Board of Directors

Mark Ehlert

Mr. Ehlert started his career in 1975 with Baxter Healthcare and continued there for more than 20 years, until he joined Allegiance Healthcare where he was a corporate officer responsible for Quality, Regulatory and R&D. During his time at Baxter, he worked in manufacturing operations for IV fluids, injectable drugs, simple medical devices and electronic infusion devices, and spent time expanding Baxter’s presence in Asia. At Baxter, Mr. Ehlert had P&L responsibility for a major hub of Asian operations. Most recently, Mr. Ehlert retired as Corporate Vice President for Global Regulatory at Hospira, a world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals and medication management systems. Mr. Ehlert received a B.S. in Microbiology from Michigan State University.

N. William Jasper Jr.

N. W. (Bill) Jasper, Jr. was the CEO and president of Dolby Laboratories until his retirement in March 2009. He joined Dolby in 1979 as Vice President, Finance and Administration and was named company President in 1983. He continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of Dolby. He also serves of the board of the Idea Zoo.

Mr. Jasper is an at-large member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). He received a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.

Llew Keltner, MD, Ph.D.

Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D is Chief Executive Officer of EPISTAT, an international healthcare strategy company that he founded in 1972. Dr. Keltner was the Chief Executive Officer of AgonOx, a biotech company developing OX40 agonists for use in cancer therapyfrom 2011 to 2013. He was the President of Novici Biotech, a privately-held gene and protein optimization firm from 2010 to 2011. Dr. Keltner was Chief Executive Officer and President of Light Sciences Oncology, a privately-held biotechnology company developing a late stage, light-activated therapy for certain cancers from 2001 to 2010. From 1997 to 2004, Dr. Keltner was Chief Executive Officer of Metastat, a biotech company focused on cancer metastasis.

Dr. Keltner currently holds positions on the boards of Raptor Pharmaceuticals, (NASDAQ:RPTP), where he served as Chairman from 2013 to 2015, Infostat, BioQ Pharma, Oregon Life Sciences, and Goodwell Technologies. Dr. Keltner is an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and a Guest Lecturer and Director in the Bioethics Program at Columbia University School of Medicine. Dr. Keltner received an M.S. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, a Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Josh Kriesel, Ph.D.
CEO and Director

Dr. Kriesel is co-founder of BioQ Pharma. He is responsible for executing and coordinating major aspects of the financing, technical, and business development activities. He previously served in a variety of management roles at Covalent Technologies, a healthcare focused nanotechnology company in Silicon Valley. Dr. Kriesel also serves as a non-executive director of AllAccem Inc., a chemical company developing, manufacturing and selling antimicrobial additives and coatings for use in the pharmaceutical, medical and consumer healthcare industries. Dr. Kriesel earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

Richard Nesbit, Ph.D.

Dr. Nesbit is the retired Vice President of Advanced Technology and Vice President of Quality Assurance at Beckman Instruments (now Beckman-Coulter a subsidiary of Danaher), a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells biomedical testing instrumentation for clinical laboratories. Dr. Nesbit played a vital role in growing Beckman Instruments from a scientific instrument company with small medical technology business into a leading global diagnostics business, with current revenues in excess of $2.5 billion.

Viscount Christopher Portman

Lord Portman is Chairman of the Portman Settled Estate Ltd, which manages 110 acres in central London. Under Viscount Portman's leadership, the Portman Estate has undertaken multi-million pound investments in the improvement of buildings across their properties. Lord Portman is an experienced healthcare investor whose diverse interests include nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, stem-cells and medical devices.

Daniel Tassé

Mr. Tassé was formerly the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Ikaria, which was sold in April 2015 to Mallinckrodt for $2.3 billion. Prior to Ikaria, Mr. Tassé was the General Manager of the Pharmaceuticals and Technologies Business Unit of Baxter International, Inc., and Vice President and Regional Director for Australasia at GlaxoSmithKline. He currently serves on the board of publicly traded companies, including Bellerophon Therapeutics and Indivior PLC, a company traded on the London Stock Exchange. Mr. Tassé was a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council (2010 to June 2015) and of the Health Section Governing Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (2011 to June 2015), where he participated on the bioethics, regulatory environment and reimbursement committees. Mr. Tassé received a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Montreal.