Management Team
Ali Hussein
Founder and CEO
Ali has more than 25 years of experience in international business, marketing, and sales. In addition to founding Science24Seven and GlobalOvation, Ali advises several biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical companies. His experience ranges from working with very large multinationals – Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to promising start-ups – 3Derm Systems, Caring In Place, Cellanyx Diagnostics, and Edge Therapeutics. Previously he was the chief marketing officer and vice president of global markets for Innocentive, an Eli Lilly & Company spin-off. There he built the world's first virtual, global scientific community, working with partners in China, India, Russia, and elsewhere. Ali was also the director of marketing and business development for Amazon.com's wireless initiative, Amazon Anywhere—establishing strategic alliances with AT&T, Motorola, Nokia, Sprint, T-Mobile, and other leading wireless companies. At WPP, the world's largest communications services company, Ali served as the account director for Procter & Gamble.
GINA R. KRITCHEVSKY
PARTNER, SCIENTIFIC OFFICER
Dr. Kritchevsky is a leading expert in advanced materials, microelectronics packaging and liquid crystal display technology, optical materials and coatings with a specialty in intellectual property and consults with leading multinational corporations. She previously served as the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Technology and Engineering at Nanophase Technologies, Inc. Dr. Kritchevsky was Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Donnelly Optics Corporation. She also served in various positions with Donnelly Corporation, including Director of Corporate New Business Development. She holds a BS in chemistry and a PhD in material sciences and engineering from MIT. She also is a registered patent agent with expertise in evaluation of intellectual property of advanced materials technology.
Jill Panetta
Partner, Scientific Officer
Dr. Panetta has over 25 years of experience in drug discovery research and development at Eli Lilly and Company, including IP development for the prevention of bone loss and reabsorption, treatment of diabetes, and neuroprotection with an emphasis on stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Panetta's early research efforts led to the discovery of two clinical candidates: tibenelast for asthma and tazofelone for inflammatory bowel disease. Over her career, she has authored more than 88 publications and abstracts, has given over 65 invited lectures and has 33 granted US patents. Dr. Panetta is the former Chief Scientific Officer at the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation where she led and directed the foundation’s research strategy and was the key architect of the foundation’s Accelerating Treatments to Patients (ATP) research initiative. Dr. Panetta is co- founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of InnoCentive, an Eli Lilly & Company spinoff company.
Orhan H. Suleiman
Partner, Regulatory Officer
Dr Orhan H. Suleiman, MS, PhD, FAAPM, FHPS, brings to our team a broad range of scientific and regulatory experience regarding the safety and efficacy of drugs and medical devices marketed in the United States. He recently retired from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after 37 years with the federal agency. Most recently he was the Senior Science Policy Advisor in the FDA's Office New Drugs. He served as the FDA representative on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Medical Use of Isotopes (ACMUI), and represented the Department of Health and Human Services at international meetings sponsored by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the International Electro-technical Commission. He worked in the Commissioner’s Office of Counter-terrorism immediately after the September, 2001 anthrax terrorism events, and previously worked in FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Prior to coming to the FDA he worked for the Department of Defense, and the State of Florida. He has a BS and MS in Radiological Sciences and received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. In 1998 he was appointed to FDA's Senior Biomedical Research Service and is a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the Health Physics Society.
Advisory Board
Clayton M. Christensen (1952-2020)
Peter Jarman
Peter joined Cross Creek in 2010, after serving four years as a senior investment manager at Fort Washington Capital Partners Group, where he assisted in managing venture and private-equity investment portfolios. He has led Cross Creek investments in a variety of industries, including consumer internet (Rover, MyHeritage, Coupang, Poshmark), marketing technologies (HubSpot, Gigya, Integral Ad Science, Braze) and enterprise software (ForeScout, AppDynamics, Veracode, Sumo Logic, Icertis, Looker, Docker, Gusto, Pendo).
Peter began his career working in restructuring and marketing roles at both venture and private-equity funded companies. He spent nearly 10 years gaining experience in senior positions at PTC, Ancestry.com, Campus Pipeline, and ICON Health & Fitness before turning his focus to the investment side of private equity. In his current role he focuses on expansion and late-stage growth investing, as well as venture manager analysis. He is also a member of the Utah Valley University Foundation Investment Committee and a former advisor to the University Growth Fund.
Peter holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He was also a finalist for the Kauffman Fellows Program. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, skiing, and spending as much time as possible exploring the outdoors with his wife and four children.
Brian Leuthner
Brian Leuthner is the Chief Executive Officer for Alivio. Mr. Leuthner joins Alivio after serving as the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Edge Therapeutics, Inc., an orphan disease company focused on neurological diseases, since its inception. Mr. Leuthner led Edge through its successful IPO and until its merger with PDS Biotherapeutics in March 2019. He also served on the company’s board of directors.
Prior to founding Edge, Mr. Leuthner was the CEO of Fontus Pharmaceuticals, the Senior Head of Marketing for The Medicines Company and the Director of Market Development for ESP Pharma. He also held marketing and sales positions of significant responsibility at Burroughs Wellcome, GlaxoWellcome and Ortho Biotech. In these leadership roles, he helped create and advance business units, develop and launch multiple products and strengthen customer relationships.
Phillip C. Thomas
Phil has over 25 years experience as a public and private company CEO and has experienced many of the challenges inherent in navigating the difficult process of creating, growing, and sustaining a profitable business. His business experience includes serving as the CEO and Founder of several high tech firms as well as CEO level leadership at a number of public companies.
Prior to his business career, Phil served with distinction for eight years as a Naval Intelligence Officer earning consistent top 1% performance reports, selection for early promotion, and other honors. Phil earned his BA, Political Science from Brigham Young University and took part in additional professional development endeavors including the Masters of Science, Strategic Intelligence Program at the Defense Intelligence Agency and executive development programs at the Stanford and Harvard Business Schools.
D. Brad Welling, MD, PhD, FACS
Dr. Bradley Welling is the Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Mass. Eye and Ear/Mass General. He is a neurotologic surgeon in Mass. Eye and Ear's Otology and Neurotology Division, with clinical interests involving caring for patients with diseases of the ear and lateral cranial base. More specifically, he focuses on hearing loss, cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, as well as facial paralysis and deafness related to Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2)-associated tumors. Dr. Welling's research efforts primarily focus on NF2-associated vestibular schwannomas.
A graduate of the University of Utah, Dr. Welling completed his otolaryngology residency at the University of Iowa and a fellowship in otology, neurotology and skull base surgery at the Ear Foundation at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Welling also earned a PhD in Pathobiology from The Ohio State University.