Meet the Bryn Pharma Team

We're different from other pharma
companies. Learn why our leadership team is creating A Better Way

Our Leadership Team

Photo of Michelle Lobel.

Michelle Lobel

Co-Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer (CIO)

Bryn Pharma's Co-Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer, Michelle Lobel, who has severe nut allergies, is the motivating force behind the Company and its drive to deliver a revolutionary product that addresses the needs of patients, doctors and caregivers. She is also the mother of two children who have severe nut allergies. Her search led her to create Bryn Pharma, a company driven to deliver a better alternative to epinephrine auto-injectors.

Prior to founding Bryn Pharma, Mrs. Lobel was a Vice President at IDEAL Fastener Corporation. When she began working at IDEAL, the firm was a North American manufacturer facing significant transformation challenges due to offshoring of production by the company’s customer base. Under her direct leadership, the firm initiated and grew to three company owned facilities in China and opened three sales and marketing offices to serve the offshore manufacturing capacity. During this process, Mrs. Lobel spent a full year negotiating and implementing a joint venture with a Chinese Manufacturer, a task with significant cross cultural and operational challenges. Mrs. Lobel’s experience at IDEAL has given her significant experience operating within unstructured entrepreneurial environments and in relentlessly pursuing solutions in a proactive fashion.

Michelle is extremely active in community leadership. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Food Allergy Fund, an organization dedicated to funding food allergy research focused on the underlying causes of food allergies and improved treatments for people with food allergies. Additionally, she volunteers at her children's various schools.

Michelle earned a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

Photo of Steven Hartman.

Steven Hartman

Co-Founder and President

Steven Hartman spent over 25 years as a private equity investor. When his neighbor, Michelle, approached him with the various problems with epinephrine auto-injectors and how the allergy community was at risk, he immediately recognized that there was an opportunity to find A Better Way to deliver the epinephrine medication. Steven’s background and experience executing complex business transactions was the perfect complement to Michelle’s vision and since then they have worked tirelessly to bring Bryn Pharma from an idea to a reality.

Prior to founding Bryn Pharma, Mr. Hartman was a Partner, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel of a large middle market private equity firm. Mr. Hartman had various roles including participating as a voting member on all investment committees, responsible for all legal aspects of the private equity firm and its portfolio companies, responsible for all firm and portfolio company corporate governance. Mr. Hartman headed a team of investment professionals responsible for the negotiations of all investment activities from initial investment through investment realization and was responsible for creating complex legal, financial and tax structuring for all of investment activities. Steven was responsible for all domestic and foreign compliance matters for the firm and its affiliates.

Steven earned a BS from UC Berkeley and JD/MBA from UCLA.

Photo of David Dworaczyk, PhD.

David Dworaczyk, PhD

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

David, like Michelle, suffers from a life-threatening allergy, in his case bee stings. When he listened to her concerns about her twins, he knew first hand that her vision was right on target. Now, David is working tirelessly to create A Better Way for people at risk for anaphylaxis.

Dr. Dworaczyk has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, molecular diagnostic, medical device and CRO industry where he has held senior level positions in R&D, Global Operations, Business Development (L&A/M&A), Clinical Development, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Commercial Operations and healthcare analytics. Prior to joining Bryn Pharma, he directed the Life and Health Sciences Strategic Development effort at Oracle. He has also served as COO for Comprehensive Clinical Development, Sr. Vice President, General Manager & COO at Generation Health/MetaDiagnostic, a start-up focused on molecular diagnostics, genomics and personalized medicine, was COO for The Moffitt Cancer Center/M2Gen (for-profit subsidiary) and Sr. VP at Quintiles.

Dr. Dworaczyk's experience is broad and he has had global responsibilities including leading operational functions across multiple business units, genomics/biomarkers, translational research, patient targeted drug development, gene based trial matching, translational research, precision/personalized medicine, healthcare analytics/informatics, population health as well as the integration and effective use of Real World Data/Evidence and “Big/Complex” data.

David earned a B.S and M.S in Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a PhD in Leadership and Administration from the University of Delaware.

Photo of Robert Yanez.

Robert Yanez

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

Robert Yanez has over 20 years of commercial experience in pharma, biotech, and medical devices. He has led successful commercialization of products in large and small company environments and across multiple therapeutic areas. Robert’s experience is broad, and he has seen success in prelaunch and launch planning both in the U.S. and internationally.

Prior to joining Bryn Pharma, Robert served in multiple leadership roles in marketing, sales, commercial operations, and strategic partnerships. Robert also assumed roles of increasing responsibility in various pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merz Pharmaceuticals, XenoPort, Inc., BioDelivery Sciences, and Circassia Pharmaceuticals.

Robert received his B.A. in International Business from San Jose State University. He earned his MBA in Strategy Development and Execution at Pepperdine University.

Our Board of Directors

Photo of Steven Hartman.

Steven Hartman

Chairman

Prior to founding Bryn Pharma, Mr. Hartman was a Partner, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel of a large middle market private equity firm. Mr. Hartman had various roles including participating as a voting member on all investment committees, responsible for all legal aspects of the private equity firm and its portfolio companies, responsible for all firm and portfolio company corporate governance.

Mr. Hartman headed a team of investment professionals responsible for the negotiations of all investment activities from initial investment through investment realization and was responsible for creating complex legal, financial and tax structuring for all of investment activities. Steven was responsible for all domestic and foreign compliance matters for the firm and its affiliates.

Steven earned a BS from UC Berkeley and JD/MBA from UCLA.

Photo of Marc Rapaport.

Marc Rapaport

Board Member

Marc Rapaport is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2016-2019), currently Chair of the Nominating Committee, and serves on, among others, the Executive Committee, Executive Personnel and Investment Committees. Marc has been active in the hospital’s Sports Spectacular since its inception in 1986 and a member of the Board of Governors for more than 25 years.

After practicing law in Los Angeles, he began his investment banking career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1983, where he served in a variety of positions including Executive Vice President and Co-Director of Domestic Capital Markets. In 1990, Marc cofounded the Capital Markets Division of Jefferies and Company, Inc., where he served as Executive Vice President. He was also a director of the Board of Directors of Jefferies and Company, Inc. and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee until 1994.

From 1995 until 1998, Marc was Chairman of the Los Angeles Galaxy and lead investor of L.A. Soccer Partners, LP, the operating group of the Galaxy; he was also one of the founders of Major League Soccer, LLC.

Since 2007, Marc has been the lead investor and Board member of Doctor Evidence, LLC, a specialty software services company operating in the healthcare space.

From 2013 until 2019, Marc was a Principal at Thorofare Capital, LLC an SEC registered investment advisor (RIA) that provides senior commercial mortgage debt to borrowers from of a series of captive Investor raised Funds.

Marc received his juris doctorate degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1981 and a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.

Photo of Lisa Licht.

Lisa Licht

Board Member

With a reputation built on transforming businesses, creative innovation, and driving people culture, Lisa’s storied career has taken her from banking to Barbie, movies to music, Transformers to tech. While getting her Masters Degree in International Finance at Thunderbird, Lisa took a marketing class and became passionate about what drives consumers, switching her focus and leading her to become, at that time, the youngest marketing manager at Mattel, overseeing the Barbie brand internationally.

Parlaying her global marketing expertise, Lisa moved first to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, launching Titanic release to #1, then to 20th Century Fox Film as EVP of the global partnerships team, where her accolades included leading The Simpsons Movie's acclaimed marketing campaign, which won Ad Age's Creativity Award and Promotion of the Decade for its transformation of 7-Eleven locations around the country into Simpsons-branded Kwik-E-Marts. After nearly a decade at Fox, Lisa combined her background in toys and entertainment to help Hasbro bring its stable of intellectual properties to film and television with the launch of Hasbro Studios.

When Yahoo came calling, Lisa joined the leadership team as SVP of Platforms and Partnerships. Among many firsts, Lisa launched Live 365, a first-of-its-kind live streaming partnership with Live Nation that delivered live daily concerts from the year's most popular artists to Yahoo users throughout the world. That collaboration's success inspired Live Nation to tap Lisa to lead Strategic Partnerships for the CEO which then transitioned into their first CMO, Live Nation Concerts role.

For the past year, Lisa has been consulting for Microsoft Stores, AllBright, Illumination Animation, the Metrograph and Exploding Kittens on marketing as well as brand partnerships.

Photo of Kate Grell.

Kate Grell

Board Member

Mrs. Grell represents Tom Gores on the Bryn Pharma Board of Directors. As a senior-level executive at TGFO, Mrs. Grell provides leadership throughout the organization. Mrs. Grell is head of Human Resources and is a member of the TGFO Operating Committee and Estate Management Team.

Mrs. Grell is also Executive Director of the Tom Gores Family Foundation. TGFF focuses on charitable giving and philanthropic endeavors on both a regional and national level, including the Gores Family Allergy Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Photo of David Dworaczyk, PhD.

David Dworaczyk, PhD

Board Member

Dr. Dworaczyk has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, molecular diagnostic, medical device and CRO industry where he has held senior level positions in R&D, Global Operations, Business Development (L&A/M&A), Clinical Development, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Commercial Operations and healthcare analytics. Prior to joining Bryn Pharma, he directed the Life and Health Sciences Strategic Development effort at Oracle. He has also served as COO for Comprehensive Clinical Development, Sr. Vice President, General Manager & COO at Generation Health/MetaDiagnostic, a start-up focused on molecular diagnostics, genomics and personalized medicine, was COO for The Moffitt Cancer Center/M2Gen (for-profit subsidiary) and Sr. VP at Quintiles.

Dr. Dworaczyk's experience is broad and he has had global responsibilities including leading operational functions across multiple business units, genomics/biomarkers, translational research, patient targeted drug development, gene based trial matching, translational research, precision/personalized medicine, healthcare analytics/informatics, population health as well as the integration and effective use of Real World Data/Evidence and “Big/Complex” data.

David earned a B.S and M.S in Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a PhD in Leadership and Administration from the University of Delaware.

Photo of Michelle Lobel.

Michelle Lobel

Board Member

Prior to founding Bryn Pharma, Mrs. Lobel was a Vice President at IDEAL Fastener Corporation. When she began working at IDEAL, the firm was a North American manufacturer facing significant transformation challenges due to offshoring of production by the company’s customer base. Under her direct leadership, the firm initiated and grew to three company owned facilities in China and opened three sales and marketing offices to serve the offshore manufacturing capacity. During this process, Mrs. Lobel spent a full year negotiating and implementing a joint venture with a Chinese Manufacturer, a task with significant cross cultural and operational challenges. Mrs. Lobel’s experience at IDEAL has given her significant experience operating within unstructured entrepreneurial environments and in relentlessly pursuing solutions in a proactive fashion.

Michelle is extremely active in community leadership. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Food Allergy Fund, an organization dedicated to funding food allergy research focused on the underlying causes of food allergies and improved treatments for people with food allergies. Additionally, she volunteers at her children's various schools.

Michelle earned a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

Our Scientific Advisory Board

The Bryn Pharma Scientific Advisory board is a select team of key opinion leaders that bring insight from diverse clinical specialties including allergy, pediatrics, primary care, emergency medicine, and allied health professionals—ensuring we have the critical understandings from all leading prescriber groups. We are also planning to expand the board, to include further insights from pharmacists and other professionals that impact the patient journey in anaphylaxis.

Our Scientific Advisors are not only leaders in their individual clinical specialties but also have a diverse mix of experience in clinical development, patient engagement, reimbursement, training, and other expertise to help Bryn further their patient-first mission. We feel this unique group includes some of the most influential physicians in their perspective areas of expertise, and feel confident with their knowledge influencing our decision making.

Photo of Michael Foggs, MD.

Michael Foggs, MD

Dr. Michael B. Foggs is Chief of Advocate Medical Group of Advocate Health Care, one of the largest integrated healthcare networks in the United States. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and cellular ultrastructure. Dr. Foggs earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center/Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in allergy and immunology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Hospitals as a National Institutes of Health Scholar. Dr. Foggs has served as Associate Director of Allergy and Immunology at Hahnemann University Medical Center and School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is past Chair of the Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Section of the National Medical Association (NMA). He is a member of the Committee on the Underserved and the Health Outcomes, Education, Delivery & Quality (HEDQ) Committee and Plenary Subcommittee of the AAAAI. He is an authority on the management of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and allergic and immunologic disorders.

Photo of William W. Storms, MD.

William W. Storms, MD

Dr. William W. Storms is a former Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He is a former president of the Western Society of Allergy and Immunology and the Colorado Allergy Society. Dr. Storms practices clinical allergy and conducts clinical research at The William Storms Allergy Clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a consultant to the Sports Medicine division of the United States Olympic Committee and has served on the editorial boards and as a reviewer for the Journal of Asthma, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Chest; and Adis International. Dr. Storms has published over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has authored book chapters on asthma and allergy.

Photo of Bradley Chipps, MD.

Bradley Chipps, MD

Dr. Bradley Chipps received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He was a pediatric resident for 2 years before serving in the Air Force at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota as a general pediatrician. Dr. Chipps then completed a combined allergy and pulmonary fellowship at Johns Hopkins and spent 1 year on the faculty in the Pediatric Respiratory Sciences division. He has been in private practice in Sacramento, California since 1979. Dr. Chipps is the Medical Director of both Respiratory Therapy and the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento. He is also the Associate Medical Director of the Sutter Community Hospitals Sleep Laboratory that he established in 1984. Dr. Chipps is board certified in pediatric pulmonology and allergy and clinical immunology. He is a member of all the major societies associated with respiratory medicine.

Photo of Dana Wallace, MD.

Dana Wallace, MD

Dr. Dana Wallace has been practicing in the allergy field in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for more than 30 years. She has been with the Florida Center for Allergy & Asthma Care since August 2012 and works in the Emerald Hills office. Dr. Wallace is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida and at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee’s College of Medicine and completed a residency at Lenox Hill Hospital and a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at Roosevelt Hospital. She is board certified in pediatrics and allergy/immunology. Dr. Wallace is immediate-past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI), currently on the World Allergy Organization Board of Directors, and has received the ACAAI Distinguished Service Award and the ACAAI Woman in Allergy Award. She is the ACAAI Website Associate Editor, ACAAI representative to the CDC Food Allergy/Anaphylaxis in School Task Force, Anaphylaxis Community Education Volunteer, and a member of the Finance, Budget, Nomination Committees, and ACAAI Foundation Board of Directors.

Photo of Carlos Camargo, MD.

Carlos Camargo, MD

Dr. Carlos Camargo is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, Medicine & Epidemiology at Harvard, and Emergency Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He founded and directs the Emergency Medicine Network (EMNet), an international collaboration with more than 240 hospitals. Dr. Camargo has served on national committees, including 3 NIH Expert Panels and numerous study sections, Institute of Medicine committees, and other national committees. His research focuses on nutrition and respiratory/allergy disorders in cohort studies and RCTs. Dr Camargo is former president of the American College of Epidemiology, has worked on several US guidelines (eg, diet, asthma, food allergy), and has over 800 publications.

Photo of Matthew L. Mintz, MD.

Matthew L. Mintz, MD

Dr. Matthew L. Mintz is an Internal Medicine Physician with The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) in Washington, DC. He directed the school’s Primary Care Clerkship for 10 years and currently serves as the Director of the Practice of Medicine Course, Years I-III. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. Mintz serves as the Director of The GW MFA's Premier Access and Executive Services. Dr. Mintz received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago and a medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine, where he also completed a residency in Internal Medicine and was Chief Medical Resident. He received a Master Teacher’s certificate from the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Dr. Mintz is board certified in Internal Medicine and was elected as a Fellow in the American College of Physicians. Dr. Mintz has published in peer reviewed journals on topics including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, high cholesterol, and medical education. Dr. Mintz was named as one of Washington’s “Top Docs 2012,” by Washingtonian Magazine.

Photo of Phillip Korenblat, MD.

Phillip Korenblat, MD

Dr. Phillip Korenblat is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine specializing in asthma, allergy & clinical immunology. He obtained his undergraduate and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Arkansas. Following graduation, Dr. Korenblat served an internship at the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis followed by a tour of military service. He returned to the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis to complete his residency training, and then entered a fellowship at the Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation in La Jolla, California. Upon completion of his fellowship, Dr. Korenblat returned to St. Louis and established his private practice. Dr. Korenblat is an accomplished clinical investigator and educator who was named the “Outstanding Teaching Allergist” for 2003 by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI). He was honored to receive the “Distinguished Clinician Award” for 2009 from the AAAAI and “Lifetime Achievement Master Physician Award” in 2012 from Barnes Jewish Hospital medical staff. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, and Allergy & Clinical Immunology, and is a member of several professional societies, which include AAAAI, ACAAI, American College of Physicians (ACP), American Thoracic Society (ATS), American Medical Association (AMA) and the Missouri State Medical Association. Dr. Korenblat is a Certified Physician Investigator (CPI) through the Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians & Investigators and has completed over 300 clinical research studies.

Photo of Allan Luskin, MD.

Allan Luskin, MD

Dr. Allan Luskin is a practicing allergist & immunologist in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He graduated from University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago and completed a residency at University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. He currently practices at Dean Health System Sun Prairie Clinic and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He also has a full-time clinical practice at Dean Medical Center in Madison, where he directs the Center for Respiratory Health. Dr. Luskin established and directed The Allergy/Immunology Training Program at Rush Medical College. He also chaired the Asthma in Pregnancy Working Group of the NHLBI that developed the Treatment of Asthma in Pregnancy guidelines. He has written more than 45 original articles, 22 book chapters, supplements, and white papers, and 60 abstracts on respiratory disease and outcomes management. He was Vice President of the American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) and served on its Board of Regents and Executive Committee.

Photo of Scott Russell, MD.

Scott Russell, MD

Dr. Scott Russell is Senior Medical Director at Children’s Hospital; Division Director and Medical Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Charleston, South Carolina and Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Russell’s research interest is identifying barriers to providing optimal care of anaphylaxis in the pediatric emergency department setting.

Photo of Ruchi S. Gupta, MD, MPH.

Ruchi S. Gupta, MD, MPH

Dr. Ruchi S. Gupta is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Northwestern Medicine and has more than 15 years of experience as a board-certified pediatrician and health researcher. Dr. Gupta is the director of the Science and Outcomes of Allergy and Asthma Research Team (SOAAR) and is a clinical attending at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital Chicago. She is nationally recognized for her groundbreaking research in the areas of food allergy and asthma epidemiology; specifically, her research on childhood food allergy prevalence. Dr. Gupta has over 100 publications and her work has been featured in major TV networks and print media.

Photo of J. Wesley Sublett, MD, MPH.

J. Wesley Sublett, MD, MPH

Dr. J. Wesley Sublett is a partner and medical director of clinical research at Family Allergy & Asthma, based in Louisville, Kentucky, with multiple offices throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee. He is a graduate of Saint Louis University (MPH) and the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Board certified in both pediatrics and allergy/immunology, Dr. Sublett completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Louisville – Kosair Children’s Hospital. He completed his fellowship in allergy, asthma, and immunology at the University of Cincinnati. Currently, Dr. Sublett serves on the ACAAI Board of Regents, is president of the Greater Louisville Allergy Society, and is the chair of the ACAAI Drug and Anaphylaxis Committee.

Photo of Ronna Campbell, MD, PhD.

Ronna Campbell, MD, PhD

Dr. Ronna Campbell is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and the associate chair of the emergency medicine research division. She earned her medical degree as well as her PhD in Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Campbell has studied the emergency management of anaphylaxis for over 10 years, working to improve the emergency management of anaphylaxis by evaluating diagnostic criteria, implementing interventions to improve emergency department anaphylaxis recognition and treatment, and collaborating on the development of anaphylaxis practice guidelines. She has also studied the safest routes of epinephrine administration, risk factors for severe anaphylaxis and biphasic reactions, as well as anaphylaxis epidemiology.

Our Management Advisory Board

Photo of Max April.

Max April

Max M. April, MD, FAAP, FACS is Professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics at NYU Langone Health in New York City. He attended medical school at Boston University and his residency in Otolaryngology at the combined Boston University/Tufts University program followed by a fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He has over 60 peer reviewed publications and has presented numerous papers and talks regionally, nationally and internationally. He is a co-host of the ENT show on Doctor Radio on Sirius XM.

Photo of Tim Warneke.

Tim Warneke

Tim Warneke has over 25 years of pharmaceutical development experience. These experiences range across large (Ciba-Geigy and Abbott Laboratories) to mid-size (King Pharmaceuticals) pharmaceutical companies and the world’s largest contract research organization (Quintiles). Mr. Warneke has leveraged his expert knowledge of the Code of Federal Regulations, ICH Guidelines, Good Clinical Practice and Good Laboratory Practice to provide operational excellence in support of numerous INDs and NDAs throughout his career.

Operationally focused, he has been responsible for clinical study conduct across all phases of pharmaceutical development from single center studies to large multi-national clinical trials utilizing a wide array of therapeutic areas including: Cardiology/Vascular Diseases, Dermatology, Devices, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Healthy Volunteers, Hepatology (Liver, Pancreatic, Gall Bladder), Infections and Infectious Diseases, Musculoskeletal, Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology, Orthopedics/Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics Podiatry, Psychiatry/Psychology, Pulmonary/Respiratory Diseases, Rheumatology and Vaccines.

Mr. Warneke began his career at Northwestern University in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine coordinating the clinical activities of the landmark NHLBI funded CARDIA study from its initial year in 1983 to 1988.

Photo of Ken Dretchen.

Ken Dretchen

Kenneth Dretchen, Ph.D. is currently the Chief Science Officer and Vice President for Mesa Science Associates. The company provides consulting services to academic institutions and the pharmaceutical industry in providing expertise in all aspects of the drug approval process. He previously served as a Professor (40 years) and Chairman (16 years) of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center prior to his retirement in 2016. He currently hold the title of Professor Emeritus and continues to teach at the Medical School. Previously at Georgetown University, Dr. Dretchen had direct responsibility for the Animal Care and Use Committee, the Institutional Review Board, Radiation Safety and all research involving biohazards. He has also served as the Dean of Research for the Medical Center and the Senior Associate Vice President for Regulatory Affairs having oversight of all the pre-clinical and clinical research activities. Over the last twenty years he has investigated the toxicity of the major chemical and biological threat agents and served as the liaison for the university to the federal government for all of the regulatory aspects associated with the entire research portfolio.

During the first three years of its existence, Dr. Dretchen served as a subject matter expert and was a 24/7 on call advisor to the Department of Homeland Security for biologic and chemical threat agents. From 2007 – 2010 he served as a member of the National Biodefense Science Board reporting directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This board provided advice to the secretary on issues such as emerging and infectious diseases, chemical and biological threat agents, and H1N1 influenza.

Dr. Dretchen’s work also includes successful collaborations with industry including one of the largest defense contractors in the development of a rapid stand-alone detection system for biological threat agents based upon DNA analysis. This project resulted in the important development of specific nucleic acid probes for anthrax, plague and dengue fever. His accomplishments also include the characterization of the toxin, Ricin. He has published approximately 150 articles in peer reviewed high impact journals such as Science and Nature in areas related to neuropharmacology, neurotoxicology and pharmacokinetics.

Dr. Dretchen served as a consulting pharmacologist for King Pharmaceuticals on a study involving clinical trials to assess the pharmacokinetics and side effects of midazolam given intramuscularly via an auto-injector. Several years ago Dr. Dretchen was appointed to the Scientific Board of Ameritox Ltd. Ameritox Ltd. provides rapid urine drug monitoring. He was an investigator in a clinical trial sponsored by the company describing the identification of a new metabolite of aripiprazole (Abilify) in urine that was correlated with the oral administration of the parent drug. He currently serves as a Co-Investigator for the subcontract awarded by the University of California San Diego to Mesa Science Associates for their multi-center National Institutes of Health grant dealing with the development of antidotes against cyanide poisoning.

Photo of Claude Piché.

Claude Piché

Dr. Claude Piché is a co-founder and the President and CEO of Locemia Solutions. At Locemia, Claude led the creation and development of Baqsimi, a needle-free, nasal formulation of glucagon for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia. Eli Lilly acquired the product in late 2015 and is launching the product globally. Prior to forming Locemia, Claude worked at private, public, and start-up biopharmaceutical companies with hands-on experience in research, regulatory affairs, marketing, operations and business development.

Claude is an active angel investor and serves as an advisor and/or board member to several biopharmaceutical start-ups.

He holds degrees from the University of Saskatchewan (DVM) and the University of Calgary (MSc). He is the author or co-author of over 30 peer-reviewed scientific publications and over 40 scientific abstracts and presentations. He is also a co-inventor on several patent applications.

Photo of Robert Oringer.

Robert Oringer

Robert Oringer has over 35 years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and board leader in healthcare, primarily in diabetes medical devices, drug delivery, and services. Thanks to his extensive experience, as well as his strong background in enabling technologies, Robert brings a unique perspective in guiding development of novel products and approaches to the self-management of diabetes and its complications.

Robert is Chairman of Locemia Solutions, Inc., a Montreal-based specialty pharmaceutical company whose initial work was directed at making severe hypoglycemia rescue simple through the development of an innovative needle-free glucagon nasal powder that is easy to teach, easy to carry, and easy to use. Locemia’s glucagon nasal powder assets were sold to Eli Lilly in October, 2015 and have subsequently been approved for sale in 2019 under the brand name BAQSIMI by the USA FDA and Health Canada.

Robert is an active early stage diabetes investor, having been involved in the funding of companies such as Agamatrix (Salem, New Hampshire), Bigfoot Biomedical (Palo Alto, California), Glysens (San Diego, California), WellDoc (Baltimore, Maryland), HelpAround (Tel Aviv, Israel), Biolinq (San Diego, California) and dLife (acquired by Veria Living in 2014). He is a board advisor at AgaMatrix and HelpAround, providing guidance on the development of innovative technologies, as well as product, marketing, and business development strategies.

Robert received his Bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Photo of Melinda Braskett.

Melinda Braskett

Dr. Melinda Braskett is the Associate Medical Director of the Gores Family Allergy Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and an Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics at Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California. She is a board certified allergist and clinical immunologist. She is also board certified in pediatric medicine.

Dr. Braskett graduated with honors from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City. She completed her internship and residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and her fellowship in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Prior to coming to CHLA in February of 2016, she was an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA where she refined her expertise in high risk food and drug allergy procedures as Medical Director of the UCLA Food and Drug Allergy Care Center. Her clinical focus includes oral immune therapy (OIT) for food allergy and eosinophilic food allergies.

Photo of Mike Mesa.

Mike Mesa

Following a four-year tour in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Mesa joined Rodana Research Corporation and until 2011 was continuously employed by Rodana and its successor organizations including: Survival Technology Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., King Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pfizer. While at these companies Mr. Mesa was one of the named inventors of the device that became known as the EpiPen© Next Generation. In 2011, Mr. Mesa left Meridian/Pfizer and formed Mesa Science Associates where he serves as President and CEO.

During Mr. Mesa’s career, he played key roles in the development of both the original and the next generation EpiPen© and EpiPen Jr© auto-injectors. In the epilepsy field he managed the development of auto-injectors and training materials for two important epilepsy studies: the NIH funded RAMPART© Study and the King Pharmaceuticals RESCUE© Study.

Mr. Mesa served as Meridian Medical Technologies primary technical interface with the U.S. Military Chemical Biologic Medical Systems/Medical Identification and Treatment Systems (CBMS/MITS) for pharmaceutical and drug delivery programs. He was the principal investigator for the development of the Antidote Treatment Nerve Agent Auto-Injector (ATNAA). His work with the ATNAA program eventually led to an FDA approved companion product, The DuoDote© Auto-Injector. The DuoDote© is now available in the U.S. for use by first responders in the event of a chemical attack against the civilian population. Most recently he successfully managed the midazolam based Advanced Anti-Convulsant (AAS) clinical program intended for military use.