Co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer
Co-founder, Director of Research
Chief Executive Officer
Head of Global Commercialization
Senior Scientist at Krembil Research Institute
Professor at University of Toronto
Oncology Institute Director & Chief of Surgical Oncology CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System
Senior Scientist at Krembil Research Institute
Professor at University of Toronto
Igor Jurisica, PhD, DrSc is a Senior Scientist at Osteoarthritis Research Program, Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Schroeder Arthritis Institute and Krembil Research Institute, Professor at University of Toronto and Visiting Scientist at IBM CAS. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University, and an adjunct scientist at the Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences. He also serves as Chief Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, Rotman School of Management, and is a scientific director of the World Community Grid.
His research focuses on integrative informatics and the representation, analysis and visualization of high-dimensional data to identify prognostic/predictive signatures, determine clinically relevant combination therapies, and develop accurate models of drug mechanism of
action and disease-altered signaling cascades. He has published extensively on data mining, visualization and integrative computational biology, including multiple papers in Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, J Clinical Oncology, J Clinical Investigations. He has been included in Thomson Reuters 2014, 2015 & 2016 lists of Highly Cited Researchers, and The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2015 & 2014 Reports. In 2019, he was included in the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare list (Deep Knowledge Analytics).
Co-founder, President & CEO Proxima Clinical Research
Kevin Coker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Clinical Research a partner for the emerging biotech and medical device industry. Over his career, Mr. Coker has held a variety of impressive appointments. Previously, he was CEO and Director of MolecularMatch, a software company dedicated to helping laboratories interpret next generation sequencing tests for clinical practice. He served as the Vice President and Oncology Franchise Lead for Worldwide Clinical Trials, a global CRO working in over 50 countries, and the Vice President of Research for McKesson/US Oncology. Mr. Coker is currently a Board Director for Volumetric, a 3D bioprinting company focused on making the world’s first 3D printed liver and is an advisor for Bioverge, an investment platform focused on life science companies.
Mr. Coker received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Central Arkansas, a M.S. in Pathology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and J.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He is as a certified clinical molecular biologist CLSp(MB) and Regulatory Affairs certified RAC (US). He is the former Chair of the Ethics Committee for Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS) as well as past Board Member and served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arkansas. He has been involved in over a hundred clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies pursuing marketing indications and been involved in dozens of regulatory submissions for both biotech and medical device companies.
Radiation oncology, Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic
Dr. Krishnan is a board-certified radiation oncologist specializing in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. His clinical focus ranges from applying personalized oncology treatments that maximize patient outcomes and minimize adverse side effects to coordinating patient care across multidisciplinary departments. He brings specialized expertise in management of esophagogastric, hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and anorectal tumors with radiation therapy - this includes stereotactic body radiation therapy, proton radiation, intraoperative radiation, and brachytherapy.
In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Krishnan is active in various patient-centered research projects. Investigations in his Nanotechnology and Radiation Biology Laboratory includes strategies to sensitize tumors to radiation therapy using nanoparticles, chemotherapy, botanicals, immunotherapy and novel radiation techniques including particle therapy, minibeams and boron neutron capture therapy. He evaluates approaches to protect normal tissues from radiation injury using novel agents.
Dr. Krishnan also studies patterns of gene expression and imaging characteristics in human tumors that predict response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for over a decade.
Oncology Institute Director & Chief of Surgical Oncology CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System
Dr. Curley is a board-certified surgical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal cancers. He is actively involved in his clinical roles and is deeply committed to developing multidisciplinary care programs for patients with all types of cancer. Throughout his 25+ years of surgical oncology experience he has held a variety of notable appointments, published over 350 clinical scientific publications, and spent countless hours on clinical and laboratory research projects. Currently, he is the Oncology Institute Director and Chief of Surgical Oncology at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. He also holds faculty positions as Professor of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine and Professor in Nanomaterials science at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
In addition to his clinical and faculty duties, Dr. Curley leads an academic basic and translational research laboratory. His lab has been involved in design, bench testing, preclinical testing, and clinical testing of several new medical devices. The laboratory combines physics, chemistry, molecular biology, and bioengineering to produce a state-of-the-art approach to novel cancer treatment. Dr. Curley and his team have performed in vivo preclinical studies with several novel devices and immunotherapy systems to obtain data adequate to petition the FDA for human clinical trials. The goal of his research is to find better, more effective, and less toxic treatments for cancer patients.
Head of Global Commercialization
Dean Remy is a skilled executive with a proven track record of developing and leading high-performance teams. Dean embraces complex early-stage company challenges having forged great scientific and corporate leadership relationships over 30+ years in the industry. He has built sales and business develop teams from the bottom-up, deployed the necessary infrastructure for supporting such, right-sized companies for commercial fit and for acquisition, and met fiscal milestones throughout. Eager to expand his knowledge and learn from subject matter experts, he is driven to help young companies quickly find their unique differentiators in new markets.
Chief Executive Officer
Vivek Ravi is a growth focused executive with a track record of commercializing disruptive technologies. His unique background in engineering and finance has equipped him with creative problem-solving skills that have put many firms on the path to hypergrowth.
Founder, Director of Research
As a co-founder of Spanios, Dr. Samuel is on a mission to accelerate precision oncology research. She actively contributes towards realizing a world that has creative and sustainable solutions firmly grounded in scientific thinking and methodology.
Dr. Samuel is a skilled bioscientist with a proven background in medical sales. After completing her Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Biosciences from University of Arkansas at Little Rock, she continued her higher education at the University of Houston as a Postdoctoral Fellow. While there, she focused her research on the role and therapeutic potential of angiotensin type II receptor (AT2) in obesity and metabolism related disorders. Since then, she has founded several scientific consultation and technical writing organizations.
Founder, Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Dave is a highly accomplished cancer biologist with over 17 years of experience in leading drugs to phase 3 clinical trials. He has held faculty appointments as Assistant Professor of Oncology at Houston Methodist Cancer Center and currently leads an array of translational research projects. He brings a unique expertise in utilizing preclinical 3D models of cancer tumors to understand the mechanism of action across novel therapeutics.
Dr. Dave brings a creative approach to problem solving and an unwavering determination to devise new strategies. He is an effective leader, focused to achieve platform deliverables in a quality-driven yet cost conscious manner. He has extensive experience consistently adhering to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Management Practice (GMP) as well as establishing and enforcing safety protocols. Dr. Dave has a history of producing clinical results that are accurate, safe, and compliant with regulatory standards.
