Robert Vries
Tommy Andersson
Heinz-Ruffner
Gabor Forgacs
David H. Donabedian
David H. Donabedian, Ph.D., will serve as Chief Executive Officer of Axial and will also serve on its Board. Dr. Donabedian is an accomplished business development and strategy executive with extensive leadership experience. Dr. Donabedian has a track record of building companies, most recently as a Venture Partner at Longwood Fund.
Prior to joining Longwood, Dr. Donabedian has held various leadership roles at biopharmaceutical companies including AbbVie and GSK. At AbbVie, Dr. Donabedian served as Vice President & Global Head of Ventures and Early Stage Collaborations where he led a global team that completed significant transactions across multiple therapeutic areas and stages of development. Prior to AbbVie, Dr. Donabedian served as Vice President Global New Deal Strategy and Development at GlaxoSmithKline, and Senior Manager at Accenture’s Strategic Services Consulting Group.
He holds a BA in Chemistry from St. Anselm College, a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He currently serves on the Board of Alcyone Life Sciences, a privately held CNS company which he co-founded.
Dana Graves
In addition to his appointment as a Professor, Department of Periodontics, Dr. Graves is also Vice Dean for Scholarship and Research and Director, Doctor of Science in Dentistry Program at Penn Dental Medicine. He also served as Interim Chair of the Department of Periodontics from 2015 to 2017. His key research interests are in the areas of inflammation and diabetes as they relate to periodontal disease and the loss and repair of connective tissue and bone.
Rebecca Santelli
Maria Marco
Professor Marco’s team is investigating the ecology and molecular genetics of beneficial bacteria associated with plant surfaces and mammalian digestive tracts. Organisms of particular interest in the Marco lab are Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) found in plant and gut environments. LAB are important for the production of (fermented) food products and specific strains are currently being applied as probiotics to deliver health benefits in the human gut. This lab aims to understand the molecular adaptations and activities of LAB in the context of the indigenous plant and gut microbiota to improve food production and maintain human health.
