Meet The Team
Our management team includes seasoned pharmaceutical entrepreneurs, business executives, and highly recognized scientists with extensive academic credentials and publications.
Stuart Rose, PhD
Founder and Chairman
Stu is a seasoned entrepreneur with 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and supply chain industries. He has founded and/or managed several companies including Supply Chain Strategies International, Glenridge Pharmaceuticals, Oso Biopharmaceuticals Manufacturing, and Penik Corporation. He has held senior management positions at ICN (now Valeant Pharmaceuticals), Par Pharmaceuticals, and Lederle Laboratories, a division of American Cyanamid (now Pfizer). Stu is currently a director, investor, and advisor to several entrepreneurial companies in New Mexico (Agilvax, Azano Pharmaceuticals) and most recently, the founder and owner of The BioScience Center, New Mexico’s only science incubator devoted exclusively to biotechnology. Stu holds a PhD in chemistry from Wayne State University.
Mary J. Ortner, PhD, MBA
President & CEO
Mary is a molecular pharmacologist with 25 years industry experience in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and consulting. She was a research scientist at NIH (Environmental Biophysics) for six years before joining Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she worked in R&D and clinical research. She then co-founded MicroSource Discovery Systems, Inc. and served six years as its CEO. Mary was later Sr. Director of External Development at Shire Biologics and Director of Business Development at Inpharmatica, Ltd. She also helped establish the consulting group, BioXcel Corporation, as SVP, Business Development and Alliances. Mary holds a PhD from the University of Hawaii, an MS from the California State University, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.
Ian Henderson, PhD
Head, Medicinal Chemistry
Ian is a chemist with more than 10 years of experience in various chemical and biotechnology fields. After obtaining a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, he earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, investigating novel polymer synthetic routes as well as the chemistry and physics of polymer and small molecular coordination compounds. After matriculation, Ian worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in the areas of polymer self-assembly, organic synthesis, protein chemistry, and biochemistry. Ian is the founder and CEO of Omphalos Bioscience, LLC, a company developing a new class of antibiotics, and he also collaborates with the research arm of the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center, investigating cellular signaling in the mammalian microbiome.
Steven Bradfute, PhD.
Immunologist
Steven is an immunologist with 13 years’ experience studying the interaction between pathogens and the immune response. His expertise is in immunity against globally-relevant pathogens. He received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), where he studied immune responses to hemorrhagic fever viruses, including the ebola- and marburgviruses. As there are few treatments or vaccines available for many of these viruses, Steven is researching basic immunology and vaccine development for these and other emerging pathogens. He has also studied the effect of novel autophagy-modulating drugs on widespread pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He serves as a consultant for Biophagy.
Bhaskar Saha, PhD
Consultant and Researcher
Bhaskar is a cell biologist with more than 10 years experience in cell biology and molecular biology. He received his Ph.D. from University of Calcutta, working on health benefits of phenolic phytochemicals in clinical conditions related to oxidative stress related diseases. These include neurodegenerative disorders and cancer, specifically targeting autophagy modulation pathways for cancer treatment development. He joined the University of New Mexico in 2018 as a post-doctoral researcher working on the autophagy related functions of TRIM5, a HIV restriction factor and its actions in antiviral defense. His ongoing study will improve our understanding of how autophagy responds to viral infection in mammalian cells. He serves as a consultant and researcher for Biophagy.
