ABOUT US

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ABOUT US ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
Millions of people suffer from debilitating conditions due to tissue injury. Our work is focused on developing new therapies to restore quality of life.
OUR STORY
OUR STORY

Our work started with a question. Why did so many injured service members returning from combat undergo delayed amputations weeks or months after their initial injury? Our desire to answer this question led to a transformational new technology that permits guided tissue regeneration and enables the body to overcome barriers to healing.

OUR TEAM

Our Team of Excellence

Luis Alvarez

Luis M. Alvarez, PhD

Founder

Luis Alvarez

John Greenbaum, MBA

Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations & Regulatory

Luis Alvarez

Edward Fix

Vice President of Manufacturing

Luis Alvarez

David Stewart, PhD

Chief Operating Officer

Luis Alvarez

Brian Wong

Vice President of Commercial Development

Luis Alvarez

Frank Vizesi, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Luis Alvarez

Jonathan Elsner, PhD

Vice President, Clinical Operations

Luis M. Alvarez, PhD

Founder

Luis is the Founder of Theradaptive and developed the concept for targeted regeneration platform during and following a combat tour in Iraq where several of his soldiers suffered severe extremity injuries. Previously, Luis was the co-founding Deputy Director of the Department of Defense Regenerative Medicine Program and led the department’s largest recombinant biologics program through Phase II. Luis was a DARPA Service Chief Fellow and Academy Professor at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Luis received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow.

John Greenbaum, MBA

Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations & Regulatory

John Greenbaum, MBA currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations & Regulatory at Theradaptive. He has led 127 product approvals across all categories: NDA/PMA/510(k), as well as 31 clinical trials. In his previous work, he served as the VP at St. Jude Medical Hospital (now Abbott), as well as the QA/RA/Product Development Director at Eli Lilly and Company. John earned his Master of Business Administration (Statistics) at Florida International University, College of Business.

Edward Fix

Vice President of Manufacturing

Ed Fix serves as the VP of Manufacturing at Theradaptive. He has over 20 years of experience in biotechnology manufacturing, spanning preclinical, clinical trial and commercial production, across a broad range of products including recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, virus like proteins, and viral vectors. He has also helped establish pilot plant and commercial facilities at a number of companies and has successfully represented production team during global regulatory inspections. Previously, he was the Director of Manufacturing at IDT Biologika’s US based Rockville Site. He has held positions of increasing responsibility at Novavax, GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences, Inc. Ed earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry Minor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

David Stewart, PhD

Chief Operating Officer

With over 20 years of experience in biotech product development, David serves as Chief Operating Officer at Theradaptive and oversees daily operations and R&D at the Frederick headquarters. Previously, he was a Senior Director of Product Development at Meso Scale Discovery where he was responsible for the development of hundreds of multiplex immunoassay products including three flagship product lines. David received his PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Yale University.

Brian Wong

Vice President of Commercial Development

Brian Wong serves as the VP of Commercial Development at Theradaptive. He has over 20 years of experience in healthcare business strategy across medical technology and devices, diagnostics, clinical analytics, cell therapy and rare diseases. As a stock analyst, he helped bring several medical technology companies public before transitioning into various strategic roles within the healthcare industry including time at Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Philips Healthcare, and Sigilon Therapeutics where he worked on acquisitions, partnerships, and launching new products. He received his bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s of Science in Engineering and a Master’s of Engineering Management from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

Frank Vizesi, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Frank Vizesi, PhD, currently serves as Theradaptive’s Chief Scientific Officer. Frank is a recognized leader in the translation of research into product development and successful commercialization. He has dedicated his career to the field of bone healing and integration with orthopedic and spinal implants. Through his previous roles at high growth spine companies, NuVasive and SeaSpine, he was directly responsible for more than a dozen product launches in the osteobiologics space alone and contributed to dozens more across various disciplines. He most recently served as the Chief Scientific Officer of Orthofix, a large multinational orthopedic medical device company. Frank earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia.

Jonathan Elsner, PhD

Vice President, Clinical Operations

Jonathan Elsner, PhD, brings nearly two decades of expertise in the medical device industry to his role as the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Theradaptive. With a diverse background spanning R&D and Clinical Research, Jonathan has made significant contributions to various fields including sports medicine, arthroplasty, soft tissue repair, and cardiovascular health.

Throughout his career, Jonathan has spearheaded complex clinical projects at organizations such as Active Implants LLC, Regentis Biomaterials LTD, Colospan LTD, and BrioHealth Solutions Inc. His leadership has been instrumental in guiding clinical strategy and operations from trial design to regulatory and reimbursement efforts.

Jonathan holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Our Physician-Scientist Advisory Board

EXPERTISE ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF TISSUE REPAIR AND BIOPHARMA

Luis Alvarez

Hozefa Bandukwala, PhD

Luis Alvarez

Douglas Lauffenburger, PhD

Luis Alvarez

Dr. Paul Rosen

Luis Alvarez

Jamie Spangler, PhD

Luis Alvarez

Dr. Lorenzo Tavelli

Hozefa Bandukwala, PhD

Hozefa Bandukwala is vice president and senior principal at Flagship Pioneering and currently serves as interim chief scientific officer at Apriori Bio. Prior to joining Flagship, he served as vice president of platform biology at Sigilon Therapeutics. Prior to that, he was the senior director and head of discovery biology at Rheos Medicines. Before Rheos, Hozefa served as head of the immunometabolism laboratory at Pfizer where he pioneered novel target discovery in the field of immunometabolism. Hozefa earned a BS in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and a PhD in immunology from University of Chicago. His postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University focused on epigenetic and metabolic regulation of T cell functions.

Douglas Lauffenburger, PhD

Douglas Lauffenburger is Ford Professor of Bioengineering and (founding) Head of the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT. Dr Lauffenburger’s BS and PhD degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois (1975) and the University of Minnesota (1979). A central focus of his research program is in cell-cell communication and cell signaling important in pathophysiology with application to drug discovery and development, with emphasis on development of predictive computational models derived from quantitative experimental studies. Lauffenburger co-authored a monograph entitled Receptors: Models for Binding, Trafficking & Signaling, published by Oxford Press in 1993, and co-edited the book entitled Systems Biomedicine: Concepts and Perspectives, published by Elsevier Press in 2010. More than 100 doctoral students and postdoctoral associates have undertaken research education under his supervision.

Prof Lauffenburger has served as a consultant or scientific advisory board member for numerous biotech/pharma companies and biomedical science-related foundations. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and has served as President of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Chair of the College of Fellows of American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, and on the Advisory Council for NIGMS, and as a co-author of the 2009 NRC report on A New Biology for the 21st Century.

Dr. Paul Rosen

Dr. Paul Rosen is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology, as well as being named a Top Dentist by Philadelphia Magazine for many years including 2020. He was also the recipient, in 2015, of the American Academy of Periodontology’s Master Clinician Award which is awarded to only one individual each year. Dr. Rosen was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Professional Achievement in 2020 from the University of Maryland Dental School which is where he received his Master’s Degree in Oral Biology and completed his training in Periodontics and Dental Implantology.

Jamie Spangler, PhD

Jamie Spangler’s research aims to expand the repertoire of protein therapeutics by redesigning naturally occurring proteins and engineering new molecules to overcome the deficiencies of existing drugs. Integrating cutting-edge tools from structural biophysics, biomolecular engineering, and translational immunology, her research focuses on developing innovative platforms for the discovery and design of proteins that recruit novel mechanisms for disease therapy. In particular, Spangler’s group is interested in engineering antibody-based molecules that reshape immune cell behavior for targeted treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders. The overarching goal of her interdisciplinary research program is to establish new insights into protein behavior and the extent to which it can be manipulated for medically relevant applications.

Dr. Lorenzo Tavelli

Dr. Tavelli graduated from the University of Milan in 2017. He completed his three-year residency in Periodontics and his Master of Science in 2020 at the University of Michigan. His main focus has been to conduct clinical research in periodontal and peri-implant plastic surgery. Dr. Tavelli has published more than 60 scholarly publications in international peer-reviewed journals in periodontics and implant dentistry. He has been the recipient of several research awards, including the 2020 American Academy of Periodontology Balint Orban Research Competition, first prize in the research competition at the 2020 National Osteology Symposium, the 2020 American Academy of Periodontology Foundation School Research Award, and first prize in the research competition at the third International Symposium on soft tissue management focused on teeth and implant dentistry in Florence, Italy. Since July 2020, Dr. Tavelli has been a clinical lecturer in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. At HSDM, he teaches periodontology, conducts clinical research, and treats patients in the Harvard Dental Center.

Inspiring Stories
Colonel Gregory D. Gadson, USA (retired)

A 25-year career Army officer, Col. Gadson’s life is a portrait of courage in the face of great adversity. In May 2007, as commander of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery, Col. Gadson’s greatest challenge came in Iraq, where an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack cost him both legs above the knees and normal use of his right arm and hand. Despite this, Col. Gadson remained on active duty in the Army and continued to inspire many with his message of courage, perseverance, determination and teamwork. Refusing to be defined by the proverbial “hail of bullets,” he has since drawn upon the lessons of Pride, Poise and Team, learned as a West Point linebacker, and applied them to his life, career and family.

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PARTNER WITH US

We are headquartered in Frederick, Maryland with locations in Boston, Orlando, and Memphis.

We believe in the power of teams and have several partnerships that are advancing new therapies. If you are interested in exploring a partnership, or a new career, contact us.