Scientific Advisory Board

Charles J. Decedue, Ph. D. trained as a microbiologist, he began his association with the University of Kansas in 1976 as Director of the Biochemical Research Service Laboratory. In 1989, Decedue assumed the position of Executive Director of the Higuchi Biosciences Center. The Higuchi Biosciences Center has the dual mission of enhancing the University’s environment for basic biomedical research and advancing the commercial development of the results of that research. Companies launched from activities of the Higuchi Biosciences Center include Oread Laboratories, Inc., CyDex, Inc., ProQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc., CritiTech, Inc., BioScience Innovations, Inc., and Admunex, Inc. Decedue has over 30 years experience as a research scientist and administrator.

Valentino J. Stella, Ph. D. is a Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas. His research centers on the application of physical/organic chemistry to the study of factors affecting drug delivery. Dr. Stella is known for his work in improving drug stability and solubility especially as these relate to the preformulation of anticancer and antiAIDS drugs. He also studies the use of prodrugs to overcome problems of solubility and stability and is the inventor of fosphenytoin, a safe injectable form of sodium phenytoin. Current research on prodrugs include the use of prodrugs with greater safety profiles compared to the parent molecules, drug targeting via prodrugs, and novel prodrugs of tertiary amines, hindered alcohols, phenols, imides, and amides. He is also studying the use of novel cyclodextrins that can be used safely in parenteral formulations as well as for oral applications. His work led to the discovery of Captisol™.

Bala Subramaniam, Ph. D. is a co-founder of CritiTech. He is currently the Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and the Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis at the University of Kansas (KU). Dr. Subramaniam obtained a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Madras, India and a Ph. D. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He joined the KU chemical and petroleum engineering department in 1985, and recently served as chair of his department. He has held visiting Professorships at the Institute of Process Engineering, ETH in Zurich (Switzerland), University of Nottingham (UK) and at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Subramaniam's primary research interests are in catalysis, reaction engineering and crystallization, with emphasis on developing sustainable processes.. In recent years, his research has focused on systematically exploiting the tunable physical and transport properties of CO2-based solvents in developing novel catalytic, particle formation and particle coating processes. He has authored 100+ research publications including 12 patents, presented invited seminars at 70+ universities and companies, and delivered keynote/plenary lectures at 20+ international conferences. Dr. Subramaniam has received several awards for his teaching and research, including the Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award from the American Society for Engineering Education; the Gould Award for Teaching and the Miller Award for Research from the KU School of Engineering; the Silver Anniversary Teaching Award from the University of Kansas, and a Higuchi Research Achievement Award from KU, the highest recognition for research given by the University of Kansas.

David Johnston, Ph.D. is a highly qualified executive with extensive leadership experience in non-clinical chemistry (chemistry, pharmaceutical product development) and clinical development (Phase I through Phase IV), regulatory approval, technology transfer, international operations, sales and marketing, and brand management. With over 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience he has demonstrated the ability to develop, commercialize and market products covering a broad range of dosage forms for use in a variety of therapeutic indications. He serves as an advisor or is on the scientific advisory board to numerous pharmaceutical companies and venture capital groups, and is on the board of directors for AerovectRx and Wilmington Pharma LLC.

Dr. Johnston’s experience includes serving as a board member for AerovectRx, Inc. from January 2008 to present and serving as the company’s interim President and CEO from June 2008 – December 2008. This company is a spin out from the Center for Disease Control and is focused on leveraging proprietary nebulizer technology for the delivery of therapeutic agents for the treatment of a variety of lung diseases. He remains on the board and serves as an advisor to the company. From 2004 to 2007 he served as Sr. Vice President of R&D for Nektar Therapeutics. He held responsibility for Nektar’s research and development activities ($150 million budget) world-wide. In addition to his R&D responsibilities he was Director of Nektar (UK), Chairman of Nektar India (Pvt.) Ltd., and a member of the Joint development committees for Bayer, Novartis, and Pfizer. From 1999-2002 he was President and COO of AAI International directing business in North America, Europe, and Mainland China involving approximately 1000 employees. He previously held leadership positions with Oread, Inc. as Ex. V.P for Drug Development, Sanofi-Winthrop, Research Division as V.P. and Deputy International Group Director of Pharmaceutical Product Development, and Sterling Winthrop, Pharmaceutical Research Division as Executive Director.

Dr. Johnston received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from St. Andrews University, St. Andrews Scotland and did his Post Doctoral Studies at Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany.

Michael J. Baltezor, Ph. D. has been involved in the development of pharmaceutical and medical products for over 30 years with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Marion Laboratories (and subsequent companies) and in the contract services business with Quintiles. Most recently Dr. Baltezor has been serving as the Vice President of R&D for CareFusion, Inc. Experience has included a spectrum of ethical and OTC drugs and devices including traditional oral solid and liquid dosage forms, topical products and injectable parenteral products. Dr. Baltezor’s primary areas of expertise are in pharmaceutics, physical chemistry and analytical chemistry with a focus on novel drug delivery and the resolution of drug solubilization and stabilization.

Dr Baltezor received his Ph. D. in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1977.