Our Team
The Celestial Team
Leadership
Ajay Gupta, Ph.D.
Co-founder, President, Chairman & CEO
Dr. Gupta is an accomplished executive and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech/CRO industry. Dr. Gupta received his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Waterloo. He has extensive experience in executive management, entrepreneurship, business development, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery & development, design and conduct of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, analytical, bioanalytical chemistry, toxicology, cGMP manufacturing, formulation development, regulatory affairs, as well as interactions with the FDA, EMA and Health Canada.
Leontis Teryazos, B.A.
Co-founder, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary & Board Member
Mr. Teryazos is President of Letmic Maritime Inc., an international shipping company. Before that Mr. Teryazos was President of Letmic Management Inc., and had a successful record of assisting biotech and technology companies with financings, public listings and business development. Mr. Teryazos has served on the boards of a number of public and private companies. Mr. Teryazos was born in Athens, Greece and is a graduate of Cornell University (1965) and The Taft School (1961).
Annelise Barron, Ph.D.
Co-founder, Chief Scientific Advisor & Board Member
Dr. Barron is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University School of Medicine, and has an impressive record of research accomplishments and discoveries that are listed on her Stanford profile. She has published >165 peer-reviewed research articles, and has an H-index of 44 (Web of Science, All Databases). Many of her projects were funded by the NIH, and she has received numerous research grants. Dr. Barron has also won numerous prestigious awards including the NIH Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 1999, which was presented to her at The White House in Washington, DC. Dr. Barron was the youngest scientist ever to be appointed to the NIH Director’s Advisory Council to the Director (ACD), under Dr. Elias Zerhouni. Dr. Barron received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Scientific Advisory Board
George Church, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. George M. Church, PhD ’84, is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data. Church is known for pioneering the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology. He developed the first methods for the first genome sequence & dramatic cost reductions since then (down from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next generation sequencing” methods and companies. His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications – including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme Disease and Malaria. Dr. Church is director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. He has co-authored more than 590 papers and 155 patent publications, and one book, “Regenesis”. His honors include Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science, the Time 100, and election to the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.
Sir Michael Houghton, Ph.D., D.Sc. Hon.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Houghton is the recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice for their discovery of Hepatitis C (HCV). He is an international leader in viral hepatitis and is currently a full professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at University of Alberta and the Director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute. He is performing research in virology and immunology in HCV vaccination, anti-viral and anti-cancer therapy. He is passionate about the application of biomedical research to prevent disease. He was a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology from 2010-2018. His research has led to improved blood safety and HCV treatment which has impacted millions of lives world-wide. He previously worked at G.D. Searle and Chiron Corporation. His work with colleagues at Chiron and the CDC was largely responsible for its growth into the 3rd largest U.S. based biotech in the 1990s. He has authored more than 300 research publications and has more than 70 patents to his name. He is the recipient of various honors and awards including Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award, Robert Koch Prize, William Beaumont Prize, Lasker Award, Dale A. Smith Memorial Award, Hepdart Lifetime Achievement Award.
Richard Payne, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Payne is Professor of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at The University of Sydney, and is a pioneer in the development of novel bioconjugation chemistry and in the generation of synthetic proteins through novel chemical ligation methodologies developed in his laboratory. Dr. Payne has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cambridge University, UK and did his post-doctoral research at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. He is the recipient of several prizes as a result of his work including the Biota Medal for medicinal chemistry, the Rennie Memorial Medal (Royal Australian Chemical Institute), the Le Fevre Memorial Prize (Australian Academy of Science), the Athel Beckwith Lectureship, the Tregear Award in Peptide Chemistry, the Edgeworth David Medal (Royal Society of NSW), the MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship, and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year (Malcolm McIntosh Prize). Dr. Payne has published more than 275 papers in high-impact journals, including Nature Protocols, and has an H-index of 40.
Henk Haagsman, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Haagsman is the Former Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases & Immunology and Chair of the Molecular Host Defense, Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and is a pioneer in research related to innate immunity. Dr. Haagsman has published more than 225 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals, has written 11 book chapters, has 5 patents filed under his name, and has an H-index of 53 (Web of Science, All Databases). He has received the Constantijn en Christiaan Huygens Award from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for excellent scientists as well as a Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) Award.
Dennis Voelker, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Voelker is the former Director of Research of the Pulmonary Division & Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO. Dr. Voelker is a renowned expert in pulmonary surfactant proteins and lipids. He received his Ph.D. from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and did his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School. He has been serving as Chair of the ASBMB meeting committee and is on the editorial board of Progress in Lipid Research and is the Executive Editor of the Biochemistry and Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Clinical Advisory Board
Benjamin Medoff, M.D.
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Medoff is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the former Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Medoff received his B.S. from Yale University and his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at MGH where he also served as Chief Resident, and then completed his training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Harvard Combined Fellowship Program. Dr. Medoff has long-standing interests in lung immunology, injury and repair. He has an active research program studying mechanisms of lung inflammation as occurs in allergic asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, lung transplant rejection and influenza infection. Over the past 20 years Dr. Medoff has served on numerous grant review sections and on the Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee for the FDA. Dr. Medoff has published 79 papers in peer reviewed journals including very high impact journals, namely, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine and has an H-index of 38 (Google Scholar).
Mari Nakamura, M.D., Ph.D.
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Nakamura is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO. Dr. Nakamura received her MD from Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan and her Ph.D. from Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Japan. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. She has solid expertise in innate immunity and infectious diseases especially of the lungs and is an expert in pulmonary surfactant lipids.
Stephen Ruoss, M.D.
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Ruoss is the Medical Director of Stanford University Medical Center Respiratory Care Services and is the Clinical Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division and is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford. Dr. Ruoss specializes in both critical care medicine and pulmonary medicine including infectious diseases of the lungs. He received his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine and did his fellowship at UCSF Medical Center.
Michael Munzar, M.D.
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Munzar has four decades of clinical experience as a licensed physician in Montreal, Canada. He has managed medical facilities and has designed and conducted pre-clinical studies and clinical trials across the health care spectrum. His experience includes serving as President of Serex Inc. and as Medical Director of Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation. Dr. Munzar’s work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Currently Dr. Munzar is an owner and medical director of Statcare, an urgent care clinic in Montreal, Canada. His clinic sees and treats over 50,000 patients per year. Dr. Munzar brings a wealth of medical knowledge and pharmaceutical industry and business experience to the board. He is a graduate of Bishop’s University (BSc Hon. Organic Chemistry) and received his MD from McGill University in 1979.