Knopp Neurosciences is a collaboration-driven organization with close partnership among executive leadership, staff, Advisory Board members and Board of Directors.

Knopp is led by an experienced team of clinical drug development executives, neuroscientists, and business operations specialists. With decades of experience in major pharma and contract research organizations, members of the Knopp team have been responsible for numerous biological discoveries, pivotal clinical studies, and new drug approvals, especially in neurology.

Michael E. Bozik, M.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Prior to joining Knopp, Dr. Bozik served most recently as vice president of global research and development for Bayer Healthcare LLC, Consumer Care Division. Previously with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, he served, among other capacities, as vice president of neuroscience clinical development and as vice president of research, development, and business operations in the consumer medicines and specialty pharmaceuticals group. He previously directed the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and served as chief of the Division of Neuro-Oncology in the University’s Department of Neurosurgery. He is a director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association. Dr. Bozik received his B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame, his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and conducted his residency and fellowship training in neurology and neuro-oncology at the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh.

Evan W. Ingersoll, Ph.D.

COO and SVP, Clinical Research & Business Operations

Dr. Ingersoll has ~20 years’ experience directing exploratory and full-phase drug development and commercialization projects across diverse therapeutic areas, with an emphasis in neurology and neuroprotection. Prior to joining Knopp in 2006, he served as a Staff Director in R&D Operations at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he supervised a team of project planners, managed over 15 exploratory and full development teams, and managed neuroscience strategy and annual R&D resource planning teams. Prior to joining BMS, he was a project director at PRA International for eight years, where among other activities he directed project teams executing international Phase III trials in stroke and traumatic brain injury. He completed his undergraduate work at Amherst College and received his Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Sciences and Developmental Psychobiology from the University of Connecticut.

Valentin K. Gribkoff, Ph.D.

CSO and SVP, Discovery Research

A recognized leader in the molecular and cell biology of neuronal ion channels, Dr. Gribkoff served in scientific leadership positions in neuroscience discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company from 1988 to 2004. More recently he was vice president of ion channel biology at Scion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Dr. Gribkoff received his Ph.D. in physiological psychology and neuroscience from the University of California at Riverside. He currently serves as adjunct associate professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is the author of 85 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters and holds 12 issued U.S. patents

Gregory T. Hebrank, M.D., M.B.A.

EVP, Corporate Operations & Finance

Dr. Hebrank is a successful longtime investor in public and private biotech equities and was the co-founder of and partner in successful clinical obstetrics and gynecologic practice in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Dr. Hebrank earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, an M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine and completed his residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Magee-Women’s Hospital, a part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He completed his M.B.A. at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

Thomas Petzinger, Jr.

EVP, Business Development & Public Affairs

Prior to joining Knopp Neurosciences full time, Mr. Petzinger was CEO of Launchcyte LLC, a life sciences incubator that co-founded Knopp. He also serves as chairman of other Launchcyte companies, including Immunetrics Inc., Crystalplex Corp., and Proteopure Inc., and as a director of Reaction Biology Corp. and Celsense Inc. Prior to co-founding LaunchCyte, he spent 22 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he served as Washington economics editor, deputy Washington bureau chief, millennium editor, and weekly columnist. A Pulitzer nominee for numerous investigative stories, he has also written three best-selling business books. He received his B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, where he was a Richter International Scholar.

Ongoing development of dexpramipexole in ALS is advised by Knopp’s ALS Cinical Experts (ACE) Panel, comprised of some of the world’s leading authorities in ALS therapeutic development.

Merit E. Cudkowicz, M.D., MSc.

Professor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Cudkowicz completed medical training at the Health Science and Technology program of Harvard Medical School and residency in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She obtained a Master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in June, 1996. She was also a fellow in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Clinical Investigator Training Program from 1994 to 1996. Dr. Cudkowicz co-directs the MGH Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) clinic and the Neurology Clinical Trials Unit (NCTU) at MGH and Partners Healthcare System. She also co-directs the Northeast ALS Consortium. She serves on the medical advisory board for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Massachusetts Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association.

Robert G. Miller, M.D.

Director of the Forbes Norris ALS Research Center, California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco

In addition to his appointment at California Pacific Medical Center, Dr. Miller is a Clinical Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at both the University of California at San Francisco and Stanford University. Dr. Miller graduated from Cornell Medical School, New York, New York, and received his postdoctoral residency training in Neurology at UCSF. In 1989 he was boarded by the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine and also holds his specialty boards in Clinical Neurophysiology from the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. The American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AAEM) honored Dr. Miller with the Distinguished Physician Award in 1997.

Hiroshi Mitsumoto, M.D., D.Sc.

Wesley J. Howe Professor of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY

Dr. Mitsumoto is the Wesley J. Howe Professor of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center and College of Physicians and Surgeons, and serves as Director of the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Research Center and Neuromuscular Division at the Neurological Institute of New York, a position he has held since 1999. He was educated in Japan, graduated from Toho University School of Medicine in 1968, and came to the United States in 1972 to complete his medical internship at Johns Hopkins/Baltimore City Hospitals and his neurology residency at Case Western Reserve University. Subsequently, Dr. Mitsumoto completed a fellowship in neuropathology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and undertook neuromuscular research as an MDA fellow at Tufts University. In 1981, he joined Case Western Reserve University and in 1983 was named Director of the Neuromuscular Section and the ALS Center at the Cleveland Clinic.

Jeremy M. Shefner, M.D., PhD.

Professor and Chair of Neurology at Upstate Medical University and Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory and the MDA/ALS Research and Treatment Center at University Hospital in Syracuse, New York

Dr. Shefner is trained in neurology and clinical neurophysiology and has devoted his clinical and research efforts to ALS. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Illinois in 1976 and was a NRSA Research Fellow from 1976 to 1979. He completed a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology and neuromuscular disease with the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. While at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Shefner directed the ALS Clinic and participated in multiple industry-sponsored ALS clinical trials. Since moving to Syracuse, he established the multidisciplinary ALS clinic there and continues to participate in both industry- and investigator-initiated clinical trials. He co-directs the Northeast ALS Consortium.

Michael E. Bozik, M.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Gregory T. Hebrank, M.D.

EVP, Corporate Operations & Finance

Thomas Petzinger

EVP, Business Development & Public Affairs

Jeffrey S. McCormick

Chairman and Managing General Partner of Saturn

Mr. McCormick is the Chairman and Managing General Partner of Saturn. He founded Saturn in 1993, focusing on energy, electronic commerce, specialty materials and select opportunistic investments. He then led the expansion of Saturn with the launch of both Saturn Partners Limited Partnership I and II. Mr. McCormick has over 20 years of experience as an investment banker, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He currently also serves on the boards of MooBella, American Made, SureLogic, Applied Clean Tech, and NHXS. Mr. McCormick is a graduate of Syracuse University, where he received an MBA in Finance and a B.S. in biology.

Benjamin A. Gomez

Managing Director of Pilot House Associates, LLC

Mr. Gomez serves as Managing Director of Pilot House Associates, a family investment office in Boston. He joined Pilot House in 1998 as Treasurer. Prior to joining Pilot House, Mr. Gomez held various positions at Continental Cablevision and the Bank of New York. He received a bachelor's degree in Foreign Service, with honors, from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.