Team
Alex Vodenlich, M.S.
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Vodenlich is a business executive with 30 years’ experience in startup and early-stage life science companies, specializing in fundraising, sales and business development, product commercialization, and general management. He was CEO of KromaTiD Inc., and president and CEO of Gentel Biosciences (Intuitive Biosciences). Mr. Vodenlich held other senior leadership roles at Lucigen (LGC Biosearch Technologies), Cellara LLC, and PanVera Corp. (Thermo Fisher Scientific). He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in medical microbiology and bacteriology.
Eric Schmuck, Ph.D.
Co-founder, Vice President and Chief Science Officer
Dr. Schmuck is the inventor of Cellular Logistics’ extracellular matrix technology and the company’s chief science officer, leading product development and operations. He also serves as director of translational research for the Dr. Amish Raval Laboratory at the UW-Madison. Dr. Schmuck’s research centers on therapies for cardiac regeneration, including a novel extracellular matrix generated in the lab that improves cardiac function. After its discovery, this material was licensed to the company by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Dr. Schmuck earned his master’s degree and doctorate in human physiology from UW-Madison.
Jasmine Giles, M.S.
Development Scientist
Mrs. Giles is a Development Scientist with Cellular Logistics, managing product development, manufacturing, and laboratory operations. Jasmine has over 10 years of experience as a scientific researcher working at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Her background includes the study of cardiovascular disease, specifically pertaining to inflammation from mutations that help regulate myocardial contraction. Jasmine earned her Master of Science in Biotechnology degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Board of Directors
Amish Raval, M.D.
Co-founder and Chairman of the Board
Dr. Raval is a co-founder of Cellular Logistics and is actively engaged in the company’s technology and product development strategies. He is a practicing interventional cardiologist who treats patients with advanced coronary artery, valve and vascular disease using transcatheter methods. He holds an appointment as an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health where he is the director of clinical cardiovascular Research and the UW Heart Attack Program. He has served as national and site principal investigator on more than a dozen Phase I, II and III regenerative medicine trials for heart disease. Dr. Raval earned his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and has advanced clinical and research fellowship certification from Georgetown University, Washington Hospital Center, and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.
Paul Resnick, M.D.
Director
Paul is an executive with broad leadership experience that spans large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and encompasses corporate strategy, product development, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and collaboration. He is business development director at Wyss Institute (Harvard University), Boston, and previously held senior business development positions at Rinat Neuroscience Corp. (Pfizer), Pfizer Inc., Intellikine Inc. (Takeda), and Juventas Therapeutics Inc. He has demonstrated outstanding performance as a leader of business strategy that resulted in value creation and transformative partnerships. Paul earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Alex Vodenlich, M.S.
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Scientific Advisory Board
Peiman Hematti, M.D.
Co-founder; Chair, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Hematti is professor of medicine, pediatrics, surgery, and biomedical engineering in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is a hematopoietic stem cell transplant physician and serves as director of clinical hematopoietic cell processing laboratory, which collects and processes bone marrow and stem cells for transplantation at UW Health, academic medical center and health system for the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Hematti completed a combined internal medicine/pediatrics residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and a clinical hematology and research fellowship at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. His clinical research interest is in the use of novel cellular immuno-therapies for hematological malignancies, including the use of cells produced in the bone marrow, specifically macrophages, in regenerative medicine. Dr. Hematti earned his medical degree at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Stephen Badylak, D.V.M., Ph.D., M.D.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Badylak is a professor in the department of surgery and deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. More than ten million patients have been treated with bio-scaffolds developed in Dr. Badylak’s laboratory. He holds more than 70 U.S. patents and 300 patents worldwide. Dr. Badylak has authored more than 390 scientific publications and 55 book chapters. Dr. Badylak is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a member of the Society for Biomaterials, a charter member of the Tissue Engineering Society International, and a past president and founding international fellow of the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society. Dr. Badylak has either chaired or been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to several major medical device companies, and presently serves as chief scientific officer for ECM-Therapeutics in addition to his professorial role at the University. He earned his doctorate in anatomic pathology from Purdue University and his medical degree from Indiana University.
William Murphy, Ph.D.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Murphy is the Harvey D. Spangler professor of biomedical engineering, professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation, co-director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, and director of the Human Models for Analysis of Pathways (MAPs) Center at UW-Madison. His research interests focus on creating new biomaterials inspired by the materials found in nature. Dr. Murphy’s research group is using new biomaterials to understand stem cell behavior and to induce tissue regeneration. He has published more than 150 scientific manuscripts, filed more 40 patents, co-founded multiple venture-backed startup companies, and received awards that include induction as a Fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Murphy earned his doctorate from the University of Michigan.
Nancy Sweitzer, M.D., Ph.D.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Sweitzer is director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, professor of medicine and chief of the division of cardiology in the UA College of Medicine-Tucson. She is a board-certified advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist and clinical researcher who is nationally recognized for her leadership and experience in clinical trials. She has done extensive work on the physiology of heart failure with preserved systolic function, a disease that disproportionately affects elderly women. She has led and collaborated on numerous studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, and by industry and academic sponsors. She serves as a member of the Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Science Study Section and the American Heart Association’s Cardiac Biology and Regulation Committee. Dr. Sweitzer earned her doctorate in physiology her medical degree from the UW-Madison.
Scott Fisher, Ph.D.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Fisher has a diverse background across pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and diagnostics sectors. Early in his career, he was a member of the team that developed the formulation of ABRAXANE®. He has been involved in the SARM program at GTx Therapeutics, the drug-coated balloon & TAVR programs at Boston Scientific, novel gene therapy programs at Juventas Therapeutics, Xogenex & CavoGene, brought Patient Burden Index® to market at Medidata. Dr. Fisher is currently the Head of Academic Collaborations at Exact Sciences. He is an advocate for the advancement of regenerative medicine and the earlier detection of disease. Dr. Fisher earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Dayton, his master’s degree at Ohio State University, and his doctorate at the University of Maryland, where he was an NIH pre-doctoral fellow. He was the first-ever Rathmann Family Foundation post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maryland-Baltimore Office of Research and Development and the Baltimore Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center.
Phil Marchand, M.S.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Phil is a medtech engineer with 25 years of experience in the field, specializing in product development of disruptive technologies from concept to commercialization. He was one of the earlier pioneers in Trans Aortic Valve Replacement, responsible for the RetrofleX™ catheter delivery system. He invented and developed the WEB™ Aneurysm Embolic system at Sequent medical which was acquired by Terumo and developed the ClotTriever™ at Inari Medical. Most recently, at BlueRock Therapeutics, he was responsible for all drug delivery aspects from device to cell delivery matrix. Phil holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biosystems Engineering from McGill University in Montreal.