WE ARE ZYLÖ THERAPEUTICS
Our Team, Our Board, Our Key Advisors
SCOTT R PANCOAST
CEO & Founder & Board Member
Scott Pancoast was CEO and board member of Lpath [Nasdaq:LPTN] from 2005 through 2014 and was Chairman of the company from 1999 through 2010. He evolved this start-up from incubation at San Diego State University to eventual public-company status and raised about $140 million, with more than $50 million coming from non-dilutive government grants and from partnership proceeds. He forged worldwide partnerships with Merck-Serono and Pfizer and attracted equity investments from J&J and Biogen. As EVP of Western States Investment Group from 1994 until 2004, he invested in and managed a portfolio of startups ranging from Endonetics (sold to Medtronic) to Mpex (sold to Axcan/Aptalis) to DermTech (Nasdaq:DMTK, currently in revenue ramp). He has served on over a dozen boards, including four public ones (and still serves on the DermTech board). Mr. Pancoast holds a BA in economics summa cum laude from the University of Virginia and an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School.
MICHAEL Z RABIN
VP Business Development & Strategy
Michael joined Zylö Therapeutics after a 35-year career in investment banking and management consulting. For 15 years, Mr. Rabin was Managing Director and senior partner at Sawaya Partners, a boutique investment bank, where he focused primarily on the OTC sector. During this period, he worked with public, family-held, and private-equity-backed companies, completing over 40 transactions involving over 150 brands. Prior to that, he was with Goldman Sachs & Co., where he was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department and Financial Sponsors Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rabin spent 15 years in management consulting, working principally with Fortune 50 corporations in the chemicals, information technology, oil & gas, and consumer sectors. Mr. Rabin earned a BA in economics with general and special honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
ANDREW DRAGANSKI PHD
Director of Product Development
Andrew Draganski PhD completed his Ph.D. in Food Science at Rutgers where he focused on studying molecular mobility in model biological systems utilizing both intrinsic and GRAS-status optical probes. Soon thereafter, he joined Dr. Joel Friedman's laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; there, he worked on the advancement and further characterization of the lab's novel drug delivery platform, eventually becoming the primary inventor of the company’s Z-pod™ delivery technology. Now Director of Product Development at Zylö, he is spearheading commercialization efforts as he studies the effect of particle size, charge distribution, surface functionalization, drug loading, and pore size on the subsequent interaction of silica particles with cells and tissues.
CHRISTOPHER MANN, P.E.
Director of Engineering & Manufacturing
Christopher Mann joined the Zylö team in January 2020 with the aim of scaling up the Z-pod™ delivery technology. He is a veteran of another high-tech startup, Plextronics, as well as multiple companies running the gamut from small (specialty materials maker Chase Corporation) to medium (paint and coatings manufacturer Valspar) to large (food ingredient producer Ingredion) to enormous (3M, in the Electronic Products Division). He has led product scale-up efforts in multiple industries and has valuable experience in design, construction management, and startup/operation of new facilities. Chris holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry from Penn State University.
ANDREW DRAGANSKI Ph.D.
Director of Product Development
Andrew Draganski PhD completed his Ph.D. in Food Science at Rutgers where he focused on studying molecular mobility in model biological systems utilizing both intrinsic and GRAS-status optical probes. Soon thereafter, he joined Dr. Joel Friedman's laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; there, he worked on the advancement and further characterization of the lab's novel drug delivery platform, eventually becoming the primary inventor of the company’s Z-pod™ delivery technology. Now Director of Product Development at Zylö, he is spearheading commercialization efforts as he studies the effect of particle size, charge distribution, surface functionalization, drug loading, and pore size on the subsequent interaction of silica particles with cells and tissues.
CHRISTOPHER MANN, P.E.
Director of Engineering & Manufacturing
Christopher Mann joined the Zylö team in January 2020 with the aim of scaling up the Z-pod™ delivery technology. He is a veteran of another high-tech startup, Plextronics, as well as multiple companies running the gamut from small (specialty materials maker Chase Corporation) to medium (paint and coatings manufacturer Valspar) to large (food ingredient producer Ingredion) to enormous (3M, in the Electronic Products Division). He has led product scale-up efforts in multiple industries and has valuable experience in design, construction management, and startup/operation of new facilities. Chris holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry from Penn State University
JAY F. BLANKENSHIP M.D.
VP Business Development
Dr. Blankenship is a board-certified emergency physician with experience in the healthcare startup space. He trained at the University of Utah completing both a residency in emergency medicine as well as a fellowship in emergency medical services (EMS). He has administrative experience in the medial direction of county EMS systems, hospital transport systems, and aeromedical flight systems. Most recently, he served as the Chair of Emergency Services at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, where he continues to practice.
Jay previously served as the Medical Director of Lucidity Direct, a start-up technology platform that connects physicians seeking part-time or temporary work with medical practices looking to fill short term staffing needs. He has also been involved in product development at Bard Access Systems helping develop an innovative vascular access device. While at the University of Utah, he served as an Associate at the Lassonde New Venture Development Center and Technology Commercialization Office, evaluating novel biotechnologies focusing primarily on early-stage business development, IP, and market analysis.
Dr. Blankenship earned a BA in economics from University of Virginia, an MD from the University of South Alabama, and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill.
MICHAEL Z RABIN
VP Strategy
Michael joined Zylö Therapeutics after a 35-year career in investment banking and management consulting. For 15 years, Mr. Rabin was Managing Director and senior partner at Sawaya Partners, a boutique investment bank, where he focused primarily on the OTC sector. During this period, he worked with public, family-held, and private-equity-backed companies, completing over 40 transactions involving over 150 brands. Prior to that, he was with Goldman Sachs & Co., where he was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department and Financial Sponsors Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rabin spent 15 years in management consulting, working principally with Fortune 50 corporations in the chemicals, information technology, oil & gas, and consumer sectors. Mr. Rabin earned a BA in economics with general and special honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Michael J Burns Ph.D., Vice President
With over 40 years in the international pharmaceutical and health care industries, Dr. Michael Burns has extensive senior and general management experience in FDA-regulated manufacturing and laboratory operations, research and development, corporate and business development, licensing, acquisitions, sales and marketing. Most recently, Dr. Burns served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Michigan-based Ferndale Pharma Group, Inc., which develops, manufactures and markets a variety of prescription and non-prescription dermatological and related products. He held several executive positions during his 27-year tenure there. Dr. Burns was also Chief Executive Officer of Repromedix Corp., a Massachusetts-based company specializing in the diagnosis of male and female infertility. He is also on the board and serves as scientific advisor to SciTech LLC, a Michigan-based enterprise that performs translational research and development. SciTech is actively developing new drugs for solid tumors, non-melanoma skin cancers, and pre-cancers. A native of Britain and Germany, Dr. Burns has a B.Sc. Honors degree from the University of Reading in Physiology, Biochemistry & Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham.
Cole Workman CPA, Sr. Controller
Mr. Workman has more than 40 years of financial management experience. Prior to joining Zylö, Mr. Workman served as controller of Lpath, Inc., a drug discovery company focused on novel monoclonal antibodies, from 2008 to 2016. Prior to that, he served in senior accounting positions at various publicly traded companies in defense contracting, manufacturing, and health care. Mr. Workman began his career with Grant Thornton LLP, where he earned his CPA certification. In 1977, Mr. Workman graduated from the University of Illinois with Highest Honors.
Eric Renne, R&D Scientist
Eric Renne has over four years' experience at Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing, where he worked his way up from Technician to Assistant Scientist II to Associate Scientist I to Associate Scientist II; his primary focus at Eurofins was on stability and batch-release testing. Mr. Renne has a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Missouri and an M.S. in Drug Development from the University of Cincinnati.
Clay Tucker, R&D Scientist
Clay Tucker joined Zylö after graduating from Clemson University with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, with an emphasis on biomaterials. During his time in graduate school, Mr. Tucker completed (i) industry projects focused on medical device design and (ii) an internship with Zylö, which led to his thesis work on the effects of nitric oxide on bacterial biofilms.
OUR BOARD
Lance M. White, Board Member: Lance White is a successful entrepreneur who acquired, through a leveraged buyout in the mid-1980s, a company providing sanitation services to the food processing industry, and then developed it into one of the flagship companies in the industry. Eventually employing 1,700+ across the U.S., the company was sold in 2013. Over the last several decades, Lance has also been involved in a significant number of start-ups and small-business acquisitions—he remains an investor in, board member of, and/or advisor to many of these. A life-long advocate of education, Lance is currently on the board of five non-profits, including Miami University's highly rated Entrepreneurship Program. He was educated at Kenyon College, Miami University (BS Finance), and Harvard University (MBA).
Gary Atkinson, Board Member: Gary Atkinson has more than 25 years of financial leadership in life science companies, most recently as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Lpath, Inc., a publicly-traded life sciences company. Prior to joining Lpath, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for three private life science companies. In addition, Mr. Atkinson was the Vice President of Finance at Ionis Pharmaceuticals (formerly Isis), a publicly-traded pharmaceutical research and development company. Mr. Atkinson has served on the board of directors of California Coast Credit Union ($2.4+ billion in assets) and its predecessor entities since 1984 and is currently Chairman. He is also a founding director of the Cal Coast Cares Foundation. Mr. Atkinson began his career with Ernst & Young, where he earned his CPA designation; he is a graduate of Brigham Young University.
Matt Dunbar, Board Member: As the founding Managing Director of UCAN (VentureSouth’s original group in Greenville, South Carolina), Matt Dunbar developed the operations that became VentureSouth, and under his leadership, UCAN was named a Top 10 Angel Group in the U.S. Matt is serving his second term on the Board of Directors of the Angel Capital Association and is also a Director of Entegra Financial Corp (ENFC). He was previously a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and an engineer with Eastman Chemical Company. Matt holds an MBA and Masters in Education from Stanford and a BS Chemical Engineering from Clemson.
Craig Frischling, Board Observer.: Since 2012, Craig has been a private investor and a member of the New York Angels. From 1993 until 2012, he worked his way up to President (and then Chairman) of Lipo Chemicals/Ruger Chemical. He holds a BA Biology and Mathematics and a BS Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Scott R. Pancoast, Company Founder, CEO, and Board Member. See bio in Management section above.
KEY ADVISORS
JOEL FRIEDMAN MD PHD
Dr. Joel Friedman is a Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and the Department of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also holds the Young Men’s Division Chair in Cardiovascular Physiology. He is a leading expert in the areas of molecular and protein biophysics, nitric oxide biochemistry, blood substitutes and nanotechnology. Dr. Friedman is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is the co-inventor of the Z-pod™ delivery system. He has been the principle investigator on several NIH-funded program projects and R01’s. He is the head of the W.M. Keck-funded Biomolecular Laser Spectroscopy facility at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is on the selection committee for the Albany Prize. He currently oversees the further development and characterization of nanotechnology that is the foundation for new drug delivery and tissue imaging formulations.
ADAM FRIEDMAN MD FAAD
Dr. Adam Friedman is Professor of Dermatology and interim Chair of Dermatology at The George Washington University School of Medicine. He also serves as Residency Program Director and Director of Translational Research.
Dr. Friedman has published over 160 papers/chapters and 2 textbooks on both his research as well as a variety of clinical areas in dermatology with an emphasis on emerging medical therapies. His clinical interests span the gamut of medical and pediatric dermatology, including acne, eczema, psoriasis, skin infections, hair loss, wound healing, urticaria, blistering diseases, lupus, sarcoidosis, and skin cancer. Dr. Friedman lectures extensively in both national and international forums, and serves on a number of committees and advisory boards. He is a dermatology expert for healthguru.com, everydayhealth.com, and the Huffington Post, and hosts the online series titled “Ask an Expert” and the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology Podcast, “Ask an Investigator.” Dr. Friedman is also committed to resident and medical education. He currently serves on the AAD Sulzberger Committee on Education as well as the Poster Task Force, and is the Senior Editor of the Dermatology In-Review Online Workshop, Director of the Oakstone Institute Dermatology Board Review, and Medical Director of the Orlando Dermatology Aesthetic and Clinical Conference. Dr. Friedman served as the Chair of the Dermatology Section of the New York Academy of Medicine and now serves as Vice Chair; in line with his research interests, he currently serves as the Vice President of the Nanodermatology Society.
Dr. Friedman completed his undergraduate training at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with Distinction in Dermatologic Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship at New York Hospital Queens, and returned to Einstein for his Dermatology residency and was appointed Chief Resident during his final year.
KELVIN P. DAVIES, PHD
Dr. Kelvin P. Davies is Professor of Urology and of Physiology and Biophysics and acts as Director of the Urology Basic Research Laboratories, all at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of NY. He has exceptionally strong extramural support for his research, being ranked #15 highest NIH funded investigator in the field of urology in 2017 (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (www.brimr.org). The focus of his research has been on the molecular mechanisms underlying urogenital pathologies with the goal of developing clinically translatable technologies for urogenital disease. He is principle investigator on two NIH grants to study the biochemical mechanism regulating smooth muscle tone. He has published over 40 papers in international, peer-reviewed journals and serves as an ad-hoc grant reviewer for the NIH and the Italian Ministry for Health. Dr. Davies's research approach to understanding urogenital pathology was translated into the first-ever clinical trials for a gene-therapy approach to treat erectile and bladder dysfunction. In addition, he is senior author on the seminal paper describing the use of Z-pods™ for the treatment of ED. Dr. Davies received an MSc in Toxicology from Birmingham University (UK) and a PhD from Zurich University (Switzerland).
JOSHUA D. NOSANCHUK, MD, FIDA, FACP
Dr. Nosanchuk is Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases, Division of Dermatology) and Microbiology/Immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is an expert in microbial pathogenesis and is the principal investigator in a NIH-funded basic science laboratory. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed basic science and clinical papers and several book chapters and is on the editorial board of several journals, including the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Infection and Immunity, Microbes and Infection, and Virulence. He regularly speaks at national and international scientific meetings and is a member of numerous medical and scientific societies where he holds leadership positions. Notably, he currently is on the Board for the U.S. National Board of Medical Examiners and will Chair the annual meeting for the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2021. Dr. Nosanchuk is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and is a senior attending physician at the Montefiore Medical Center.