Daniele deLuca, MD, PhD

Dr. de Luca earned his MD and PhD degrees at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome where he obtained his fellowship in Pediatrics and Neonatology, an additional year fellowship in adult critical care, and two postgraduate diplomas in pediatric emergencies and neonatal pulmonology.

He directs the largest neonatal intensive care unit in France and one of the largest in Europe and is currently President of the European Society for Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC).  His group is specialized in intensive care for life-threatening newborns and infants (prematurity, ARDS, bronchiolitis, congenital heart disease, malformations, therapeutic hypothermia, etc..). During the pandemic, he was actively engaged and discovered the transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (Nature Comm 2020, work with more than 500 citations) and for this, he was appointed pro-tempore consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO).

He has authored 300 scientific papers and dozens of books and chapters (H index 45) and received the Research Award of the Italian Society of Neonatology, the European Young Investigator Award in 2010 and his group won the Bengt Robertson Award in 2018. He is the Honorary President of the Pediatric Medicine Branch of the Asia-Pacific Health Association.  He is the Editor of the European Journal of Pediatrics, the oldest pediatric scientific journal on the continent. The President of the Italian Republic on the proposal of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, appointed him Knight of the Republic on December 27, 2021.

Jeff Whitsett, MD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, (Chair of committee)

Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD is Professor of Pediatrics, Chief of the Section of Neonatology, Perinatal and Pulmonary Biology, and Executive Director of the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Whitsett received his B.A. from Colgate University and his medical degree from Columbia University. He trained in Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City and in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Following his fellowship, he joined the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1977 and since has risen through the ranks to Professor. He is internationally known for his research in pulmonary medicine, as well as for his clinical expertise in neonatology. Dr. Whitsett has made a series of groundbreaking contributions in pulmonary medicine and biology in his studies of the surfactant proteins A, B, C and D, cloning their genes and clarifying their roles in lung development and function.

Throughout his career, Dr. Whitsett has transitioned from molecular biology to animal models and then to the diagnosis and therapy of human disease. Importantly, he has played a critical role in making surfactant protein replacement routine in the treatment of immature lungs and respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. Notably, his laboratory has contributed to the identification of a number of genes critical for lung formation and function and shown that mutations in genes regulating surfactant homeostasis are responsible for acute and chronic lung disease in infants and adults. Dr. Whitsett is the author of over 500 papers in both the basic science and clinical literature.

Dr. Whitsett is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of various awards, including the Mead Johnson Award, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Merit Award, the William Cooper Procter Award from Cincinnati Children’s, the Amberson Lecture Award of the American Thoracic Society, the prestigious Daniel Drake Medal for scientific contributions from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the highly respected Arvo Ylppö Medal Award from Finland, the Grand Hamdan International Award on Neonatal Medicine from the United Arab Emirates, 2015 Avery Award, a joint award of the SPR/APS honoring Mary Ellen Avery, American Academy of Pediatrics 2015 Virginia Apgar Award. Columbia University P&S Alumni Gold Medal Award, and the 2018 Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal from the American Thoracic Society.

Maximo Vento, MD, PhD, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (Health Research Institute La Fe), Valencia, Spain

Dr. Vento presently holds a number of positions including: Professor of Pediatrics (since 1993) at the University of Alicante; Director of the Neonatal Research Unit (since 2005) at The Health Research Institute La Fe.  At present, he holds the position of Advisor for International Epidemiology for the Society.  In 2017, he was appointed Chairman of the European Board of Neonatology and Member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Pediatric Research. He is an Honorary Member of the American Pediatric Society and the German Pediatric Society.  From 2015 to 2019 he was the President of the Spanish Neonatal Society (Sociedad Española de Neonatología, SENeo)

His academic honors and activities began with advanced degrees from the University of Valencia starting in 1975, and have included numerous featured speaking engagements at over 80 National and International Congresses of the Neonatal Societies and Research Symposium. Max diverse lines of research and interests have included areas of general neonatal care; Physiology of the Fetal to Neonatal transition; Perinatal Asphyxia; Resuscitation in the Delivery Room; Oxygen: physiology, hypoxia/hyperoxia derived toxicity, oxidative and nitrosative stress and biomarkers; Redox Regulation; microbiome/infection/genome wide expression. His presence among national and international journals have added up to well over 350 speaking and published works.

Dimitri Panayotopoulos, Chairman 

Dimitri Panayotopoulos is a former Vice Chairman of The Procter & Gamble Company, where he had responsibility for the full portfolio of P&G’s brands and business units and more than $80 billion of global revenues. He brings deep experience in driving growth, innovation and executional excellence. Following his 37-year career at P&G, which spanned many of its international operations, he became a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group.

Panayotopoulos’ distinguished career at P&G included positions in advertising and marketing before moving on to various country manager positions. He led successful initiatives in China that resulted in a multibillion-dollar P&G business and also managed P&G’s 110-country market-development organization in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa and spearheaded the creation of a unified approach to building brands and businesses in those markets. After being named Group President of Global Fabric Care, Panayotopoulos helped build Downy, Lenor, and Gain into billion-dollar brands.

Asaf Danziger

Asaf Danziger has served as Chief Executive Officer of Novocure since 2002 and has been a director of Novocure since 2012.  Danziger has led the company and the development of TTFields therapy from preclinical testing through regulatory approvals to commercial sales in Europe and the United States. From 1998 to 2002, Danziger was Chief Executive Officer of Cybro Medical, a subsidiary of Imagyn Medical Technologies. Danziger holds a Bachelor’s of Science in material engineering from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

John M. Rice, PhD

John Rice is Managing Director at CincyTech, LLC, a venture development company focusing on seed venture capital investment where he leads the life science practice, and a co-founder and former Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures, both based in Cincinnati. He has 30 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biomedical science. He has strong relationships in the scientific community from the 26 years he spent in biomedical research and R&D management at Battelle and Senmed.

Rice was a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures from 1989 until 2003. Previously, Rice spent 13 years with Battelle Memorial Institute serving in various research projects, research management, and business development capacities. He has authored numerous scientific publications and holds patents in the fields of virology and immunology.

Rice earned his BS, MS and PhD degrees in Microbiology and Virology from The Ohio State University.

Marc Salzberg, MD, President, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Marc Salzberg serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Medical Officer and a Board Member at Airway Therapeutics. He has more than 25 years of academic and pharmaceutical experience in the management of drug development and clinical research, including medical management of anti-viral drugs clinical development and market introduction including saquinavir and ganciclovir. He spent several years at Roche’s headquarters in Basel, Switzerland as well as its affiliate in Toronto, Canada. As Head of Clinical Cancer Research at the Basel University, he co-founded and managed a clinical research network in Switzerland (CCRC).

During his career, Marc has successfully managed the growth and acquisition of two contract research organizations benefitting shareholders. He was a founder and President of Pharma Brains, a European boutique CRO, which has been acquired by Medpace, a US based global CRO, after 10 years of successful growth under his leadership. He then served as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Medpace.

Marc earned his Medical Doctorate degree from the University of Basel, Switzerland. His medical training and practice include pediatrics/ neonatology and oncology.

Alan S. Wolk, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer

Alan Wolk serves as the Chief Financial officer, Chief Operating Officer and a Board Member at Airway Therapeutics. He has more than 30 years of finance and general management experience in Dupont and Invista, a subsidiary of Koch Industries. He held senior executive positions including President, Interiors, a $2B+ group of businesses in both Dupont and Invista. Previously, Alan was CFO, Dupont Nylon, a $6.5B segment.

Alan led several global businesses with sales, R&D and manufacturing operations in N.A., China and Europe. Earlier, Alan was CFO of Dupont Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. He led many successful M&A and divestiture projects, for example, buying businesses in Germany and China and playing a leadership role in Dupont’s acquisition of ICI Textiles, joint venturing (and eventually divesting) of Dupont’s Pharmaceuticals business with Merck, and selling the Virology business to Ortho. Before joining Airway, Alan taught Finance at University of Georgia Terry College of Business.

Alan has a BBA in Marketing and an MBA in Finance from The Fox School of Business at Temple University.