TEAM

Cellular Logistics stands out with a leadership team that brings exceptional expertise to the table. Their executives and board members have demonstrated success in navigating complex markets and developing sophisticated biological products. The company’s management and advisory teams comprise specialists in critical areas such as heart failure, interventional cardiology, cell therapy, and cGMP manufacturing. 

The company benefits from the involvement of physicians and researchers who contribute decades of invaluable experience. These experts play a crucial role in designing and conducting essential pre-clinical studies, overseeing critical clinical trials, and advancing the company’s innovative cardiac treatments 

This powerful combination of scientific knowledge and practical experience in bringing novel therapies to market strategically positions Cellular Logistics for success. The team’s collective expertise is instrumental in navigating the intricate development pipeline, addressing regulatory challenges, and steering towards the successful commercialization of their groundbreaking cardiac treatments 

By leveraging this wealth of experience and know-how, Cellular Logistics is well-equipped to overcome the hurdles typically associated with bringing complex biological products to market, potentially revolutionizing cardiac care in the process. 

Amish Raval, M.D. | Board Chairman, Co-founder 

Dr. Raval is a co-founder of Cellular Logistics and is actively engaged in the company’s technology and product development strategies. He has been a practicing interventional cardiologist for over 20 years, treating patients with advanced coronary artery, valve, and vascular disease using transcatheter methods. He holds an appointment as a Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. He is the Chair of the Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine Focus Group and Medical Director of the UW Health ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Program. He has designed and served as national and site principal investigator on more than a dozen Phase I, II, and Phase III regenerative medicine trials for heart disease. Dr. Raval earned his medical degree, internal medicine, and cardiovascular medicine residency certification from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, interventional cardiology fellowship from Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center, and a post-doctoral intramural fellowship at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health. 

Alex Vodenlich, M.S. | CEO, Board Member 

Mr. Vodenlich is a business professional with 30+ years’ of experience as an executive and advisor to early-stage life science ventures. He has held executive positions at several life science companies. He recently served as the interim CEO at Plumb Pharmaceuticals (Madison, WI), Inc. as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member. He is the former Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Lucigen Corporation (LGC Genomics, UK), CEO and Vice President of Business Development at Cellara, LLC (Madison, WI), he served as the Chief Executive Officer of KromaTiD, Inc. (Fort Collins, CO), President and Chief Executive Officer of Gentel Biosciences, Inc. (Intuitive Biosciences, Madison, WI) and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for PanVera Corporation (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA). Early in his career, Alex was employed as a research scientist with Pfizer, Inc. and Abbott Laboratories in drug discovery positions. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology. 

Eric Schmuck, Ph.D. | CTO, Co-founder, SAB Member 

Dr. Schmuck is the inventor of Cellular Logistics’ extracellular matrix technology and is actively engaged in technology and product development strategies. He is a Research Assistant Professor and Director of Research Operations for CBSRI at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research centers around novel therapies for cardiac regeneration. Specifically, a novel biomaterial generated in his lab that has been shown to improve cardiac function alone or in combination with therapeutic stem cells. Dr. Schmuck has extensive experience designing and leading small and large animal translational research studies including leading FDA IND enabling studies. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and a master’s and PhD in Human Physiology from the University of Wisconsin Madison.  

Tim Hacker Ph.D. | CSO 

Dr. Hacker is a Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and former director of the Cardiovascular Research Core Lab. He has spent his 25-year career developing and analyzing large and small preclinical animal models of disease to test biological therapies, devices and small molecules working both with industry (Fujifilm/CDI, BlueRock, Pfizer, Edwards) and internal investigators, as a project manager and surgeon, providing data generation, analysis and interpretation along with report writing. Dr. Hacker has established cardiac disease models in mice, rats, rabbits, pigs, dogs and primates using them to test cell and biologic therapies, delivery devices and targeting, and assessing basic mechanisms of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Hacker also consults with several companies and Universities assisting with ultrasound and cardiovascular hemodynamic assessment of preclinical models and studies involving biologics. 

Peiman Hematti, M.D. | Co-founder; Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board 

Dr. Hematti is an emeritus professor of medicine, pediatrics, and surgery of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is a hematopoietic stem cell transplant physician and is currently professor of medicine and pediatrics at Medical College of Wisconsin. He also serves as director and medical director of Cell Therapy Laboratory at MCW Cancer Center and Froedtert Hospital. He has expertise in the immunology of transplantation and cellular therapy and his clinical research interest is in the use of novel cellular therapies for hematological malignancies, and use of stem cells in regenerative medicine. He has been a pioneer in elucidating the role of macrophages in tissue regeneration. He is a co-author of more than 200 manuscripts and book chapters and is a named inventor on several patents in the field of regenerative medicine and cellular therapy. Dr. Hematti earned his medical degree at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., 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.

Eric Schmuck, Ph.D. | CTO, Co-founder, Scientific Advisory Board

Stephen Badylak, D.V.M., Ph.D., M.D. | Member, Scientific Advisory Board 

Nancy Sweitzer, M.D., Ph.D. | Member, Scientific Advisory Board 

Dr. Sweitzer is Professor and Vice-Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is also Associate Director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences and Director of Clinical Research in the Cardiology division at Washington University. Dr. Sweitzer was formerly the Director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center and the Chief of Cardiology at 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 led and collaborated on numerous studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, and by industry and academic sponsors. She recently completed a term as chair of Clinical Trials Review Committee of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Dr. Sweitzer earned her doctorate in physiology and her medical degrees of UW-Madison.

Phil Marchand, M.S. | Member, Scientific Advisory Board 

Mr. Marchand is a medical technology 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 early 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 Blue Rock Therapeutics, he was responsible for all drug delivery aspects from device to cell delivery matrix. Mr. Marchand holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from McGill University in Montreal.

Rajesh Ambasudhan, Ph.D. | Member, Scientific Advisory Board 

Dr. Ambasudhan is the Chief Strategist of Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Associate Professor at the Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease Center at Scintillon Institute, and an Associate Adjunct Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Scripps Research, California. He is a pioneer in direct reprogramming and an expert in iPSC technology and cell therapy commercial development. He has published extensively in these fields, especially on translational studies in neurologic and metabolic diseases. To enable and accelerate the clinical development of iPSC based NextGen therapies, he joined the leadership of Allele to purpose build world’s first iPSC- focused GMP facility in a commercial setting that offers end-to-end CDMO services, GMP-grade iPSCs, and patented mRNA-based technologies for cell therapy product development. Dr. Ambasudhan was previously an Assistant Research Professor at Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and an interim Director of small molecule HTS unit at Scintillon institute where he was also a founding member of Neurodegenerative Disease Center. He is an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, serves on various grant review panels, and advises regenerative medicine startups. He earned his Ph.D. in Human Genetics from Banaras Hindu University and received post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan and the Scripps Research Institute.