MEET THE EXPERTS

Kollol Pal

Dr. Kollol Pal is an established, serial entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Kollol has spent much of his career within successful, early-stage companies where he held roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Kollol was the Founder and CEO of Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals (now known as Cadent Therapeutics), a neuroscience drug discovery company which partnered with Novartis in 2014. Prior to his work with Mnemosyne, he was Co-Founder and SVP of Research and Development at Corbus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CRBP), a clinical-stage company developing novel drugs for scleroderma and cystic fibrosis. Earlier in his career, Kollol served as Vice President of Chemistry at Neogenesis, a novel screening and chemistry technologies company acquired by Schering Plough-Merck, and as Director of Chemistry at the oncology startup Mitotix which was later acquired by GPC Biotech. He has also previously served as a Principal at PureTech Ventures (now PureTech Health). Kollol began his scientific career at Boehringer Ingelheim, where he was a member of the research team that developed Viramune, the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Kollol Pal holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Cornell University.

Jordan Leef

Jordan Leef is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist specializing in the healthcare industry. Jordan brings more than a decade of experience in life science venture creation and has served on the boards of over 20 companies as a director or observer.

Jordan most recently served as an executive at two oncology companies, Metamark Genetics, which focused on urological cancers, and Interpace Diagnostics Group (Nasdaq: IDXG), which develops molecular diagnostic tests. He was also a Principal Venture Capitalist and member of the healthcare investment team at the publicly-traded venture capital firm, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE).

Prior to Safeguard, Jordan served as a Senior Associate with MentorTech Ventures, a Philadelphia-based venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage companies. During his time at MentorTech, Jordan was also a Senior Associate for SVM Israel, investing in Israeli private equity and venture capital funds as well as selectively co-investing alongside those funds. Earlier in his investment career, Jordan was a Financial Analyst at the private equity firm Pharos Capital Group, where he worked as a member of the investment team to provide growth and later-stage capital for businesses in the healthcare, business services and technology industries. Before his career in venture capital, Jordan worked in the biotechnology equity research group at C.E. Unterberg, Towbin (presently known as Collin Stewart) and for Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE) in its US clinical operations and business development divisions.

Jordan Leef is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he concentrated in healthcare management and policy.

Jay Birnbaum

Dr. Jay Birnbaum is the senior scientific advisor to Pyramid Biosciences for its dermatology portfolio. Jay brings more than three decades of experience spanning the areas of discovery research, formulations, clinical research and development (R&D), regulatory and marketing of dermatological therapies. His consultancy work specializes in ethical and OTC drugs, medical devices and cosmetics.

Jay has been involved in the development and commercialization of numerous drug and consumer products and brands, including Lamisil antifungal products, Cyclosporine Neoral and Elidel (systemic and topical treatments for inflammatory skin diseases), Kybella (treatment for submental fullness), Apligraf (the first bio-engineered, living skin equivalent), and Skin Caviar (the centerpiece of the LaPrairie Skin Care brand for over 25 years). He has extensive international relationships in industry and academia and is a member of board of directors and scientific advisory boards of several companies.

Jay’s career includes senior roles at pharmaceutical leaders Novartis, Sandoz and Wyeth. He has co-founded two companies in his career, Kythera Biotherapeutics (later acquired by Allergan) and Hallux, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of targeted subungual drug delivery to treat onychomycosis serving as Chief Scientific Officer and a member of its board of directors.

  Dr. Jay Birnbaum holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Science degree from Trinity College.