Team
LEADERSHIP
JEREMY GOWLER
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Gowler is a biotech and pharmaceutical industry executive with 20+ years of experience, with a focus on commercial, business operations, strategy, and business development. He held executive roles at Invivyd, PaxVax, Emergent BioSolutions, and Novartis, and currently sits on the board of directors of VIDO. He earned his BSc in biology and environmental studies from the University of Victoria and a diploma in marketing from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
REBECCA CARTER, PhD
Chief Development Officer
Dr. Carter, an expert in developing drugs and devices for use in austere environments, joined Ophirex after retiring from the U.S. military as a Lieutenant Colonel. In her career with the U.S. government, she was most recently Director of Medical Modernization for the Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command and was Lead Representative to the U.S. FDA and the U.S. Special Operations Command Biomedical Research Group. She earned her PhD at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and her undergraduate degree at the United States Air Force Academy.
TIMOTHY PLATTS-MILLS, MD, MSc
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Platts-Mills is an emergency physician and clinical researcher with extensive experience designing and leading the conduct of clinical trials. His research has been funded by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, the National Institute of Justice, and the National Institutes of Health. He is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and a Senior Associate Editor for Annals of Emergency Medicine. He earned his MD at the University of California, Los Angeles, his Master of Science in Clinical Research at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, and his undergraduate degree at Harvard University.
LESLIE BOYER, MD
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Boyer is a medical toxinologist and pediatrician with extensive experience studying and treating snake and scorpion venom injury, including design, conduct and analysis of pivotal trials of antivenom for pit viper, elapid and scorpion envenoming. Her research has been funded by the U.S. FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the State of Arizona, Therapeutic Antibodies Inc., Instituto Bioclon SA de CV, Rare Disease Therapeutics, Inc, and the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission. Dr. Boyer earned her MD from Harvard Medical School and her BS from the University of Arizona.
KATHLEEN DOTSON, CPA
SVP, Finance; Controller
Ms. Dotson is a seasoned finance leader with extensive experience in the biotech and technology industries. Before joining Ophirex, she held roles as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller at Aqua Metals, Inc. (AQMS) and Corporate Controller at Diadexus (DDXS) and Transcept Pharmaceuticals (TSPT). She began her career at KPMG, serving in both U.S. and international offices over the course of a decade with the firm. Ms. Dotson earned her BS at the University of California, Berkeley.
MARK PETERSEN, JD
SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Petersen, an experienced litigator and mediator, has handled legal matters in the pharmaceutical and energy industries and has been a partner with Farella Braun + Martel LLP in San Francisco for more than 40 years. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. Petersen was a nuclear engineer on submarines in the U.S. Navy. He received his JD from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and his BS from the U.S. Naval Academy.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hans Bishop — Director
Mr. Bishop has more than 30 years of experience in the biotech industry and is the president, founder, and board co-chair of Altos Labs, a biotechnology company focused on cellular rejuvenation programming to restore cell health and resilience, with the goal of reversing disease to transform medicine. He previously served as CEO of GRAIL, a healthcare company working on early detection of cancer, acquired by Illumina. In 2013, he co-founded the oncology immunotherapy company Juno Therapeutics and, as CEO, led Juno through the initiation of multiple clinical trials and rapid organizational growth, which attracted its $11 billion acquisition by Celgene just five years later. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bishop served as an Executive in Residence at Warburg Pincus and held executive positions at Dendreon, Inc., Bayer Healthcare, and Chiron Corporation. He holds a BA in chemistry from Brunel University in London.
Timothy Garnett — Chair
Dr. Timothy Garnett, a UK-trained physician (MBBS, FRCOG, FFPM), recently retired from serving as Chief Medical Officer of Eli Lilly and Company, a position he held for 13 years of his more than 20 years with the company. Dr. Garnett's 30-year pharma career focused on clinical development and included leading Lilly’s Global Patient Safety prior to becoming the company’s Chief Medical Officer. He also practiced obstetrics and gynecology for eight years, along with conducting clinical research, before joining the pharmaceutical industry.
Jeremy Gowler — Director
Mr. Gowler, Ophirex's CEO, is a biotech and pharmaceutical industry executive with 20+ years of experience, with a focus on commercial, business operations, strategy, and business development. He held executive roles at Invivyd, PaxVax, Emergent BioSolutions, and Novartis, and currently sits on the board of directors of VIDO. He earned his BSc in biology and environmental studies from the University of Victoria and a diploma in marketing from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Jerry Harrison — Director
Mr. Harrison, Ophirex's co-founder, is a world-famous musician, known for his success as a member of the bands Talking Heads and Modern Lovers, along with his work as a music and film producer. He is also an experienced tech investor, producer, and entrepreneur, whose notable successes include MicroUnity, VenEarth, Garageband/iLike, and RedCrow™ Inc. He holds a Doctor of Fine Arts (Honorary) from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA from Harvard College.
Curt LaBelle — Director
Dr. LaBelle has been investing in and working with healthcare companies for two decades. As the Founding Partner and Chair of Global Health Funds, Dr. LaBelle oversees the private investments portfolio, delivering life-changing therapeutics and diagnostics worldwide for conditions such as cholera, cataract-induced blindness, snakebites, tuberculosis, HIV, and postpartum hemorrhage. He has served on the Boards of Directors of Sirion Therapeutics, Eyenovia, KAI Pharmaceuticals, Alydia, and other notable companies. Dr. LaBelle holds a dual MD/MBA degree from Columbia University.
Matthew Lewin — Director
Dr. Lewin founded Ophirex in 2015; led the company as CEO, president, Chief Medical Officer, and most recently Chief Scientific Officer; and now continues to conduct research as a consultant. Dr. Lewin is a recognized expert in expedition and field medicine, with emergency medicine board certification and a PhD in the field of neurophysiology. He is an elected fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a National fellow of the Explorers Club, a member of the Board of the North American Society of Toxinology, and serves on the WHO’s Snakebite Envenoming Working Group Antidotes Committee. He earned his MD and PhD at the University of Texas/MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Distinguished Alumnus award, 2020) and his BSc degree at the University of California, Berkeley.
Derrick Rossi — Director
Dr. Rossi is a stem cell scientist and serial biotech entrepreneur. His accomplishments at the forefront of regenerative medicine and biotechnology, particularly the development of modified-mRNA reprogramming, have led to recognition by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world (2011) and one of the top ten medical breakthroughs (2010). The first company Dr. Rossi founded, Moderna, rose to global prominence in 2020 when it developed a COVID-19 vaccine now deployed around the world. Currently, Dr. Rossi is CEO of Convelo Therapeutics, a company developing remyelination therapeutics for patients suffering from demyelination diseases such as multiple sclerosis. He is co-founder of Stelexis Therapeutics, targeting the stem cell origin of cancer; Magenta Therapeutics, focused on transforming transplantation medicine; and Intellia Therapeutics, developing CRISPR/Cas9-based therapeutics. Prior to founding Moderna, Dr. Rossi was an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University and an investigator at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he led a team working on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Dr. Rossi earned his his PhD from the University of Helsinki and his MSc and BSc from the University of Toronto.
Aaron Schacht — Director
Aaron Schacht is CEO of BiomEdit - a biotechnology company focused on animal health product innovation leveraging the science of the microbiome and synthetic biology, addressing some of the most challenging conditions in livestock and pets. Mr. Schacht founded BiomEdit in 2022 via a strategic carve out from Elanco Animal Health (NYSE: ELAN) and a strategic partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA).
Schacht retired in 2021 from Elanco where since 2015 he led research and development (R&D), regulatory affairs, and business development. During his time at Elanco, he transformed Elanco’s innovation model, building and integrating internal and external innovation strategies that positioned Elanco as a leading independent animal health company. Schacht led the strategic acquisition of Bayer Animal Health, Aratana Therapeutics and Kindred Biosciences. His R&D teams delivered more than a dozen new products to the market during his tenure including Interceptor Plus, Credelio, Galliprant, Clynav, Experior and Elura, while integrating the R&D capabilities and pipelines of Novartis Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim pet vaccines, Bayer Animal Health, Aratana, Prevtec and Kindred. Schacht was a member of the founding executive team that completed the carve out from parent Eli Lilly and Company, taking Elanco public in 2018.
Prior to his time at Elanco, Schacht spent the first 25 years of his career in the life sciences industry at Eli Lilly and Company, beginning as a discovery research chemist and playing a variety of roles across R&D, strategy, external innovation, and product development. Schacht's last role at Lilly was leading the late-stage product development program which resulted in the approval and commercialization of Emgality, a novel CGRP neutralizing monoclonal antibody proven effective for the prevention of migraine and cluster headache.
In addition to his role as independent board director for Ophirex, Schacht currently serves on the boards of animal health companies Redux Bio, Gallant Therapeutics and Mileutis. Schacht is also on the board of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute the Purdue Research Foundation. Schacht received his bachelor's degree in chemical sciences from the University of Illinois in 1990.
