Our Team

Executive
Management
Team

A select group of individuals with a cutting-edge set of expert backgrounds, leading the industry towards a safer environment for patients.

D. Lynn Kirkpatrick, PhD

Chief Executive Officer
  • Background in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology, drug discovery and development
  • Co-founded 2 start up companies
  • Developed three targeted small molecule oncology drugs from discovery to clinic
  • Experience in private and public company raising funds from private, public and government sources

Dave Humphrey

Chief Financial Officer
  • Extensive experience in entrepreneurial environments
  • Multiple equity and debt financing, including IPOs
  • Focused on financial infrastructure, internal controls with merger and acquisition strategies

Geoff Birkett

Chief Commercial Officer
  • Held leadership roles in major Pharma. companies in UK/ Germany/ USA and Global.
  • Developed several major central nervous system drugs from phase 2 to launch.
  • Launched 5 major market leaders including Prozac, Seroquel, Zomig and Nicorette.
  • Extensive biotechnology leadership experience in pain space.

Linda Pestano, PhD

Chief Development Officer
  • Experienced in the design of pre-clinical programs focused on building IND-enabling data packages for lead candidate compounds intended for the treatment or diagnosis of cancer and inflammatory diseases
  • PhD in Immunology from Tufts, Postdoctoral Research at Dana Farber, Harvard Medical School

Dr. William Schmidt, PhD

Chief Medical Officer
  • 6 successful NDA drug approvals
  • Expertise in developing opioid-related products (Nubain®, Trexanä, ReVia®, Combunox®, Entereg®)
  • Chairman of annual Arrowhead Pain Summit (2010-2024)
  • Past-President of Eastern Pain Association (NYC)
  • PhD in Pharmacology from UC San Francisco

Jeffrey Millard, PhD

Chief Operating Officer
  • Industrial experience in CMC (chemistry, manufacturing, and controls)
  • 7 IND submissions (CDER, CBER, and IMPDs); directed CMC efforts from discovery, in-licensing to commercial launch
  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Arizona

Board of Directors

D. Lynn Kirkpatrick, PhD

Career focused on novel drug discovery and development
  • Background in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology, drug discovery and development
  • Co-founded 2 start up companies
  • Developed three targeted small molecule oncology drugs from discovery to clinic
  • Experience in private and public company raising funds from private, public and government sources

Dr. Bob Gower

Chair of the Board
  • Former President, CEO and Chairman of Lyondell Petrochemical Company
  • Senior VP Atlantic Richfield Corporation
  • VP ARCO Chemical​
  • Sinclair Oil (acquired by ARCO)
  • Founder, President and CEO Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc.
  • Founder and Chairman, Ensysce

Andrew Benton

President Emeritus of Pepperdine University
  • Served as the seventh president of Pepperdine University from 2000–2019
  • Past Chair of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities
  • Member of the American Bar Association

William Chang

Entrepreneur, Realty Company & Movie executive
  • CEO Westlake Realty Group and Chairman of Westlake International​
  • Investor in major sport leagues, movies and biosciences companies.​
  • USA Rugby BOD​

Dr. Adam Levin

Academic and clinical orthopedic surgeon at Johns Hopkins Univ.
  • Vice Chair of Faculty Development for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Associate Professor of Oncology
  • Former Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University​

Steve Martin

Experienced Senior Executive and Chief Financial Officer
  • CFO of Armata Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: ARMP)
  • Former Interim CEO, CFO and senior executive of numerous life sciences companies including AmpliPhi Biosciences, Stratagene, Gen-Probe
  • 10 years with Deloitte

Lee Rauch

Experienced CEO and Strategy Advisor
  • Built successful companies from pre-clinical research to advanced clinical development​
  • Secured financing for private and public biotech companies, along with multi-billion-dollar sale
  • Founding member of McKinsey & Co.’s International Pharmaceutical Practice

Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh

Extensive FDA drug approval experience
  • Former Director of the Office of Drug Evaluation II at the FDA​
  • Overseen the development and approval of over 50 new drugs​
  • Former Deputy Director Office of Nonprescription Products at the FDA​
  • Experience in the development of abuse deterrent opioid formulations

Support & Partners

FDA fast track
NIDA grant recipient
NIH grant recipient