Mimetogen pharmaceuticals completes enrollment of mim-728 phase 3 trial for tavilermide for dry eye disease

Executive Chairman of the Board

Mr. Kevin Giese was the founder of BioMS Medical Corp. which company raised over $280 million, and in 2008 was designated Biotech Company of the year in Canada and awarded the Scrips Award for Best International Licensing Deal.

Mr. Giese has been on the board of directors of a number of private and publicly listed companies, including Spectral Diagnostics Inc. since March 2010, and Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. since October 2011.

He has been a member of the board of directors of BioAlberta, an advisory member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (Canada) and has received awards for entrepreneurship from BioAlberta and Ernst & Young. Mr. Giese has a B.A., a law degree and an M.B.A.

Dr. Brazzell has served as our Chief Medical Officer from January 2012 to December 2015.. Dr. Brazzell also held several executive positions at Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Inspire, a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on ophthalmic products, including Executive Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs from 2010 to 2011, Executive Vice President and Head of Ophthalmology Business from 2009 to 2010, and Senior Vice President of Ophthalmic Research and Development from 2004 to 2008.


Prior to joining Inspire, Dr. Brazzell served as Global Head of Clinical R&D and Senior Vice President, U.S. R&D, of Novartis Ophthalmics AG from 2000 to 2004. Dr. Brazzell also served as Vice President, R&D at Ciba Vision Ophthalmics, Inc. and as Associate Director, R&D, at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. Dr. Brazzell received a B.S. in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky.

Chief Executive and Financial Officer

Corneal Specialists and Cataract & Refractive Surgery

Dr. Eric Donnenfeld is recognized as one of the leading refractive surgeons in the United States and continues to participate in the latest ophthalmic research. Dr. Donnenfeld is currently involved in a number of projects, including the assessment of diurnal variation in tear osmolarity as a predictor for dry eye disease and evaluation of corneal sensation and the incidence of dry eye in patients undergoing refractive cataract extraction.

He has written over 170 papers on cornea, external disease, cataract and refractive surgery, and 20 book chapters and books. He is on the editorial board of 9 journals and has participated in over 40 FDA studies. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and has received its Honor Award, Senior Honor Award and Secretariat Award.

Dr. Donnenfeld served as president of many professional societies. He is on the executive board of ASCRS and is the Chief Editor of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. Dr. Donnenfeld graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College and received his MD from Dartmouth Medical School. He was a resident and Chief Resident at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and he completed a Cornea Fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital. He is a trustee of Dartmouth Medical School and a clinical professor of ophthalmology at NYU.

Corneal Specialists and Cataract & Refractive Surgery

Dr. Holland is the Director of Cornea Services at Cincinnati Eye Institute and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati where he has attracted worldwide referrals for medical and surgical corneal problems and for stem cell transplantation. His clinical interests include Corneal Transplantation, Cataract Surgery, Ocular Surface Transplantation, and Refractive Surgery.

Dr. Holland formerly served as the President for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery from 2011-2012. He was awarded the Life Achievement Honor Award at the 2012 American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and also received both the Senior Achievement Award and The Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Among several other honors received, Dr. Holland has been listed in the “Best Doctors in America.” He has a national and international reputation for his knowledge and expertise in the field of cornea and external disease. He is frequently invited to attend lectures both nationally and internationally. Dr. Holland is the author of over 200 articles in peer review journals and has edited Cornea, the most widely read textbook on corneal disease and surgery.

Dr. Holland received his MD from the Loyola-Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago and trained in Ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota. He completed a fellowship in cornea and external disease at the University of Iowa, and then completed a second fellowship in ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Professor of Ophthalmology, Georgetown University Medical Center

Rajesh K. Rajpal, M.D. is the Founder of See Clearly Vision Group. Dr. Rajpal has been recognized as a top LASIK Surgeon in D.C. by Washingtonian magazine and is acknowledged as the first eye surgeon in Washington, D.C. to perform Laser Vision Correction. He currently holds appointments on the clinical faculties of Georgetown University Medical Center and George Washington University Medical Center.

Dr. Rajpal provides treatment for eye diseases as well as Laser Eye Surgery such as LASIK for the correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. In addition, Dr. Rajpal provides Cataract Surgery and Intraocular Lens Implantation (IOL) for the correction of astigmatism and near vision after Cataract Surgery. As a Corneal Specialist he has particular expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of corneal disease, cornea trauma and surgical complications. He also has a special interest in the diagnosis and treatment of ocular surface problems such as dry eye and dry eye syndrome and takes personal pride in providing patients with help for dry eyes.

Dr. Rajpal earned his medical degree and completed his residency in Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond followed by a Fellowship in Cornea and External Diseases at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Rajpal has served as Director of the Cornea and External Disease Service in the Department of Ophthalmology at Georgetown University as well as Director of the Refractive Laser Eye Center at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

VP, Scientific Affairs and Real-World Evidence At Evidera Of PPD, LLC

Dr. Schaumberg is an internationally recognized expert in ophthalmology clinical development, medical affairs, and epidemiology. She brings over 20 years of experience designing and leading early through late phase randomized trials and all aspects of real-world evidence generation and integration, including pivotal work in DED.

She brings diverse experience from academia, biotherapeutic start-ups, venture capital teams, and biopharma, and has authored hundreds of scientific publications, lectures, and scientific presentations. She is currently Vice President, Scientific Affairs at Evidera-PPD, with adjunct positions at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the University of Utah School of Medicine. Debra received her ScD from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health, and an OD from the Illinois College of Optometry

Professor of Ophthalmology, Microbiology & Molecular Biology at Eastern Virginia Medical School

John Sheppard, MD, MMSc, is President of Virginia Eye Consultants, Program Director for Ophthalmology Residency Research, Clinical Director for the Thomas R. Lee Center for Ocular Pharmacology and Medical Director of Lions Medical Eye Bank. He has expertise in uveitis, complex cataract surgery, corneal transplantation, immunology, and ocular surface disease. He has served as a Cornea and Uveitis Consultant for The Portsmouth Naval Regional Medical Center (PNRMC), Hampton VA Hospital and Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters.

He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of 104 pharmaceutical and surgical companies, and has been competitively funded by the NIH, the Orphan Drug Program and the NEI. Dr. Sheppard received the AAO Honor Award and Senior Honor Award, and Best Doctors in America since 2003. He serves as Associate and Mentor Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sheppard has served as Principal Investigator for 96 multi-center and prospective clinical trials. He has authored over 120 papers, abstracts, and chapters, presented over 700 invited lectures, spoken in 22 countries, and served as an expert in over 400 cases. He has served on the editorial boards of EyeNet Magazine, eMedicine.com, Eye and Contact Lens, and Clinical Ophthalmology. He is a Chief Editor for Medscape Ophthalmology.

Chief Executive and Financial Officer

François Mongrain has more than 20 years of financial experience centered on technology, growth-oriented businesses. During his 9 years in Entrepreneurial Services and Merger & Acquisition at Ernst & Young, he worked with several technology companies primarily active in the health care sector.

Following his Ernst & Young years, he became a founding partner of BridgeCapital Inc., a private consulting firm offering strategic and financial expertise to biotechnology companies. Through his years at E&Y and BridgeCapital, Mr. Mongrain played instrumental roles in more than 12 start-ups and participated in several IPO and private placements for young emerging companies.

Prior to Mimetogen, Mr. Mongrain co-founded Innodia, a biotech company focusing its R&D activity in developing novel drug for the treatment of diabetes and obesity. As Vice President Finance & CFO and then Chief Operating Officer, he successfully financed the Company’s research & development operations over a six-year period prior to orchestrating the sale of the Company to a publicly-listed Canadian biotechnology Company.

François received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Montreal) and earned his Charted Accountant designation with Ernst & Young in 1993.

Sr Vice-President and Chief Development Officer

Karen Meerovitch has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. At Mimetogen, Dr. Meerovitch started as the Company’s Senior Scientist and now serves as Vice President, overseeing all CMC, non-clinical, clinical and regulatory development activities of tavilermide.

Prior to joining Mimetogen, she was Group Leader for all preclinical activities at Avance Pharma (Laval, Quebec). Prior to that she was Senior Scientist at Shire Biochem (Laval, Quebec), where she was a key contributor in the discovery and research of several projects in oncology drug discovery programs in the area of angiogenesis, apoptosis, and vascular targeting. Dr. Meerovitch holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at McGill University in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She is author or co-author of over 20 publications and reviews.

Dr. Meerovitch holds a B.Sc. and PhD. from McGill University and an M.Sc. from the University of Alberta, all in Biochemistry. She also completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Medicine at McGill University.

Chief Medical Advisor

Dr. Pepose has nearly 40 years of experience as both a treating physician and a widely published researcher.  He is the founder and current Medical Director of the Pepose Vision Institute and a professor of Clinical Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St-Louis.  Dr. Pepose is actively involved in clinical trials and has served as an investigator on over 30 studies evaluating new therapeutics and technology in a broad range of ophthalmic indications, including dry eye.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has served on the editorial boards of several prestigious ophthalmology journals.  Dr. Pepose is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the prestigious Cogan award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He is recognized in "Best Doctors in America" and "America's Top Docs" as a noted subspecialist in cataract, corneal and vision correction surgery.

Dr. Pepose received an A.B. and M.A. in neurophysiology from Brandeis University and completed the M.D.-Ph.D. program at the UCLA School of Medicine.  Dr. Pepose completed his ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center and his fellowship training at Georgetown University Medical Center.

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