About Us
Meet Our Team
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Christian Walker, MBA, MS
CEO, Founder, and
Board Member
Christian Walker, MBA, MS
Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Member of Board of Directors: Mr. Walker has over 20 years of entrepreneurial and senior management experience in the commercialization of nerve technologies, most recently working at industry leader AxoGen on regenerative medicine commercialization and business development.
- Previously he served as Director of the Peripheral Nerve Institute at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center managing multi-site clinical trials in peripheral nerve repair using peripheral nerve allografts and autologous stem cells in humans.
- He also served as the first Director of the Johns Hopkins Military and Veterans Health Institute. Mr. Walker brings financial and investment experience having served as Principal at Toucan Capital, a $140M VC Fund, focusing on regenerative medicine and cell therapy.
- Walker also served as EVP of Operations at Telcare (Acquired in 2016), CEO of MedRelief, focusing on stem cell differentiation for the treatment of Osteoporosis, and CEO and Founder of Evacyte an early-stage cancer detection company that won the 2001 KPMG Start-up Stand-Out Award.
Mr. Walker completed his MBA at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a Master’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in the lab whose technology and resulting IP would later become the basis for AxoGen’s lead product Avance.
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Luis Gutierrez, MBA
Chief Operating Officer, and Board Member
Luis T. Gutiérrez, Jr.
Chief Operating Officer and Member of Board of Directors: Mr. Gutierrez brings over 25 years of experience in managing companies in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industries. His prior roles include:
- Chief Commercial Officer of Veranex, Inc., a private-equity backed company created by acquiring and integrating 8 leading providers of regulatory, preclinical, clinicical, and product development services to the medtech industry.
- President, CEO, and Board Member of Theranostics Health (now TheraLink Technologies) a molecular diagnostics company that provides proteomic testing services to oncologists, academic institutions, and the biopharmaceutical industry.
- EVP and CCO of Aptiv Solutions, a company that innovated the designing and executing adaptive clinical trials for developers of biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic products. He helped position that company for a successful sale to industry leader ICON, PLC.
- President of Covance’s Commercialization Services group, where he was responsible for over 800 employees and $100M in revenue. The group he led helped biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies quantify the clinical and economic value of their products.
Mr. Gutierrez earned a Master’s in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard College.
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Kerry Clem
Chief Commercial Officer
Kerry Clem
Chief Commercial Officer: Kerry Clem is an accomplished Biopharma C-Suite executive with a distinguished career in building and leading commercial infrastructures for both start-ups and emerging growth organizations. In his most recent role as Chief Commercial Officer at Acorda Therapeutics, he was instrumental in executing the company’s strategy and leading the successful commercialization of products for neurodegenerative diseases. He achieved significant milestones such as driving AMPYRA® to a peak net revenue of $540 million and establishing INBRIJA® as the leading treatment in its class with a 70% market share.
- Before Acorda, Kerry held leadership roles at Allos Therapeutics, Solstice Neurosciences, and Guilford Pharmaceuticals, contributing to significant revenue growth and successful product launches in CNS and oncology.
- Mr. Clem holds a B.S. in Criminology from Florida State University and is a founding board member of The Just Society and Uzima Foundation.
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Amy Chappell, MD, FAAN
Chief Medical Officer
Amy Chappell
Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Chappell is a board certified neurologist with special competence in child neurology and a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician.
- She graduated from Indiana University Medical School; completed 2 years of pediatrics and an epilepsy fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center; and completed a neurology residency at Indiana University Medical Center. She was a full time faculty member in the neurology department of the Indiana University Medical Center until being hired as a clinical research physician by Eli Lilly and Company.
- At Eli Lilly, She designed and conducted clinical trials through all phases of development in a broad range of neurological disorders. She was the lead physician for the development of duloxetine for fibromyalgia which resulted in an FDA approval. She retired from Lilly Research Laboratories in January 2014, after 25 years in clinical research.
- During her career at Lilly Dr. Chappell continued to practice neurology at the Indiana University Medical Center.
She now practices neurology as a volunteer at the Neighborhood Health Clinic in Naples, FL, and practices lifestyle medicine at the Greater Naples Y. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American College of Sports Medicine, board member of the American Society of Experimental Neurotherapeutics, and a member of the Child Neurology Society, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Society of Tennis Medicine and Science.
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John Elfar, MD, MBA
Medical Co-Founder; Chairman of Orthopaedics, Univ. of Arizona
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Mark Noble, PhD
Scientific Co-Founder; Professor of Neuroscience, Univ. of Rochester
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Matthis Synofzik, MD
Ataxia Neurology Advisor; Professor, University of Tuebingen
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Christian Rummey, PhD
Data Scientist; Principal, Clinical Data Science GmbH
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Lauren Sabella
Chairperson Of The Board; Current COO, Mannkind; Former COO, CCO, Acorda Therapeutics
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Mary Hogan, MPH, MS
Patient Access & Advocacy; SCA27b Family Member and Founder of SCA27b Foundation