Board of Directors

 

 

 

Al Altomari

 

Mr. Altomari served as Chief Executive Officer of Barrier Therapeutics, Inc. from April to September 2008 and served as a member of its Board of Directors from January to September 2008.  From February 2006 to March 2008, Mr. Altomari served as Chief Operating Officer of Barrier. Mr. Altomari joined Barrier in August 2003 and served as its Chief Commercial Officer from August 2003 until February 2006.  Mr. Altomari currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Agile Therapeutics, Inc. as well as Chairman of the Board of Nitric Bio Therapeutics, Inc.   Mr. Altomari currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) and Signum Biosciences, Inc.  Mr. Altomari also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the LeBow College (Drexel University).  Previously, Mr. Altomari held progressively senior positions at Johnson & Johnson companies during his 21 years at that company. His most recent role at Johnson & Johnson companies was as General Manager of Ortho-Neutrogena, where he managed the integration of Ortho Dermatological and Neutrogena Professional. He received his B.S. degree with a dual major in Finance and Accounting from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Rider University.

 

 

Brian M. Gallagher, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Gallagher was founding CEO and President of Magen BioSciences, an R&D stage, science-driven dermatology company from 2006-2009.  He executed a successful sale of the company to PPD, Inc., in 2009.  Prior to that, Dr. Gallagher was founding CEO, President and Chairman of CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on providing innovative medical therapies for targeted disease classes in high-potential markets, such as the dental and dermatology markets.  Dr. Gallagher served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CollaGenex from April 1994 until his retirement in December 2003, and as a member of the Board of Directors until 2006. From 1988 until joining CollaGenex, Dr. Gallagher was employed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and its predecessor, Squibb Corporation, in various executive positions, including strategic planning, worldwide product and business development, and marketing. Dr. Gallagher was the vice president and general manager of Squibb Diagnostics, the in vivo imaging pharmaceutical division where he was responsible for drug development, including filing new drug applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities worldwide. Prior to that, Dr. Gallagher served for 10 years with the EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. in a variety of pharmaceutical research, development, marketing, and business management positions.  Dr. Gallagher currently serves on the Board of Directors of Quinnova Pharmaceuticals, a dermatology-focused specialty pharmaceutical company.

 

 

Frank McCaney

President & CEO                                                                 

 

Mr. McCaney is the founder of Nitric BioTherapeutics Inc.  Mr. McCaney has over 20 years experience in the medical industry, principally in diagnostics and medical devices. Prior to Nitric Bio, he was the Sr. VP of Business Development at Viasys Healthcare (VAS:NYSE) where he was responsible for M&A and technology assessment and played a significant role in Investor Relations. Mr. McCaney had a key role in spinning Viasys Healthcare out of Thermo Electron, where he was VP of Global Marketing for Thermo Biomedical, a loosely affiliated group of health care companies with revenues close to $1Billion. Before that he held positions in management, sales and R&D at a number of health care companies including Baxter and Boehringer Mannheim.  McCaney serves on the Board of Directors of Corpak MedSystems, Inc. and Omnipacs, LLC.

 

 

Matthew Rieke, M.D.

 

Dr. Rieke was a founding principal of Quaker BioVentures in 2001 and was promoted to Partner in 2005. He brings a breadth of experiences in the healthcare industry to the firm. Previously, he was a principal at PA Early Stage, a family of venture capital funds that invests in early stage life science and information technology companies. Prior to entering the venture capital industry, Dr. Rieke worked with University of Pennsylvania Center for Technology Transfer where he helped create start-up companies based on faculty inventions. During graduate school, he worked as a management consultant with CSC Healthcare, helping physician practices and hospitals implement best-practice disease management protocols. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Rieke researched novel plasma-based therapeutics and bone marrow transplantation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.  Dr. Rieke holds a B.A. from Colgate University, a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He has served as a board member and observer for a variety of life science companies, including biopharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare information technology businesses. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Kolis Scientific, Neotropix and Nitric BioTherapeutics, and is a board observer of Biolex Therapeutics, BioRexis Pharmaceuticals and Neuronetics.  Dr. Rieke is involved with a number of community organizations related to health care and venture capital. He currently serves on the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Advisory Committee for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, he is an advisor to the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania, and he is a member of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Alumni Leadership Council. He also serves on the Advisory Board for BIOVenture Forum East and is active with Pennsylvania Bio.

 

 

Marcus Schabacker, MD, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Schabacker was trained as a physician from the Medical University of Lŭbeck, Germany and received his Ph.D. in Anesthesiology from there as well. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Convatec and oversees Global Research and Development, Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Medical Communications.  Dr. Schabacker had a similar role at B. Braun Medical where he created a Clinical research department and a Medical Scientific Department and instituted Worldwide Guidelines for Clinical Research.  He has worked as an Advisor to the Venture Capital community.  Prior to B. Braun, Dr. Schabacker was a consultant to Drägerwerk AG in South Africa. He practiced medicine in South Africa at Mafikeng General Hospital and served as the Medical Head for Disaster Planning for the North –West- Province.

 

 

Zev S. Scherl

 

Mr. Scherl is a General Partner of Commerce Health Ventures and NewSpring Capital, with significant experience in principal investing, corporate management and finance, focused exclusively in the life sciences and health care industries. Prior to CHV, he worked with Pequot Ventures, which manages venture funds in excess of $1 billion, within Pequot Capital, which manages approximately $8 billion. Within Pequot Ventures, he originated and successfully executed investments in emerging life sciences and health care companies, whose technologies include (but are not limited to) computational genomics, diabetes and orthopedics, and served on many corporate boards. Previously, he was a member of the health care investment team of Behrman Capital, a private equity investment firm managing over $700 million, where he originated, executed and actively managed health care investments, emphasizing leveraged buyouts. Before entering private equity in 1997, he served as Senior Director, Strategic Planning, for Value Health, the largest independent pharmacy and mental health benefit management company, where he structured multi-year contracts with leading pharmaceutical companies and executed key growth initiatives, prior to its successful sale to Columbia HCA. He also served as U.S. Manager, Pricing Policy at Merck & Co., and prior to that was in the investment banking group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Scher5l is currently a board member for AppTec Laboratory Services, Scandius BioMedical, Inc., EKR Therapeutics, Nitric BioTherapeutics, and Immune Control, Inc.  He received a BA with honors in economics from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.