Development Team and Advisors
Gloria C. Lin, PhD, Executive Director of Clinical Operations
Dr. Lin is responsible for managing all clinical programs at Essentialis. Dr. Lin has extensive experience in drug development encompassing basic research, preclinical studies, and clinical trials. Prior to joining Essentialis, Dr. Lin held positions of increasing responsibilities at Miravant, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, Immusol, and Pfizer. Dr. Lin received postdoctoral training in photomedicine under dual appointment with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lin holds a PhD degree in physical chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Jeff Staffa, PhD
Dr. Staffa was a founder of Essentialis along with Dr. Cowen and Tom Glaze. He functions as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Staffa served as VP of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs at Knoll Pharmaceutical where he was responsible for functions of regulatory affairs, pharmaceutical development, clinical, pharmacology, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and preclinical pharmacology. At Knoll he was responsible for the approval and launch of the Meridia obesity drug. Prior to Knoll, Dr. Staffa served as VP of Corporate Regulatory Affairs at G. D. Searle. Dr. Staffa began his career as a science advisor in the Office of the Commissioner of the FDA.
Richard Bittman, PhD, Consulting Statistician
Dr. Bittman has been a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry on clinical trial design and analysis, clinical development and strategies and regulatory interactions. Previously Dr. Bittman functioned in various biostatistics supervisory roles in Pfizer, Pharmacia, Monsanto and Searle, most recently serving as Director of Cardiovascular Statistics at Pfizer.
James A. Longstreth, PhD, Consulting Pharmacologist
Dr. Longstreth is the founder and President of Longstreth and Associates, Inc., and Executive Director Clinical Affairs, CanReg, Inc. where he serves as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry on pharmacokinetic trial design, study conduct and data analysis; production of regulatory submissions; strategic utilization of pharmacokinetic information, and product life cycle management. Prior to founding Longstreth and Associates, Dr. Longstreth served in various roles at G.D. Searle including Director of Strategic Development and Director of Corporate Clinical Research, and Director of Clinical Pharmacokinetics. He has served on the faculty of the School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, and as a Fellow of the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Karl A. Traul, PhD, Consulting Toxicologist
Dr. Traul has served as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry in the management of toxicology and nonclinical safety aspects of drug development as well as regulatory submissions and interactions for over 16 years. Previously Dr. Traul functioned in various senior management roles in product safety, toxicology and regulatory compliance at Pfizer, Exxon Biomedical Sciences and American Cyanamid (now part of Pfizer). Dr. Traul holds a PhD degree in immunology and immunochemistry from the Ohio State University.
Khaled Yamout, Senior Director of Chemistry
Mr. Yamout has managed and supervised the discovery, development of efficient synthesis, scaled GMP manufacture, and formulation dev elopement and clinical manufacture of Essentialis' lead drug. For nearly 20 years Mr. Yamout has functioned in scientific and supervisory chemistry roles in a number of companies including Acon Laboratories, Genicon Sciences, Biosite and Syva.