Samir R. Patel, M.D., Interim CEO
Samir R. Patel, M.D. is founder and principal of PranaBio Investments, LLC, a firm providing consulting, strategic advisory, and investment services for small cap biotechnology companies. He is also a consultant to GE Global Research, GE’s innovation engine that is creating novel products and solutions across several sectors including biomanufacturing and biotechnology.
Dr. Patel has more than 20 years of experience in life sciences including co-founding Digital Therapeutics, LLC, a startup advancing a therapy for scleroderma and other rheumatic diseases, and SPEC Pharma, LLC, a company that develops and manufactures injectables used in rheumatology applications. Previously, he held multiple roles in Medical Affairs with Centocor, Inc. (now Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, part of Johnson & Johnson). He holds multiple patents, has been an author on several publications and has been an investigator in numerous clinical research studies.
Dr. Patel received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio (University of Toledo) in Toledo, Ohio, and completed his internal medicine internship and residency, as well as a rheumatology fellowship, at University of New Mexico School of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals.
Dr. Miles Nunn, Chief Scientific Officer
Miles Nunn is the discoverer of nomacopan and has been Chief Scientific Officer of Akari since April 2014. Previously, he worked at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for 16 years. He discovered Volution’s lead drug, nomacopan (formerly Coversin), and is an inventor on several other patents. Dr. Nunn was formerly the Scientific Research Manager for Evolutec Group Plc, Director of Amplion Ltd., and a Principal Investigator for the Natural Environment Research Council.
His scientific interests center on the structural and functional interactions between parasite-derived molecules and host defense responses, in particular complement, and on exploitation of the associated information and parasite molecules for drug development. Dr. Nunn holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University, and M.Sc. from University College London.
Contact: [email protected]
Wendy DiCicco, Chief Financial Officer (Interim)
Wendy DiCicco has more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, currently serving as a board member or as an independent financial and board advisor to companies, often in the role of interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Ms. DiCicco served as CFO for Renovacor, a pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company developing a gene therapy for cardiovascular disease. Initially as interim CFO, transitioning to permanent, she led the company through Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2021 and sale to Rocket Pharmaceuticals in December 2022. She also served as interim CFO for FerGene, Inc. a Phase 3 urologic oncology gene therapy company from January 2020 through May 2022. Previously, she was CFO and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Centinel Spine and the President and COO of Camber Spine, both developers of best-in-class spinal implants. She has held CFO roles for several pre-IPO, private equity backed medical device and biotech companies, in varying stages of commercialization. Her first CFO role was with Kensey Nash Corporation, a publicly traded developer and manufacturer of biologics and medical devices in the cardiovascular and orthopedics industries, where she advanced the company from a pre-revenue IPO stage to approximately $100 million in global revenue across multiple product platforms. Her career started in public accounting at Deloitte & Touche.
Ms. DiCicco currently serves on the public company Board of Directors of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she serves as the Audit Committee Chair. In addition, she serves on the board of Imvax, Inc. Ms. DiCicco has also served on the boards of SWK Holdings Corp., II-VI, Inc (now Coherent Corp.), Sincerus Pharmaceuticals, Carmell Therapeutics, SynCardia Systems and CannaPharma Rx. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Ms. DiCicco received a B.S. in accounting from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She also is an appointed Board Leadership Fellow and Corporate Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Contact: [email protected]
