Jeff Whitsett, MD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, (Chair of committee)
Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD is Professor of Pediatrics, Chief of the Section of Neonatology, Perinatal and Pulmonary Biology, and Executive Director of the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Whitsett received his B.A. from Colgate University and his medical degree from Columbia University. He trained in Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City and in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Following his fellowship, he joined the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1977 and since has risen through the ranks to Professor. He is internationally known for his research in pulmonary medicine, as well as for his clinical expertise in neonatology. Dr. Whitsett has made a series of groundbreaking contributions in pulmonary medicine and biology in his studies of the surfactant proteins A, B, C and D, cloning their genes and clarifying their roles in lung development and function. Throughout his career, Dr. Whitsett has transitioned from molecular biology to animal models and then to the diagnosis and therapy of human disease. Importantly, he has played a critical role in making surfactant protein replacement routine in the treatment of immature lungs and respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. Notably, his laboratory has contributed to the identification of a number of genes critical for lung formation and function and shown that mutations in genes regulating surfactant homeostasis are responsible for acute and chronic lung disease in infants and adults. Dr. Whitsett is the author of over 500 papers in both the basic science and clinical literature.Dr. Whitsett is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of various awards, including the Mead Johnson Award, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Merit Award, the William Cooper Procter Award from Cincinnati Children’s, the Amberson Lecture Award of the American Thoracic Society, the prestigious Daniel Drake Medal for scientific contributions from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the highly respected Arvo Ylppö Medal Award from Finland, the Grand Hamdan International Award on Neonatal Medicine from the United Arab Emirates, 2015 Avery Award, a joint award of the SPR/APS honoring Mary Ellen Avery, American Academy of Pediatrics 2015 Virginia Apgar Award. Columbia University P&S Alumni Gold Medal Award, and the 2018 Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal from the American Thoracic Society.

Ola Saugstad, MD, PhD, University of Oslo

Ola Didrik Saugstad is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Director of the Department of Pediatric Research University of Oslo, Consultant of Neonatology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet. He is an adjunct professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University, Chicago. He has published Published more than 400 articles—374 articles in peer reviewed journals—and of those, 36 are recorded in Pubmed. His field of interests are newborn oxygenation and resuscitation, oxidative stress and lung injury. Dr. Saugstad has served in supervisory and teaching roles with PHD students and has given over 300 lectures at international congresses and Universities. His numerous awards and honors include the AAP:  The Landmark Award 2012, the Nordic Medal Award, 2011 and an honorary professorship from Moscow University in 2013.

Maximo Vento, MD, PhD, Univ. of Valencia

Dr. Vento presently holds a number of positions including: Professor of Pediatrics (since 1993) at the University of Alicante; Chief of the Division of Neonatology (since 2005); University & Polytechnic Hospital La Fe.; Director of the Neonatal Research Unit (since 2005) at The Health Research Institute La Fe. He is also President of the Spanish Neonatal Society (SEN) and National Coordinator of the Spanish Network for Maternal and Infant Health and Development (Red SAMID) pertaining to the INSTITUTO CARLOS III (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). In 2017, he has been appointed Chairman of the European Board of Neonatology and Member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Pediatric Research.

His academic honors and activities began with advanced degrees from the University of Valencia starting in 1975, and have included numerous featured speaking engagements at over 80 National and International Congresses of the Neonatal Societies and Research Symposium. Max diverse lines of research and interests have included areas of general neonatal care; Physiology of the Fetal to Neonatal transition; Perinatal Asphyxia; Resuscitation in the Delivery Room; Oxygen: physiology, hypoxia/hyperoxia derived toxicity, oxidative and nitrosative stress and biomarkers; Redox Regulation; microbiome/infection/genome wide expression. His presence among national and international journals have added up to well over 350 speaking and published works.

Haresh Kirpalani, BM, MRCP, FRCP, MSc

Dr. Haresh Kirpalani is the program director of the Newborn and Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program. He is an attending neonatologist with the Division of Neonatology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kirpalani is trained as a pediatrician in the UK, and worked in Portsmouth, Southampton. He completed his pediatric training in Newcastle-U-Tyne and was a senior fellow in neonatology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.

Kirpalani was born in India and earned his BM at Southampton University, United Kingdom and his MSc at McMaster University. He completed his pediatric training in Newcastle-U-Tyne and was a senior fellow in neonatology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.

Eric S. Shinwell, MD

Dr. Eric Shinwell is the Director of Neonatology at Ziv Medical Center, Tsfat and Dean of Medical Education at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.  He currently leads major innovations in curriculum development and teaching methods that include interactive learning, inter-professional education, online courses and expanded teaching of medical humanities at all stages of the curriculum.

Shinwell is a recognized researcher who, for more than two decades, has focused mainly on the pathophysiology and management of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, the severe chronic lung disease of preterm infants.  In addition, he has published studies on ethical issues in neonatal care.  He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, together with numerous chapters, reviews and other articles.

Dimitri Panayotopoulos, Chairman 

Dimitri Panayotopoulos is a former Vice Chairman of The Procter & Gamble Company, where he had responsibility for the full portfolio of P&G’s brands and business units and more than $80 billion of global revenues. He brings deep experience in driving growth, innovation and executional excellence. Following his 37-year career at P&G, which spanned many of its international operations, he became a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group.

Panayotopoulos’ distinguished career at P&G included positions in advertising and marketing before moving on to various country manager positions. He led successful initiatives in China that resulted in a multibillion-dollar P&G business and also managed P&G’s 110-country market-development organization in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa and spearheaded the creation of a unified approach to building brands and businesses in those markets. After being named Group President of Global Fabric Care, Panayotopoulos helped build Downy, Lenor, and Gain into billion-dollar brands.

Asaf Danziger

Asaf Danziger has served as Chief Executive Officer of Novocure since 2002 and has been a director of Novocure since 2012.  Danziger has led the company and the development of TTFields therapy from preclinical testing through regulatory approvals to commercial sales in Europe and the United States. From 1998 to 2002, Danziger was Chief Executive Officer of Cybro Medical, a subsidiary of Imagyn Medical Technologies. Danziger holds a Bachelor’s of Science in material engineering from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

John M. Rice, PhD

John Rice is Managing Director at CincyTech, LLC, a venture development company focusing on seed venture capital investment where he leads the life science practice, and a co-founder and former Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures, both based in Cincinnati. He has 30 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biomedical science. He has strong relationships in the scientific community from the 26 years he spent in biomedical research and R&D management at Battelle and Senmed.

Rice was a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures from 1989 until 2003. Previously, Rice spent 13 years with Battelle Memorial Institute serving in various research projects, research management, and business development capacities. He has authored numerous scientific publications and holds patents in the fields of virology and immunology.

Rice earned his BS, MS and PhD degrees in Microbiology and Virology from The Ohio State University.

Marc Salzberg, MD, President, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Marc Salzberg serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Medical Officer and a Board Member at Airway Therapeutics. He has more than 25 years of academic and pharmaceutical experience in the management of drug development and clinical research, including medical management of anti-viral drugs clinical development and market introduction including saquinavir and ganciclovir. He spent several years at Roche’s headquarters in Basel, Switzerland as well as its affiliate in Toronto, Canada. As Head of Clinical Cancer Research at the Basel University, he co-founded and managed a clinical research network in Switzerland (CCRC).

During his career, Marc has successfully managed the growth and acquisition of two contract research organizations benefitting shareholders. He was a founder and President of Pharma Brains, a European boutique CRO, which has been acquired by Medpace, a US based global CRO, after 10 years of successful growth under his leadership. He then served as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Medpace.

Marc earned his Medical Doctorate degree from the University of Basel, Switzerland. His medical training and practice include pediatrics/ neonatology and oncology.

Alan S. Wolk, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer

Alan Wolk serves as the Chief Financial officer, Chief Operating Officer and a Board Member at Airway Therapeutics. He has more than 30 years of finance and general management experience in Dupont and Invista, a subsidiary of Koch Industries. He held senior executive positions including President, Interiors, a $2B+ group of businesses in both Dupont and Invista. Previously, Alan was CFO, Dupont Nylon, a $6.5B segment.

Alan led several global businesses with sales, R&D and manufacturing operations in N.A., China and Europe. Earlier, Alan was CFO of Dupont Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. He led many successful M&A and divestiture projects, for example, buying businesses in Germany and China and playing a leadership role in Dupont’s acquisition of ICI Textiles, joint venturing (and eventually divesting) of Dupont’s Pharmaceuticals business with Merck, and selling the Virology business to Ortho. Before joining Airway, Alan taught Finance at University of Georgia Terry College of Business.

Alan has a BBA in Marketing and an MBA in Finance from The Fox School of Business at Temple University.