Robert W. Strozier, PhD, JD, Co-founder & Patent Counsel, has over 33 years of experience in private practice, during which he has prepared, filed, and prosecuted over 400 patent applications that have matured into issued patents covering a broad array of technologies. He has been involved in the invention and prosecution of patents covering novel pain and cardiovascular drugs approved by the FDA. He has prepared, filed, and prosecutes 7 Hills patent applications and is a co-inventor of certain 7 Hills technology. He has successfully prosecuted several 7 Hills patent applications, resulting in four issued United States Patents and numerous foreign counterparts covering key aspects of 7 Hills’s integrin activating technology including applications in vaccination, antibody therapy, checkpoint blockade therapy, and stem cell transplantation. Robert earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Louisiana State University and a J.D. from the University of Akron.

Upendra Marathi, PhD, MBA, President & CEO, is the founder, investor, and an inventor of 7HP technology. He has led the development of three novel pain and cardiovascular drugs, including one which has recently been approved by the FDA. He co-developed one of the first genetically modified stem cells to improve bone marrow function in chemotherapeutic patients.  As a venture capitalist, he was involved in the founding and launch of several biotechnology companies.  He has helped raise over $50 million in equity financing.  Upendra was a post-doctoral fellow at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Loyola University Chicago.  Upendra has an M.B.A. from Rice University and has served as a faculty member.

Management

Siddhartha De, PhD, Senior Director of Development, has been deeply involved with the preclinical development of the 7 Hills drug portfolio and its preparation for clinical readiness. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2001 from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, during which he elucidated the role of different H1 histone variants in the architecture of chromatin in the cell nucleus, and the functional consequence of this chromatin organization on nuclear processes, such as transcription, replication, and recombination. After his Ph.D., he worked at the University of Virginia for his post-doctoral research work, where he focused on the role of estrogen and androgen receptors in cancer, and at Luna Innovations to kick-start different Department of Defense (DoD)-funded programs to address homeland defense and counter bioterrorism. For the next several years, he worked for the drug discovery and development operations at Eurofins Advinus, where he headed in vitro Pharmacology and the CNS therapeutic area, and led several programs to clinical candidacy. Additionally, he has extensive experience in Project Management and Business Development, representing outlicensing strategy, partnerships, and contract services.

Lionel Lewis, MA, MB BCh, MD, Chief Medical Officer, is an experienced solid tumor trialist who has worked on 40 Phase I trials, and led 10 first-in-human studies including immune checkpoint inhibitors. Currently he co-directs co-directs the Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) at Dartmouth Molecular Therapeutics Program and the NCCC Phase-I group, and is Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Shared Resource and Medical Director of the Dartmouth Clinical Trials Office. He is also the current Executive Director of the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology and the vice chair of the Pharmacogenetics and Population Pharmacology (PPP) committee of the Alliance of Clinical Trials in Oncology, an NCI intergroup.  He has served on and chaired several DOD and NIH study section panels.  He has published more than 150 peer reviewed manuscripts in the field of clinical pharmacology and has edited/co-authored several textbooks in the field. 

William Schary, PhD, Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, has extensive experience as a development, clinical and regulatory scientist and biopharmaceutical industry executive. He is a former clinical reviewer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has served in senior roles in global clinical and regulatory functions with Abbvie Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., and has held executive management positions at a number of biotech companies. He has designed and successfully executed drug development plans resulting in the acceptance of global dossiers for investigational products, including approval of more than 20 drug and medicinal products across multiple therapeutic areas. He also established the procedures and managed operations of a Phase 1 clinic unit as well as coordinated efforts at academic and commercial research centers for implementation of new drug development and new drug regulatory and quality assurance programs.

Rob Bent, MS, MBA, Director of Operations, is an experienced entrepreneur and operational leader.  He holds BS and MS degrees in Food Science from the University of Florida and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.  After completing graduate research characterizing a novel inhibitor of enzymatic browning in fruits and vegetables, Rob joined Virginia Dare, a leader in the flavor industry, as a wet lab product developer.  After completing his MBA, Rob moved out of the lab to manage Virginia Dare’s beverage business.  Rob later co-founded and served as Chief Product Officer for Som Sleep, developing its flagship dietary supplement from concept and spearheading its commercial scale-up and successful nationwide launch.