James T. Posillico, PhD President and CEO
Bruce Goldstein, Esq. Vice President, Legal Affairs & General Counsel
Michael Kagan Vice President, Manufacturing and Product Development
Robert G. Lederer Sales and Commercial Operations Consultant
Robert B. Rochelle, MBA Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Denny Sakkas, PhD Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer
Hyman M. Schipper, MD, PhD, FRCPC Medical Director, Neurosciences
Frank E. Thomas Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

President and CEO

James T. Posillico, PhD earned his doctorate degree in endocrinology and cell biology at Duke University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He continued his academic career in the field of endocrinology and metabolism as Assistant Professor at HMS, Division of Endocrinology and Hypertension and Department of Biochemistry. Dr. Posillico joined Serono Laboratories in 1985 and later became Vice President of Scientific and Medical Affairs for the Division of International Business Operations for the Ares-Serono Group. In this capacity, he was primarily responsible for managing the Division’s regulatory and clinical development programs for Serono’s complete pharmaceutical product line, identifying new technologies in reproductive medicine, and for establishing new operating subsidiaries in emerging international markets. In 1993, Dr. Posillico became General Manager for the newly established Serono subsidiary in Canada.

Later, Dr. Posillico served as President and CEO of the Canadian biotechnology company, InterMune Life Sciences, that developed proprietary technologies in the field of reproductive endocrinology.  Subsequently, he founded and served as CEO of SAGE BioPharma, a biopharmaceutical company that developed new therapeutic products and medical devices for the field of assisted reproductive medicine. In his capacity at both biotechnology companies, Dr. Posillico managed all phases of the company’s product development activities including clinical and regulatory programs and also conducted the business development functions of the companies. With the acquisition of SAGE BioPharma by Cooper Surgical Inc. in 2002, Dr. Posillico became that company’s Chief Scientific Officer and VP Strategic Development. He left Cooper Surgical in early 2005 to start up Molecular Biometrics as its co-founder and CEO. In his academic and corporate careers, Dr. Posillico received several awards for teaching and for his business accomplishments.

Vice President, Legal Affairs & General Counsel

Prior to joining Molecular Biometrics, Mr. Goldstein was a Partner in the health care law firm of Wade, Goldstein, Landau, & Abruzzo, PC, Berwyn, Pennsylvania, which he co-founded in 1993. Wade, Goldstein, Landau & Abruzzo is a boutique health care practice representing health care providers and businesses in regulatory and transactional matters. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on the formation, organization, and operation of health care entities and ventures, including durable medical equipment and medical device companies, physician practices and practice management companies, diagnostic imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers, and related entities. Mr. Goldstein served as Counsel to these entities in structuring, negotiating and drafting private equity financing arrangements, structuring and implementing internal compensation and corporate governance arrangements, employment and compensation matters, securities law compliance and related due diligence issues.

Mr. Goldstein received his BA cum laude in Philosophy and Political Science from Union College, Schenectady, New York. He holds a Masters Degree in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and is a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York.

Vice President, Manufacturing and Product Development

Michael T. Kagan has over 25 years experience in the medical diagnostics industry. Prior to joining Molecular Biometrics, Michael was Founder and Principal of M. Kagan & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in product development, manufacturing transfer and outsourcing of medical diagnostics and life science products. Previously, he held executive positions in both product development and manufacturing at Immunicon Corporation, where he lead the development of instrumentation for cancer diagnostics based upon immuno-magnetic enrichment and fluorescence detection of rare circulating tumor cells. Earlier in his career, he has worked in both manufacturing and product development for Bayer, Chiron and Ciba Corning Diagnostics. Mr. Kagan holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Sales and Commercial Operations Consultant

Robert Lederer is a healthcare industry veteran with over 40 years experience in the areas of infertility research, commercial operations and sales. Previously Mr. Lederer was an Executive Vice President at Serono, where he ran all aspects of the company’s reproductive health sales and commercial activities. Most recently, he oversaw the commercial team at Connetics Corporation, where he was responsible for building a specialty sales force. Bob is currently a member of the National Board of Directors of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Robert Rochelle has 25 years experience in the healthcare industry including basic and applied research, sales, marketing and business development. Prior to Molecular Biometrics, he was a Senior Vice President for EXACT Sciences, where he played a major role in moving cutting edge cancer diagnostic concepts from the laboratory to the marketplace. Previously, Mr. Rochelle served as Director of Managed Care Marketing at Abbott Laboratories, and worked to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostics products at Integrated Genetics/Genzyme and Cambridge NeuroScience.

Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in both biology and psychology from Trinity College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Sakkas received his undergraduate training at the University of Melbourne, Australia and received his Doctorate of Philosophy at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. His Ph. D. was performed at one of the leading Reproductive Research Units in the world; which was responsible for many of the innovations used in routine IVF today including, hormonal stimulation, embryo freezing and micromanipulation.

Dr. Sakkas has been the Laboratory Director of IVF units in Switzerland and England and has aided numerous groups in establishing their own IVF units around the world. He has extensive experience in clinical IVF and reproductive research. He is internationally recognized, having organized conferences and workshops on reproduction related topics, and is frequently invited as a speaker at major conferences world wide. He has published more than 150 manuscripts and chapters in the field of fertilization, early embryo development and male infertility. He has been extensively funded in his career and has a productive basic research group investigating many aspects of gamete and embryo biology.

Dr Sakkas is Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer at Molecular Biometrics Inc., and remains as an Associate Professor at the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale University School of Medicine heading a successful Gamete Biology Research Team where he is also the Director of Assisted Reproductive Treatment Laboratories of the Yale Fertility Center.

Medical Director, Neurosciences

Dr. Schipper received his M.D. degree and a Ph.D. degree in Neuroendocrinology at McGill University in 1982. He completed Internal Medicine Residency at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital (McGill; 1982-4), a Residency in Neurology at Columbia University (1984-7) and a Fellowship in Endocrinology at Tufts University (1987-8). Dr. Schipper is currently tenured Professor of Neurology and Medicine (Geriatrics) at McGill University, Staff Neurologist at the Jewish General Hospital, and consultant at other Montreal institutions.  He is the Founding Director of the Centre for Neurotranslational Research and a member of the Bloomfield Centre for Research in Aging at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital (Montreal). In 2003, Dr Schipper co-founded the Biomedical Redox Laboratory at the Jewish General Hospital.  The laboratory is a unique facility in Canada that provides complex assays for the monitoring of key antioxidant enzymes, non-enzymatic antioxidants, redox-active transition metals, free radical-mediated tissue damage and the effects of antioxidant therapeutics.
Dr Schipper is a founder of Molecular Biometrics Inc. His observations helped innovate the use of vibrational spectroscopy of blood plasma samples for the minimally-invasive diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease and other human neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Schipper’s long-standing research interests are in the fields of oxidative stress, brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Three papers (1980-3) emanating from his doctoral thesis provided the earliest published evidence that chronic exposure to ovarian estrogen promotes aging-related degenerative changes in rodent brain regions implicated in reproductive senescence and the development of polycystic ovaries. A major research focus of his laboratory is the development of blood-based biological markers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of sporadic Alzheimer disease and other degenerative human CNS afflictions. Dr. Schipper has published over 120 primary and review articles on various aspects of the redox neurosciences and related topics in peer-reviewed journals. In 1998, he edited a first book of its genre entitled Astrocytes in Brain Aging and Neurodegeneration. In 2004, he co-edited a volume for the prestigious Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences on brain metals. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurochemistry and is a member of 14 professional societies. He has given over 80 invited lectures, seminars and presentations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Israel. At McGill University and the Jewish General Hospital, Dr. Schipper provides basic and clinical teaching in the neurosciences and coordinates an interdisciplinary course on Free Radical Biomedicine in the Faculty of Science.

Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

Frank E. Thomas has served as a senior finance and operations executive with experience leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies from development through commercialization. He has successfully financed and managed companies through significant growth phases including their IPO’s and in public markets, including transactions totaling over $250 million in investor capital. His operational experience includes identifying optimal commercialization strategies, portfolio management and establishing and executing strategic partnerships. Mr. Thomas is currently a member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Biotech Council and has served on the board since 2007.

Most recently, Mr. Thomas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Critical Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRTX). Mr. Thomas also was a member of the board of directors from 2006 until 2008. Prior to his appointment to CEO, Mr. Thomas served as Critical Therapeutics’ Senior Vice President of Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from 2004 to 2006. Critical Therapeutics, Inc. merged with Cornerstone BioPharma to become Cornerstone Therapeutics in 2008. Mr. Thomas served in a variety of finance positions with Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPR), a biopharmaceutical company, including as Chief Financial Officer. Esperion was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2004 for more than $1.3 billion. Mr. Thomas began his career with Arthur Andersen LLP where he was a certified public accountant. Mr. Thomas holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

MB expands commercial management team

MB hires Denny Sakkas, PhD, renowned Yale embryologist

Molecular Biometrics' CEO discusses Plans to develop Neurodegenerative diagnostics