ABOUT TRANSPORT

Scientific Advisory Board

Ajay K. Banga, Ph.D.

Mercer University, Atlanta, GA

Agis Kydonieus, Ph.D.

Samos Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Mark R. Prausnitz, Ph.D.

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Spotswood L. Spruance, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, University of Utah

Kuo-Wei Chang, Ph.D.

Vice President, Industrial & Biomedical Sensors Corp.

Bruce E. Strober, M.D, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU School of Medicine

Jay E. Birnbaum, Ph.D.

 

 

Ajay K. Banga, Ph.D.
Mercer University, Atlanta, GA

Dr. Ajay K. Banga is professor and chair in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA. He has a Ph.D. in pharmaceutics from Rutgers University, NJ and has over 140 publications and presentations to his credit. He is the author of two books, “Therapeutic Peptides and Proteins: Formulation, Processing, and Delivery Systems, Second Ed “ and "Electrically assisted transdermal and topical drug delivery,” both from Taylor & Francis. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief for the journal “Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems” and has an active laboratory funded by industry for transdermal delivery research. His laboratory has received over 50 grants and contracts from industry to date.

Agis Kydonieus, Ph.D.
Samos Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Agis Kydonieus, Ph.D. is the President of Samos Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a company involved in consulting and development of drug delivery systems, biomaterials and medical devices. He is one of the founders of the Controlled Release Society and formerly its President. He is considered in the profession to be a leader in drug delivery and especially in the field of transdermal delivery. Prior to his position with Samos, he was a vice president of R&D at Bristol Myers (1988 to 1998) and President of Hercon Laboratories, a transdermal company (1977 to 1988). Dr. Kydonieus has generated over 40 U.S. patents and has edited 10 books, four of which pertain to transdermal delivery. He has also authored 30 book chapters and over 100 publications and abstracts. He received a B.S. degree, summa cum laude, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Florida.

Mark R. Prausnitz, Ph.D.
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Mark Prausnitz is professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and the Emerson-Lewis Faculty Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has a B.S. (1988) from Stanford University and a Ph.D. (1994) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Prausnitz' research interests concern microneedles and other microfabricated devices for drug delivery across the skin and into the eye, as well as novel uses of ultrasound and related physical phenomena to enhance and target intracellular delivery. Dr. Prausnitz also has considerable experience studying the use of electric fields for drug delivery across skin and into cells by electroporation and iontophoresis. Dr. Prausnitz has received the CAREER Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation; Young Investigator Award, Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper Award and Outstanding Transdermal Drug Delivery Award from the Controlled Release Society; Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the American Society for Engineering Education; and TR100 Young Innovator from Technology Review. He has published 80 research articles, holds 15 issued or pending patents, consults for a number of companies, and has served as an expert witness.

Spotswood L. Spruance, M.D.
University of Utah School of Medicine

Dr. Spruance is professor of Medicine in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Dermatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is also adjunct professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Utah. He received his B.A. from Harvard College and his M.D. at Case-Western Reserve University School of Medicine followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Utah. He is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Microbiology and a former editor of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. He has served on multiple site visits and review committees for the NIH and has been a frequent consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. He is the author of more than 100 original publications in peer-reviewed journals. His major research interests are the pathogenesis, immunology and treatment of viral infections, particularly herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, and human immunodeficiency virus.

Kuo-Wei Chang, Ph.D.
Vice President, Industrial and Biomedical Sensors Corp.

Dr. Chang has over 30 years experience in developing biomedical instrumentation and leading research on military, health sciences, and industrial projects. He has published extensively in physics, instrumentation, and control engineering. He has been awarded over 13 U.S. patents relating to advanced technology, and has served as the Principal Investigator of many research grants and contracts awarded by government and private medical institutions. Dr. Chang has also served as principal scientist and manager of the Bio-sensors Department for the Space Sciences Division of Whittaker Corporation, and in 1975, he founded Industrial & Biomedical Sensors Corporation, a firm specializing in ECG and other vital signs monitors that has provided many medical products to Fortune-100 companies on an OEM basis. In 1998, he also founded and served as President for Soft Servo Systems Incorporated, a firm specializing in digital servo and PC-based CNC controllers. Dr. Chang attended National Taiwan University where he graduated summa cum laude from the Mechanical Engineering Department. He received a M.S. degree from the Aerospace Engineering Department of the University of Cincinnati. In addition, he received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Aerospace Sciences Department of Princeton University, and prior to that, he was elected a Plasma Physics Fellow and a member of Sigma Xi Honor Society. His doctoral dissertation focused on Plasma Physics. Dr. Chang also has received an award from the Joslin Diabetes Foundation for accomplishments in glucose sensor/artificial beta cell research. He holds a U.S. Private Pilots license, and has served for seven years as an ad hoc NIH Technical Consultant for Research Grants/Contracts review. In 1997, he was invited to join the MIT faculty as a senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. One of his peer-reviewed papers has won the Best Paper Award of 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Bruce E. Strober, M.D., Ph.D.
NYU School of Medicine

Bruce E. Strober, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at New York University School of Medicine, and associate director of the Dermatopharmacology Unit. He received his medical and graduate degrees from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his postgraduate training in dermatology at New York University.

Dr. Strober is a diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology, a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and a member of the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation. Dr. Strober has authored numerous journal articles and has spoken extensively to both physician and patient audiences in the field of dermatology. He is involved with many clinical trials for the development of therapies to treat psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and other products and/or drugs for dermatologic disease, and is also Co-director of the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Center of New York University Medical Center.

Jay E. Birnbaum, Ph.D.

Jay E. Birnbaum, PhD, has over 25 years of industry experience spanning the areas of discovery research, formulations, clinical R&D, regulatory, and marketing. He has been involved in the commercialization of numerous drug and consumer skin care products. He received a B.S. degree from Trinity College and a Ph.D in Pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to starting his own consulting company, he was Vice President, Global Project Management, at Novartis/Sandoz, where he had global responsibilities for strategic planning and development of the company's dermatology portfolio. Dr. Birnbaum has published extensively on his work in drug development and is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, the Society of Investigative Dermatology, the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, and the International Society of Dermatology. He is a co-founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, a company developing products in aesthetic and restorative dermatology, a member of the board of directors of Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc. and is on the Science Advisory Boards of NanoBio Corporation and Nexmed Inc.