Bill Gerhart
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Gerhart is an experienced Founder/CEO with more than 20 years experience starting and building companies based on promising technologies. He founded Elevation Pharmaceuticals in 2008 to develop new aerosol therapies for underserved patient populations with respiratory diseases. Prior to Elevation,Mr. Gerhart was the President and CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals from 2002 to 2007, a company he founded to discover and develop new antibacterials for the treatment of serious infections, which was acquired by Aptalis in 2011. The lead candidate acquired by Aptalis is an inhaled antibiotic in Phase 3 trials that has the potential to be the most potent antibacterial for treating serious bacterial respiratory infections. Prior to Mpex, he was the CEO of Medlyte Therapeutics from 2000 to 2002 (now publicly-held Lpath Therapeutics), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery of novel cancer and ophthalmology therapies. Mr. Gerhart is also a Co-Founder of Vaxiion Therapeutics, a company focused on developing targeted drug and RNAi delivery products. Mr. Gerhart has a BBA in Finance from Baylor University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ahmet Tutuncu MD, PhD
Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Tutuncu has more than 20 years of experience in academic/medical practice and the pharmaceutical industry. He was most recently the VP of Medical Affairs at Verus Pharmaceuticals responsible for all clinical development activities of drug products targeted at asthma, anaphylaxis and other atopic conditions. At Verus, he was the project team leader for the asthma development programs, which included budesonide and a short-acting beta-agonist delivered via high efficiency nebulizer device. Prior to joining Verus, Dr. Tutuncu was Director of Corporate Medical Affairs at SkyePharma, where he primarily led the clinical development of pulmonary programs including budesonide, formoterol and FlutiForm. Previously, Dr. Tutuncu held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical development and drug safety at Alliance Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Tutuncu received his PhD in respiratory pathophysiology from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and he received his MD at the University of Istanbul, Turkey, where he was also an attending physician and faculty member specializing in intensive care medicine.
Jaisim Shah
Senior Vice President & Chief Business Officer
Mr. Shah has more than 25 years of global biopharma experience including 15 years in senior management leading business development, commercial operations, investor relations, marketing and medical affairs. Prior to Elevation he was president of Zelos Therapeutics, where he focused on financing and businessdevelopment. Prior to Zelos, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer at CytRx, a biopharmaceutical company. Prior to CytRx, Mr. Shah was Chief Business Officer at Facet Biotech and PDL BioPharma where he completed numerous licensing/partnering and strategic transactions with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Prior to PDL he was at Bristol-Myers Squibb, most recently as Vice President of Global Marketing where he received the “Presidents Award” for completing one of the most significant collaborations in the company’s history. Prior to working with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Shah was at F. Hoffman-La Roche in international marketing and was global business leader for corporate alliances with Genentech and Idec. He serves on the board of directors at Acucela. Mr. Shah holds an MA in Economics from the University of Akron and an MBA from Oklahoma University.
Pravin Soni, PhD
Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Pravin Soni has more than 30 years of experience developing products in a range of industries, including 17 years in Senior Management leading the development, manufacture, and registration of novel drug, device, and combination medical products. Prior to Elevation, he was Vice President of Product Research and Development at Alexza Pharmaceuticals where he led the development of a novel inhalable drug delivery system, the Staccato inhaler, for systemic drug delivery via the deep lung. Five different drug candidates based on Staccato technology intended for the treatment of migraine, panic attack, breakthrough pain, insomnia and agitation are currently in various stages of clinical evaluation. Prior to Alexza, Dr. Soni was Vice President of Engineering at Cygnus where he led the development of the first commercial non-invasive, automatic, and continuous blood glucose monitoring system, the GlucoWatch Biographer, as well as a 7-day contraceptive transdermal system that was marketed by Johnson & Johnson as Evra. Before Cygnus, Dr. Soni spent 15 years at Raychem Corporation developing novel products based on specialty materials. Dr. Soni is a co-inventor on 57 US and foreign patents and has co-authored 19 publications/poster presentations. He holds a PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.