, which was later acquired by Astra Zeneca Pharmaceutical in 2013 for $443M. He also founded the Chicago Center for Clinical Research, which became the largest investigator site in the United States and was acquired by PPD, Inc. in 1996. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Caladrius Biosciences, inc. (Nasdaq: CLBS), Silence Therapeutics PLC (Nasdaq: SLN), Sonogene LLC, Jocasta Neuroscience, Inc., and Trofi Nutritionals, Inc. His research background encompasses both pharmaceutical and nutritional clinical trials including extensive research on statins, novel lipid-lowering drugs, and omega-3 fatty acids. Dr. Davidson is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiology, and clinical lipidology and served as President of the National Lipid Association from 2010 to 2011. He received his BA/MS from Northwestern University and MD from The Ohio State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Declan Doogan joined the Board in February 2021. He has over 30 years of industry experience in both major pharma and biotech. He was the Senior Vice President and Head of Worldwide Development at Pfizer, where many multibillion dollar programs were delivered (e.g., Viagra, Lipitor and Zoloft). He has held a number of executive positions in Pfizer in the U.S., the U.K. and Japan. Since leaving Pfizer in 2007 he has been engaged in executive roles in small pharma. Declan was CMO and acting CEO of Amarin (AMRN: Nasdaq), transforming it from a failing neuroscience company to a vibrant cardiovascular company with a market capitalization of over one billion dollars before his departure. He has also been Chief Medical Officer for Prometheus Laboratories, a molecular diagnostics company in San Diego. Since November 2019, Dr. Doogan has served as co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Juvenescence Ltd., a life sciences company developing therapies to modify aging and increase healthy human lifespan. From June 2013 to May 2019, Dr. Doogan served as Chief Executive Officer of Portage Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRTG), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, where he currently remains a director. Declan is also an investor in emerging biotechnology and technology companies, and is a partner at Mediqventures Ltd., a biotech merchant bank and investment firm. Dr. Doogan currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Apterna Ltd. and Causeway Therapeutics Ltd. Dr. Doogan previously served as chairman of the board of directors of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BHVN) and a member of the boards of directors of Intensity Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTS), Sosei Group Corporation (TSE: 4565), Kleo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Celleron Therapeutics Ltd. He has also held professorships positions at Harvard School of Public Health, Glasgow University Medical School and Kitasato University (Tokyo). Declan received his medical degree from Glasgow University in 1975. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty Pharmaceutical Medicine and holds a Doctorate of Science at the University of Kent in the U.K.

Robyn Hunter joined our Board in January 2022. She has served as the Chief Financial Officer of SOTIO Biotech, a clinical stage immune-oncology company, since August 2022. Previously, she worked as CFO for Fortress Biotech, Inc. from June 2017 to August 2022 and from August 2011 to June 2017, she served as the Vice President and Corporate Controller.  Ms. Hunter served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Schochet Associates, Inc. from January 2006 to May 2011.  She served as the Corporate Controller for Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from August 2004 to January 2006.  Ms. Hunter held several positions from Accounting Manager to Vice President and Treasurer of The Stackpole Corporation from 1990 to 2004.  She holds a B.A. in Economics from Union College in Schenectady, New York.

Christopher Giordano is a clinical development executive with over 20 years of experience designing and executing product development strategies. He has served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Tenax since July 2021, and as President since October 2021. Prior to Tenax, Mr. Giordano served as President of IQVIA Biotech and IQVIA MedTech, two full-service clinical research business units of IQVIA (formerly Quintiles) that provided comprehensive services to biotech, pharma, and device/diagnostic product development teams. At IQVIA, he led a team that significantly grew its clinical trial portfolio and produced double-digit annual sales growth during his leadership, while overseeing all consulting, regulatory, commercial, and clinical development services across various therapeutic areas including oncology, autoimmune, CNS, cardiovascular and renal diseases. In this role he oversaw all Phase 3 trials contributing to global approvals of a new oral anticoagulant, and executed over a dozen global cardiovascular outcomes trials in patients with heart, vascular, kidney and metabolic diseases, among other accomplishments. Before joining IQVIA, Mr. Giordano served in sales and operational management roles at PPD. Mr. Giordano received a BA in English from the University of San Diego, and a Masters in English from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Stuart Rich is a world-renowned expert in pulmonary vascular diseases, and currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He has served as Chief Medical Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Tenax since 2021. Prior to joining Tenax, Dr. Rich served as Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director of PHPrecisionMed (PHPM). Before PHPM, he served as a part-time Chief Medical Officer at United Therapeutics. He has also served as a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Cardiology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, Professor of Medicine at the Rush Heart Institute of the Rush University School of Medicine, and Professor of Medicine in the Section of Cardiology at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Rich is a Co-Founder and member of the Board of Trustees of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cardiovascular Medical and Research Foundation. Dr. Rich received his BS in Biology from the University of Illinois and his MD from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, while he completed his residency in medicine at the Washington University in St. Louis and fellowship in cardiology at the University of Chicago.