Keeren Shah serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Shah currently also serves as the Finance Director of Tiziana Life Sciences LTD, Accustem Sciences Limited and Rasna Therapeutics Inc., having previously served as the Group Financial Controller for all businesses from June 2016 to July 2020. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Shah spent 10 years at Visa, Inc. as a Senior Leader in its finance team where she was responsible for key financial controller activities, financial planning and analysis, and core processes as well as leading and participating in key transformation programmes and Visa Inc.’s initial public offering. Before joining Visa, Ms. Shah also held a variety of finance positions at other leading companies including Arthur Andersen and BBC Worldwide. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours in Economics and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Willy Simon, Non-Executive Director
Willy Jules Simon is a banker and worked at Kredietbank N.V. and Citibank London before serving as an executive member of the Board of Generale Bank NL from 1997 to 1999 and as the chief executive of Fortis Investment Management from 1999 to 2002. He acted as chairman of Bank Oyens & van Eeghen from 2002 to 2004. Willy Simon has been the chairman of Bever Holdings, a company listed in Amsterdam, since 2006 and Chairman of Ducat Maritime since 2015. He is also a non-executive director of Tiziana Life Sciences plc.
John Brancaccio, Non-Executive Director
Mr. Brancaccio, a retired CPA, is a financial executive with extensive international and domestic experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology for privately and publicly held companies. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer of Eline Group, an entertainment and media company. From May 2002 until March 2004, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biotechnology company. From April 2004 until May 2017, Mr. Brancaccio was the Chief Financial Officer of Accelerated Technologies, Inc., an incubator for medical device companies. Mr. Brancaccio is currently a director of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rasna Therapeutics, Inc., and Tiziana Life Sciences plc.
Bernard Denoyer, Non-Executive Director
Bernard F. Denoyer has 49 years of financial management experience including his service as Senior Vice President, Finance and Secretary of development stage Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc, from July 2008 until FDA approval and his retirement in June 2017. Between 2004 and January 2013 Mr. Denoyer concurrently served as Principal Financial Officer of Synergy’s former parent company, Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From October 2000 to December 2003, Mr. Denoyer was an independent consultant. Prior to this, Mr. Denoyer served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of META Group, Inc. Mr. Denoyer earned his CPA with Ernst & Young in 1975. He received a master’s Certificate of Accounting from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1974, an MBA in Finance with honours from Columbia Business School in 1972 and a BA in Economics from Fairfield University in 1969. Mr. Denoyer is fluent in French and studied in Paris at l’Istitut d’Etude Politique et Economique in 1968. He is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for two not-for-profits, St. Edmunds Retreat, Inc. and Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism, Inc.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Napoleone Ferrara, MD, Board Member
Dr. Ferrara is a Professor at the University of California San Diego Medical Center and a member of The National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Lasker Award and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. His research on understanding the role of angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in cancer development, led to the discovery that VEGF is a key mediator of angiogenesis associated with intraocular neovascular syndromes. This pioneering research led to the clinical development of a humanized anti-VEGF Fab (Ranibizumab, Lucentis®), which has also been approved as a therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusion and diabetic macular edema. Ranibizumab and other anti-VEGF agents have had a dramatic impact on the development of therapies for these blinding disorders. When Lucentis® (Ranibizumab) received FDA approval in late June 2006, the new macular degeneration drug was celebrated as a major medical breakthrough. Dr. Ferrara’s research also led to the development and approval of humanized anti-VEGF mAbs (Bevacizumab; Avastin®) for cancer treatment, with Avastin® being one of the bestselling cancer drugs over the last two decades. Lucentis® and Avastin® collectively achieved over $9 billion in sales last year.
Pedram Hamrah, MD, FRCS, FARVO, Board Member
Pedram Hamrah, MD is Co-Director of the Cornea Service and Director of the Center for Translational Ocular Immunology at New England Eye Center at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Dr Hamrah’s research interests focus on corneal immunology and neuroscience, ocular imaging (immuno-imaging), ocular surface diseases and corneal neuropathic pain. He is currently on faculty at the departments of Ophthalmology and Bioengineering at Tufts University, where he is the director of clinical research and director of the Center for Translational Ocular Immunology. In addition, he is a faculty member at the immunology, neuroscience, and cell, molecular and developmental biology graduate programs at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts. Throughout his career, he has focused on discovery, patient care and teaching. Dr. Hamrah currently serves on over a dozen editorial boards, is the associate editor for The Ocular Surface and TVST, section editor for Eye and assistant editor at Ocular Immunology and Inflammation.
Jay S. Pepose, MD, PhD, FARVO
Dr. Pepose, a specialist in refractive surgery and corneal and external diseases, is the founder and Medical Director of the Pepose Vision Institute and held the Bernard Becker Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is a consultant to numerous ophthalmic drug and device companies and serves as a Director and Chief Medical Advisor for Ocuphire Pharma. Dr. Pepose has been involved in over 40 clinical research trials, including registration trials for dry eye drugs, and has been the recipient of R-01 grant support from the National Eye Institute. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous prestigious journals, including the American Journal of Ophthalmology, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), Cornea, and The Journal of Refractive Surgery and has over 200 peer reviewed publications. Dr. Pepose, an ARVO Gold Fellow, is a recipient of the Cogan Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the Life Achievement Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Pepose received an A.B. and M.A. in neurophysiology from Brandeis University and completed the M.D.-Ph.D. program at UCLA School of Medicine. He completed ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center and fellowship training at Georgetown University Medical Center
