Cynthia Lander, PhD

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Cynthia Lander, PhD: Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Lander has been a Partner in Nascent Enterprises, LLC, a venture catalyst partnership commercializing medical inventions, with 24 companies created to date. Portfolio companies (including Moerae) have raised millions of dollars in private financing and experienced 12 exit transactions. Dr. Lander has overseen the development of Moerae Matrix, Inc. and spin-off VasoPrep Surgical, LLC as Founder, Chairman and CEO since Company inception. Via Cynapse Consulting, LLC, Dr. Lander has served as interim management and/or strategic consultant to numerous venture capital and development-stage biotechnology, medical device and diagnostics company clients, focusing on commercial opportunity assessment, corporate, product and market development strategy and operations, including such companies as Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Angelica Therapeutics, Crescendo Bioscience and Elizabeth Therapeutics. Cynapse Consulting clients have spanned early-stage start-ups through small- and large-cap pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Lander was Senior Vice President, Group Account Director at Saatchi & Saatchi/Publicis Group, with responsibility for business development and brand/marketing strategy for biopharmaceutical clients. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Yale University (Neurogen Fellow), where she made discoveries that were subsequently out-licensed for use in research and drug development, and conducted post-doctoral research at Rockefeller University as a Revson Fellow. Dr. Lander is an inventor on numerous patents. She was a keyboard performance major at The Juilliard School and has a BS in Psychology from New York University.

 

C. Geoffrey Davis, Ph.D.

Director

Currently, Dr. Davis is the CEO and Chairman of Angelica Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company. In 1996, Dr. Davis founded Abgenix, Inc. in Fremont, California, where he served as the Chief Scientific Officer, led the development of the XenoMouse® technology, and was involved in the research and development of Vectabix®, a fully human monoclonal antibody approved for colorectal cancer. He also guided the discovery of Prolia®and 10 other antibodies currently in clinical trials. Abgenix was acquired by Amgen in early 2006. Prior to founding Abgenix, Dr. Davis was a faculty member at UCSF, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Director of Immunology at both Repligen Corp. and Cell Genesys, Inc. Dr. Davis received his Ph.D. in immunology from the University of California, San Francisco and completed his postdoctoral work at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. He is the author of 37 publications and is an inventor on 11 issued patents. Dr. Davis serves as a Director for SDIX and Harbour Antibodies BV and sits on Scientific Advisory Boards for Open Monoclonal Technologies, Inc. and Zymeworks, Inc.

 

Scott Paseltiner

Director

Scott Paseltiner began his business career in 1977 as a member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), where he was an independent market-maker for the better part of 15 years. While at CBOE, Mr. Paseltiner served as president of the Independent Floor Members Association. During that time, he also helped co-found Kettler & Scott, Inc., a diversified builder/developer of planned communities in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and today one of the largest private developers in the mid-Atlantic states.

In the early 1990’s, Mr. Paseltiner expanded his focus beyond the securities and derivatives markets and turned his attention to funding early stage technology companies based primarily in the midwest. As a result of his activity in the rapidly expanding market for emerging companies, he participated as a member of the board of directors of numerous private companies, several of which were successfully acquired by public corporations. Mr. Paseltiner’s board work had actually begun as far back as 1976 when he served as a founding director of First Variable Rate Fund for Government Income, at that time the flagship money-market mutual fund for what is now the Calvert Group, Ltd. In addition to remaining active in funding private start-ups, he also consults and mentors high level executives and business leaders.

 

Jay S. Skyler, MD, MACP

Director

Dr. Jay Skyler is a Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, & Psychology at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida, in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism in the Department of Medicine, of which he was the Director from 2000 to 2004; and Associate Director for Academic Programs in the Diabetes Research Institute. He is Chairman of the NIH (NIDDK)-sponsored Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, a nationwide network conducting clinical trials to prevent type 1 diabetes or interdict the type 1 diabetes disease process. His research interests are in clinical aspects of diabetes, particularly improving the care of type 1 diabetes through meticulous glycemic control, psychosocial and behavioral support, and immune intervention. He is widely acclaimed for developing “algorithms” for patient adjustment of insulin doses.

Dr. Skyler is a past President of the American Diabetes Association, the International Diabetes Immunotherapy Group, and the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, and was a Vice President of the International Diabetes Federation. He served as a member of the Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Subspecialty Examining Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, as Chairman of the Council of Subspecialty Societies of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and a member of the ACP Board of Regents. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Care, and currently is Senior Editor of Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.

He has a bachelor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University and a doctor of medicine degree from Jefferson Medical College. He served as an intern, resident, and fellow, and was on the faculty of Duke University.