Q2 Pharma | Antivirulents Against Bacterial Infections | Team

Q2Pharma - Management Team

Jacob BenArie, MBA, B.Sc, Co-founder and CEO

15+ years of experience as a CEO and entrepreneur in life science start–up companies. Prior to establishing Q2Pharma, Jacob served as the CEO of Orgenesis (OTCBB:ORGS) a cell therapy company aimed to cure diabetes by transdifferentiating liver cells into autologous insulin producing cells. Jacob established Orgenesis activities in Israel, USA and Belgium. Previously served as a co-founder and CEO of Beta-Stim Ltd. a privately held Israeli company backed by Boston Scientific, aimed to develop a treatment for obese type 2 diabetics. Jacob also co-founded Slender Medical Ltd, an ultrasound based product for removal of cellulitis and body contouring. Jacob is also a co-founder of Jaz Medical Ltd, a private held boutique investment house dedicated to pre seed medical devices and also co-founded the MDDMI conference in Israel.

Menachem Shoham, PhD, Co-founder and CSO

Dr. Menachem Shoham received his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1979 and completed his postdoctoral research from 1978-1981 at Yale University. He was employed as a Junior & Senior Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science from 1981-1988 and as a Research Scientist at DuPont between 1988-89. Shoham served on the NIAID Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Special Emphasis Panel ZAI1, RWM-M (C1), 2013. He curently works as an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Yaron Shoham, MD, Co-founder and CMO

Senior Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at Soroka University Medical Center, Israel, and Lecturer in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University. His main fields of expertise are wounds, burns and reconstruction. Dr. Yaron Shoham serves as a member of the International Society of Burn Injury Disaster Management committee, and as an editorial board member and reviewer for several journals.

Yair Alerganti, B.Sc, Co-founder and Chief RA

17 years of experience in clinical studies in field of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Prior to Q2Pharma, Yair established TRS Ltd (a CRO), served as VP Clinical development at HealOr Ltd and managed the Israeli Clinical Studies at Novartis in oncology, hematology and endocrinology areas. Prior to Novartis he headed the clinical operation at NanoPass and lead the product through 510K approval and CE Mark. Yair holds a bachelor degree in Biology and studies of Pharmacoepidemiology, both from Ben-Gurion University at the Negev.

David Blum, B. Pharm, MBA, CTO

David holds a degree in Pharmacy and has about 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical production, drug discovery and medical device development. He has worked with about a dozen companies holding positions of influence spanning operations, development, manufacturing, quality assurance and regulation. David is certified by the Israeli Ministry of Health as Appointed Pharmacist, QP & QPPV. David is in charge of overseeing and developing our technology from the perspective of chemistry, drug delivery, manufacturing and controls.

Q2Pharma - Scientific Advisory Board

Ada Yonath, PhD, Director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly, Weizmann Institute of Science

Dr. Ada Yonath has over 50 years of laboratory research experience and her groundbreaking work has greatly expanded our knowledge about bacterial ribosomes culminating in a 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Yonath obtained her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science for X-ray crystallographic studies on the structure of collagen. After completing her doctorate, she accepted positions at Carnegie Mellon University and MIT. She is currently a professor of structural biology and the director of The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Dr. Yonath has received numerous awards throughout her tenure including: the Harvey Prize, Albert Einstein World Award of Science, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Jonathan Zenilman, MD, Chief of the Infectious Disease Division, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Dr. Jonathan Zenilman is an expert researcher in the field of sexually transmitted diseases. He graduated with a medical degree in 1981 from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York. His current work focuses on determining biological markers for sexual behavior and developing molecular diagnostic techniques for detection of resistant determinants for N. gonorrhoeae in non-culture-based systems. Dr. Zenilman is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, as well as the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has over 300 published works in prestigious journals such as The Journal of Infectious Diseases and The Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Zenilman has been awarded The U.S. Public Health Service Commendation Medal, a U.S. Public Health Service Unit Citation, and The American Foundation for AIDS Research Scholar Award (1992-1995). He is currently a professor of medicine and chief of the infectious disease division at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Yehuda Carmeli, MD, Head of the National Center for Antibiotic Resistance, Tel Aviv University

Dr. Yehuda Carmeli received his medical degree from Ben Gurion University in Israel and graduated with a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. He served his residency at the Hadassah Medical Center of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and then was a medical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Currently, he is on the research staff at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, as well as heading the Israeli National Center for Antibiotic Resistance and Infection Control and the Division of Epidemiology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel. Dr. Carmeli is the recipient of the Finland research award of the Massachusetts Infectious Disease Society, and The ICAAC program award for Pathogenesis of Microbial Diseases. Additionally, He was nominated as the chair of the Advisory Committee to the Israeli Ministry of Health on Nosocomial Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance.

Haim Schlesinger, PhD, CEO at Analyst Research Laboratories Ltd.

Dr. Haim Schlesinger earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. He worked as a lecturer at Hebrew University for 18 years and is involved in multiple entrepreneurial endeavors. In 1980, Dr. Schlesinger founder Analyst Ltd. in Rehovot, Israel; he served as CEO, laboratory manager, and chief analytical chemist. He has membership in several professional organizations including: The Association of Official Analytical Chemists, The Collaborative International Pesticides Analytical Council Ltd., The Israel Society of analytical chemistry, The Parenteral Drug Association, and The Israel Life Science Industry. Additionally, Dr. Schlesinger is the Founder of NeuroDerm Ltd. and is currently consulting with BioGratis.

Anat Herskovits, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University

Dr. Anat Herskovits is a leader in bacteriology and immunology. Dr. Herskovits got her PhD at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and is an associate professor at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her research focuses on the interactions between the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes and macrophage cells. She studies the mechanism by which L. monocytogenes infects immune cells and evades the hosts defenses. In Dr. Herskovits laboratory she combines computational, biochemical and genetic approaches to understand these mechanisms. In her distinguished career she has been awarded The Wolfson Prize for academic excellence at Tel-Aviv University, the Dean’s award for excellent Ph.D., Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and The Israel Society of Microbiology- Moshe Shilo prize for excellent studies.

Ilan Youngste, MD, Senior Physician in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Center for Microbiome Research at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center

Dr. Ilan Youngster completed his medical degree at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and received a Master of Medical Science from Harvard Medical School. He finished his residency at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Israel and went on to do a post-doctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Presently, Dr. Youngster works as a senior physician specializing in pediatric infectious diseases at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center Be’er Ya’akov, Israel.