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Leadership

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A. Ebbie Soroudi, MD, MS

CEO: iUV Pharma, Inc.
Diplomat, American Board of Ophthalmology
Clinical Instructor of Ophthalmology: UCLA Stein Eye Institute

Dr. Soroudi is one of the most active figures in the field of Ophthalmology today. Early on in his career, he was fortunate enough to run a busy private practice serving the Hispanic Community in East Los Angeles for 10 years.

Here, he had the opportunity to perform surgery on thousands of patients who had developed severe ocular surface disease (Pterygiums, Pinguecula, and Conjunctival Cancers) from spending a great deal of time outdoors without eye protection (farmers, construction workers, painters, etc.).

Some of these patients were actually blind from severe Pterygium Formation that covered their whole Corneas.

Before, and immediately after "scissorless" Pterygium Excision with "sutureless" conjunctival autograft by Dr. Soroudi

Through this wonderful experience, Dr. Soroudi became a world expert in treating severe ocular surface conditions, and it was here that he realized the need for an ophthalmic formulation that would protect people’s eyes from the Sun (like a non-blurring Chapstick for the Ocular Surface)…

Dr. Soroudi has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from USC, a Master’s Degree in Physiological Science from UCLA, and a Medical Doctorate Degree from the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He completed his internship in General Surgery at USC, and he served as resident and Chief Resident in Ophthalmology at the LA County Hospital in South Central Los Angeles.

Dr. Soroudi spent a year at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute to learn about complicated Eyelid (Oculoplastic) Surgery, another year to learn the art of Refractive Surgery from Dr. James Salz, past president of the International Society of Refractive Surgery, and spent another year working alongside Dr. Samuel Masket, past president of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.

Dr. Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD

Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Houman David Hemmati is a world expert in ophthalmic drug development. He earned a BSc in Biological Sciences at Stanford, an MD from UCLA, a PhD in Biology from Caltech. He completed his Ophthalmology Residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemical Engineering and Drug Delivery at MIT, and a Clinical Fellowship in Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School.

Until recently, he was the Vice President of Medical and Clinical Development for New Therapies at the clinical-stage biotechnology company, Capricor Therapeutics, developing their Exosome program. Prior to Capricor, he served as Director, Clinical Development at Allergan, and as Clinical Scientist in the Ophthalmology Therapeutic Area on several Phase I, II, and III studies related to anterior segment indications, including overseeing the Restatis-X® global program.

Dr. Hemmati is a Board-Certified ophthalmologist, and is also Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at USC Keck School of Medicine, where he serves as Attending Physician at LA County USC Medical Center.

Dr. Olga Dueva-Koganov, Sc.D., Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Olga Dueva-Koganov is Vice President and Co-Founder of Intellebio, LLC. She received her PharmD (summa cum laude) from the State Medical University, Ukraine; Sc.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Higher Attestation Commission under the USSR (Former Soviet Union) Council of Ministers, Moscow, Russia. She has more than 70 technical publications, over 50 issued patents/pending applications; and frequently speaks at scientific meetings and symposiums.

Previously she held high level R&D positions at Rodan+Fields, LLC, Ashland Specialty Ingredients (Biomaterials), AkzoNobel, Ciba, Playtex Products/Banana Boat and Engelhard Corporation. She was leading the development of plant-based sustainable ingredients for skin/hair/personal care utilizing novel award winning Zeta Fraction™ technology; the evaluation of new technologies, bio-functional ingredients/their compositions and finished goods prototypes utilizing advanced in vitro/ex vivo screening test methods – to support new pipelines of commercial finished products for various skin and hair needs.

She co-invented numerous granted patents, e.g. Bioactive botanical cosmetic compositions/processes for their production – US 8,668,939; US 8,277,852; In vitro prediction of UVA protection in vivo (US 7,033,577); Avotriplex® for photostabilization and optimization of sunscreen products (US 7,014,842); AmphoComplex™ for fast sunless tan with customized color characteristics (US 7,378,084; US 8,263,045 and US 8,163,272); Tear-Free™ photoprotective compositions non-irritating to human eyes (US 7,910,090 and US 9,067,083), Synergistic antioxidant compositions (US 10,898,423) utilized in RF3 Antioxidant Complex, and many others. In 2001 she received the SCC Allan B. Black Award.

Dr. Dueva-Koganov areas of expertise include: Research & Development of novel bioactive materials, functional polymers, finished goods products, e.g. anti-ageing, anti-acne, anti-inflammatory, moisturizing, sunscreen, after sun, sunless tanning and color cosmetics; new technologies and testing methodologies.

Dr. Michael Koganov, Sc.D., Ph.D.

Chief Strategy Officer

Dr. Koganov has considerable accomplishments in physicochemistry, biochemistry, bioelectrochemistry and biotechnology of natural products. His early work was focused on prize-winning investigation of dynamic structure of electrochemical processes in biological and artificial membranes. Later, Dr. Koganov developed Electro-Membrane technology for comprehensive processing of plants to produce protein concentrates and secondary metabolites using bipolar membranes. In parallel, he actively participated in discovery and bioremediation projects of the US Department of Energy National Laboratories.

Dr. Koganov was a co-founder of IBT LLC, which developed award-winning proprietary sustainable Zeta Fraction technology (ZFT). He developed scientific and technical bases of ZFT which permits separation of constituent parts of living cell from plants or algae without external solvents, with minimum energy consumption and virtually no waste. Dr. Koganov pioneered application and engineering of novel high-frequency magnetron systems for separation of intracellular dispersions. He led design, building of unique mobile unit and modular manufacturing facility for large scale production of Zeta Fractions (ZFs).

After ZFT was acquired by AkzoNobel and then by Ashland, Dr. Koganov directed research, product development and commercialization of patented multifunctional bioactive ZFs including award-winning Recentia® & Fusion™ that are used as Signature Ingredients in numerous products of global companies. He has significantly contributed to development of ZF based Harmoniance™, SeaStem™, Infini’tea™ and various synergistic compositions of ZFs obtained from live phytomass of 12 major plant families.

Recently, Dr. Koganov co-founded Intellebio LLC, which is focused on creative proprietary solutions for life sciences, development of novel technologies and products.

Dr. Koganov holds M.S. degree (Biochemistry), Ph.D. degree (Bioelectrochemistry), Sr. Research Fellow and Sc.D. degree Full Doctor of Sciences (Biotechnology). He has 72 publications, more than 100 granted patents and 2 books. Dr. Koganov is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Scientific Research Society Sigma Xi, Biochemical and Bioelectrochemical Societies. He has received numerous awards and is internationally recognized expert, consultant and keynote speaker on novel technologies. Dr. Koganov had comprehensive experience in tech transfer and due diligence in mergers and acquisitions. He is the member of the Board of Directors of XXII Century Group, Inc. and serves in Advisory Board of private companies.

Dr. Gary Novack, PhD

Regulatory Counsel

Gary D. Novack, Ph.D. is the founder and president of PharmaLogic Development, Inc. Dr. Novack studied at University of California campuses (BA, UC Santa Cruz, PhD, UC Davis, and UCLA, fellowship). He is a diplomate of clinical pharmacology, and a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He is a clinical professor of ophthalmology at UC Davis, and a UC Regent Emeritus. He has authored over 300 papers, and played a key role in the approval of over 50 products. As a member of ARVO since 1983, he was a founding member of the Commercial Relationships Committee.