Management Team & Board of Directors
Management Team
Ehud Geller, Ph.D.
Executive Chairman & Interim CEO
Dr. Ehud Geller has been active in the health care/biopharma and life science industries for over 30 years. The former president and CEO of Interpharm Laboratories, Ltd., he presided over the growth of this company from the seed stage to $18 million in revenues. Prior to that, Dr. Geller, was the president of the Pharmaceutical Division of Teva and Executive VP of the Teva Group, Israel´s largest pharmaceutical company. At Teva he led the merger of the pharmaceutical business involved in the acquisition of Ikapharm Ltd., and the strategy of Teva´s entry into the U.S. market. Earlier, Dr. Geller conducted pharmaceutical research at Wyeth Laboratories in the U.S.
Dr. Geller has a B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. degree in pharma/chemical engineering from Drexel Institute. He serves as founder and director of biotech and device health care companies.
Prof. Eli Hazum
CTO
Eli brings diverse expertise from both the healthcare industry and academia. He has been a general partner with Medica VC since 1995. prior to joining Medica, Eli spent 5 years at Glaxo Inc. at the Research Triangle Park, NC, as Head of the Department of Receptor Research and Metabolic Diseases, and as a member of the Corporate Committee for New Technology Identification. Upon returning to Israel, Eli served in various executive research and development positions at Biotechnology General Corp. (Savient) and as VP R&D at Peptor Ltd. Over the last 15 years Eli has taken leadership roles within Medica portfolio companies including interim CEO for Collgard Biopharmaceuticals and Ester Neurosciences, where he was responsible for executing Ester’s acquisition by Amarin Pharmaceuticals.
Eli received his Ph.D. degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1978 based on research in the field of hormone biochemistry, and has an executive MBA from Humberside University in the UK. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and patents in various areas of drug development
Dr. Sigal Aviel
COO
Sigal brings Over twenty years of managerial experience in the Biotech industry. Prior to joining PainReform Sigal held the position of Chief R&D Officer at MediWound, a company specializing in deep burns and chronic wound care, where she was responsible for product development from early stages to final product approval by regulatory authorities. Previously she served as a VP of clinical and regulatory affairs at Biokine LTD focusing on cancer therapy. Formerly she directed both platform and project development at Protalix Biotherapeutics while managing a large group of scientists on projects ranging from autoimmune diseases to chemical warfare and genetic diseases.
Sigal holds a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from Duke University Medical School as well as an executive MBA degree from the Kellogg school of business at NW University. She did her postdoctoral work with Nobel laureate Prof. Aaron Ciechanover.
Mrs. Rita Keynan
Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations
Mrs. Keynan brings over 25 years of managerial experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Mrs. Keynan has been responsible for drug development from early phase trials through NDA filings, including managing all chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) activities supporting product development, clinical supplies, scale-up, regulatory submissions and commercial manufacturing. Prior to joining PainReform, Mrs. Keynan served as Executive Director of Drug Development at VYNE Therapeutics Ltd., formerly Foamix Pharmaceuticals, where she managed the drug development department that included a team of nearly a dozen employees in Israel, as well as a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) team in Europe. Additionally, Mrs. Keynan collaborated with functional areas including regulatory, clinical, and quality to ensure successful execution of drug development activities to meet project and company goals. Previously, Mrs. Keynan served as CMC Director, Head of CMC/Innovative Research and Development, and Project Manager at Foamix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a clinical stage special pharmaceutical company. Mrs. Keynan is the co-inventor of over two dozen patents. Mrs. Keynan holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a M.Sc. in Pharm from the Hebrew University in Israel
Board of Directors
Dr. Ellen Baron
Dr. Ellen Baron has served as a director of the company since September 2020. Dr, Baron has been a Managing Director of Outcome Capital LLC, a specialized life science and technology advisory and investment banking firm, since February 2017. From 2012 until joining Outcome Capital, she served as a Managing Director of Healthios Capital Markets, LLC. Prior to joining Healthios, Dr. Baron served as a life science venture capital Partner for Oxford Bioscience Partners and as Senior Vice President, Business Development at Human Genome Sciences, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Baron previously had spent 20 years at Schering-Plough Corporation in both Research and Development and Business Development. Dr. Baron served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tetragenetics Inc., a biotech company recently acquired by AbCellera on September 13, 2021, as an independent director at Sixth Element Capital, a UK-based oncology-focused venture capital fund and SFH, a Maine-based nutraceutical company. Dr. Baron holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine, a post-doctorate at the Public Health Research Institute in New York and bachelor’s degree from Goucher College.
Efi Cohen-Arazi
Efi was the Co-Founder & CEO of Rainbow Medical, Israel’s leading medical device innovation house since 2008. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Cohen Arazi served as the CEO and Co-Founder of IntecPharma Ltd. and as Chairman of CollPlant Ltd. since 2006. Mr. Cohen Arazi served as a board director for numerous biotech/medtech companies since 2005. Mr. Cohen-Arazi was the Senior VP Head of Operations at Immunex Corporation in Seattle, Washington until 2002 when it was acquired by Amgen where he served as VP and General Manager of the TO site in California.
Mr. Cohen Arazi served at Merck-Serono Group in Switzerland and Israel between 1988 and 2000. Mr. Cohen-Arazi graduated summa cum laude with a M.Sc. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Prof. Eli Hazum
Eli serves on the board of directors since August 2019. He brings diverse expertise from both the healthcare industry and academia. He has been a general partner with Medica VC since 1995. prior to joining Medica, Eli spent 5 years at Glaxo Inc. at the Research Triangle Park, NC, as Head of the Department of Receptor Research and Metabolic Diseases, and as a member of the Corporate Committee for New Technology Identification. Upon returning to Israel, Eli served in various executive research and development positions at Biotechnology General Corp. (Savient) and as VP R&D at Peptor Ltd. Over the last 15 years Eli has taken leadership roles within Medica portfolio companies including interim CEO for Collgard Biopharmaceuticals and Ester Neurosciences, where he was responsible for executing Ester’s acquisition by Amarin Pharmaceuticals.
Eli received his Ph.D. degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1978 based on research in the field of hormone biochemistry, and has an executive MBA from Humberside University in the UK. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and patents in various areas of drug development.
Augustine Lawlor
Augustine Lawlor has served as Chief Operating Officer of Leap Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology company, since January 2016 and has been a Managing Director of HealthCare Ventures since 2000. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Chief Operating Officer of LeukoSite, Inc., a biotechnology company acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1999. Prior to joining LeukoSite, Mr. Lawlor was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development for Alpha-Beta Technologies, Inc., a company that specializes in electronics design, development, manufacturing and system obsolescence issues. He has held similar positions at both BioSurface Technologies Corporation, a company that provides products for biofilm investigations, and Armstrong Pharmaceuticals, a division of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Mr. Lawlor was previously a management consultant with KPMG. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. and a director of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., biopharmaceutical companies which are listed on Nasdaq.
Mr. Lawlor received his Master degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University and a BA degree from the University of New Hampshire.
Mr. Lawlor brings an important insight and knowledge to the Board based on his experience as a successful venture capitalist, service on the boards of public and private companies, and roles in commercial and business development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
