Dr. Wager has been a senior executive, serial entrepreneur and investor in the life science space for over 30 years, having created over $2 billion in market value via the various companies and strategic transactions he has originated during the course of his career.
In parallel to co-founding and leading Proterris, in 2022 he launched Spexis AG, a Swiss biotech firm focused on macrocycle therapeutics, by a reverse merger of Enbiotix, Inc. (which he co-founded) and Polyphor AG.
Between 2011-2017, he co-founded and was board observer to Grupo Biotoscana SL, a Latin American specialty pharma company financed by Advent International & Essex Woodlands Healthcare Ventures focused on cancer, infectious disease and orphan disease, leading to its USD 1 billion 2017 IPO on sales of $240M and 600 staff in 10 Latin American markets.
From 2006 – 2010 he co-founded and led Artisan Pharma, Inc. as its founding CEO, raising $53 million, building the entire team and implementing a 750 patient, 17 country Phase 2b/3 study of ART-123 in DIC of severe sepsis, ultimately leading to Artisan’s acquisition by Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation (Japan) in 2011 to establish their North American headquarters.
In 2000, he formed Apeiron Partners, a FINRA-registered life sciences investment bank specializing in designing and executing corporate spin-outs, M & A and corporate venture capital. In the process, he successfully completed six spin-outs, including Targacept, Inc. (NASD:TRGT), Artisan Pharma Inc. (described above), Biocritica ($120M annual revenue Xigris® franchise from Eli Lilly) and KBI BioPharma (acquired by JSR Corporation for ~$500M), in addition to a variety of other company formations and transactions.
Between 2003 and 2006 Apeiron also advised on the establishment and investment of Z-Cube s.r.l., the €60 million corporate venture fund of the Zambon Group, a leading privately-held Italian pharmaceutical company.
Prior to Apeiron, Dr. Wager was a Senior Associate of Medical Science Partners (MSP), a Harvard-sponsored VC fund focused on creating life science spin-outs from the Harvard medical system. Prior to MSP, he began his career with a unit of the Bank of Tokyo, where he led business development for the life science group.
Dr. Wager earned his MD from Rush Medical College and his MBA from the University of Chicago.
Stefan W. Ryter, Ph.D.
President/ Senior Scientist.
Dr. Ryter has extensive experience in pulmonary translational research, inclusive of mechanisms of chronic lung diseases and therapeutic applications of inhaled carbon monoxide. In addition, Dr. Ryter brings 25+ years’ experience in the molecular and cellular biology of the stress response as it relates to adaptation to organ injury and disease. He has held several prior academic appointments at the assistant professor level, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine. He has been investigator/ co-investigator on several NIH and foundation awards and is the author of [INSERT NUMBER] peer reviewed publications and reviews. Dr. Ryter holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Southern California.
Augustine M.K. Choi, MD
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Choi is a physician-scientist with longstanding research interest and focus in cellular signal transduction and lung pathobiology. He has had a longstanding commitment in the innovation field to help develop novel drugs targeting lung diseases and various other non-respiratory disorders, and contributed with many other investigators in the characterization of carbon monoxide’s (CO’s) mechanisms of action, therapeutic potential and safety in preclinical and clinical studies. He co-founded Proterris and successfully completed with his colleagues a Phase 1 trial of inhaled CO in ARDS/sepsis and a Phase 2a trial of inhaled CO in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Dr. Choi served as the Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine (“WCM”) from 2017-2022. Prior to 2017, he served as the Chairman and Professor of Medicine of the Department of Medicine at WCM. Dr. Choi was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at BWH (2000-2007) and Chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine UPMC (2007-2013). He received his MD from the University of Louisville and completed his internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Choi also has had a longstanding commitment to the training of physician-scientists, and is a recipient of the ATS Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments and the Amberson Lecture, the top research award in the international ATS community. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and in 2020 was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, MA MB BCHir PhD FRCS
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Saeb-Parsy is Professor of Transplantation at the University of Cambridge, with concurrent appointment at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests include transplantation, regenerative medicine and cancer, incorporating a broad arrange of experimental approaches including small animal, large animal and ex-vivo human organ perfusion models as well as clinical trials. Dr. Saeb-Parsy has published >130 publications (H-index 61 with >24k citations) with >40 manuscripts in Science and Nature family journals and secured >£30m in research grants as PI or co-PI. He has co-founded several companies and has more than 20 years of experience as an executive with a range of commercial organizations.
Richard Boyer, MD, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer of Proterris, Dr. Boyer oversees the design, engineering, and clinical integration of novel CO delivery systems for both intraoperative and postoperative administration.
Dr. Boyer brings over a decade of experience in medical device innovation, clinical research, and engineering leadership. He is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of the Medical Accelerator and Digital Engineering (MADE) Core at Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Fun-Sun Frank and Baw-Chyr Peggy Yao Research Scholar in Anesthesiology. His research focuses on medical device innovation and development, AI-assisted perioperative care, and digital health tools.
Previously, Dr. Boyer served in the Medication Delivery division at Baxter, where he led the Medical Error Reduction and Flow Sensing program teams, contributing to next-generation infusion system safety and performance. He also co-founded VoluMetrix, a startup that developed the first noninvasive hemodynamic monitor for heart failure patients to receive FDA Breakthrough Device designation.
Dr. Boyer completed his undergraduate studies in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, followed by an MD/PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He completed his residency in Anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and his fellowship in Thoracic Anesthesiology as a Van Poznak Research Scholar at Weill Cornell Medicine.
PETER HUTT
Director
Peter Barton Hutt is a senior counsel in the Washington, DC law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, specializing in Food and Drug Law. He began his law practice with the firm in 1960 and, except for his four years in the government, has continued at the firm ever since. From 1971 to 1975 Peter was Chief Counsel for the Food and Drug Administration. During his tenure as FDA Chief Counsel, Peter led the transformation of the agency from outdated law enforcement to modern administrative law. He promulgated regulations to implement the review of GRAS food ingredients, require nutrition labeling for half the food supply, to define “imitation” food, to establish the emergency permit controls for low acid canned food, and to modernize food standards; to implement the prescription drug requirements of the Drug Amendments of 1962 following a sweeping victory in four Supreme Court cases and to create the OTC Drug Review for nonprescription drugs; to create a process for reevaluating the safety and effectiveness of all biological products that had been licensed since 1902; to rationalize the application of the Delaney Anticancer Clause to animal drugs; to require ingredient labeling for cosmetics and premarket safety substantiation for all cosmetic ingredients; and to prepare FDA for enactment of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976. He created the requirement of preambles for all proposed and final FDA regulations, initiated the use of guidelines (later named guidance) to establish informal FDA policy, and established the use of regulatory letters (later named warning letters) as an inexpensive and efficient enforcement approach. Just before leaving FDA, he wrote the comprehensive proposed procedural regulations that govern all FDA administrative action to this day
Don DeBethizy, Ph.D.
Director
Mr. deBethizy has 30 years of experience in research and development and financial, business and operating management in the biotechnology and consumer products industry. He is the president of White City Consulting ApS. Previously, Mr. deBethizy served as president and chief executive officer of Santaris Pharma A/S until October 2014, when the company was sold to Roche. From August 2000 to June 2012, Mr. deBethizy was co-founder and chief executive officer of Targacept, Inc., a U.S. biotechnology company listed on NASDAQ. He currently serves on the supervisory boards of Albumedix A/S, Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA, Noxxon Pharma NV and AG, Rigontec GmbH and Proterris, Inc. From May 2013 to November 2014, he served as executive chairman of Contera Pharma ApS. He previously served on the boards of Asceneuron SA, Serendex Pharmaceuticals A/S, Enbiotix Inc., Targacept Inc. and Biosource Inc. Mr. deBethizy has held adjunct appointments at Wake Forest University Babcock School of Management, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Duke University. Mr. deBethizy holds a B.Sc. in biology from the University of Maryland, and an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in toxicology from Utah State University.
Alex Stenzler
Co-Founder & Advisor
Alex Stenzler, (President, 12th Man Technologies and Chief Science Officer, Monitored Therapeutics) was the former VP Advanced Technologies for CareFusion Inc, (VIASYS, Cardinal Health). Mr. Stenzler brings more than 50 years of clinical and commercial experience in pulmonary and critical care medicine to his position. Mr. Stenzler has also held several academic appointments, including Assistant Professor at The State University of New York at Stonybrook and twelve years at the Graduate School of Adelphi University. He has been the principal investigator for various NIH and DARPA studies and served on steering committees for randomized controlled trials in high-frequency ventilation, inhaled nitric oxide and liquid ventilation. He has published numerous papers, abstracts and a book chapter, and has been an invited speaker at many national and international congresses. He also holds more than 65 US patents for various technologies.
DAVID PINKSY, MD
Co-Founder and Advisor
David J. Pinsky, is the division chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan, as well as the scientific director of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. Prior to joining U-M in March 2003, Pinsky was director of research for the Cardiovascular Disease Training Program at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and associate professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. He served at Columbia University from 1992-2003. He earned his medical degree from Ohio State University and performed his medicine residency, as well as his research fellowship in heart failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He also performed research fellowships in cardiology and vascular biology at Columbia. As a result of his groundbreaking research, Dr. Pinsky has earned a reputation as one of the country's foremost experts in understanding the relationship between blood flow and heart and brain diseases. His research efforts have earned him numerous grants and awards, including the American Heart Association Melvin Marcus Young Investigator Award in cardiovascular physiology and the AHA Established Investigator Award.
Gonçalo Bernardes, Ph.D.
Advisor
Gonçalo Bernardes is a Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Cambridge and a Senior Group Leader at CNIO in Madrid. After completing his D.Phil. degree in 2008 at the University of Oxford, UK, he then performed postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the ETH Zürich. He started his independent research career in 2013 at the University of Cambridge as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. In 2018 he was appointed University Lecturer and was promoted to Reader in 2019 and to Full Professor in 2022.
Gonçalo is the recipient of three European Research Council grants; and has won many accolades during his career, including the 2023 EFMC-WuXi AppTec Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology and the 2024 Corday-Morgan Prize for Chemistry from the Royal Sociaety of Chemistry. His research group interests focus on the use of chemistry principles to provide new biological insights and derive new targeted therapeutics. Finally, he has co-founded a number of companies that use technologies developed in his lab, and he is a Senior Fellow at the largest global venture incubator – Flagship Pioneering, which generated Moderna. He is a first generation high-school and university graduate in his family.
