History

Dr. Ogretmen is a professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at MUSC. He is also the SmartState Endowed Chair of Lipidomics and Drug Discovery. Dr. Ogretmen serves as an Associate Dean of Research at the College of Medicine, and Associate Director of Basic Science at the Hollings Cancer Center, MUSC. He is also the co-Founder and the CEO of a small biotech company Lipo-Immuno Tech, LLC. Dr. Ogretmen is an internationally renowned investigator who has an outstanding scientific track record in the field of lipid signaling and metabolism with over 25 years of experience in cancer research. Dr. Ogretmen leads NIH- supported Program Project Grant (PPG) and individual research project grants with high-impact publications. In this associate director of basic science role, Dr. Ogretmen integrates fundamental discoveries across multiple discipline areas, helping to accelerate translational advances into the clinic. His overall goal is to improve survival outcomes of cancer patients by developing collaborative/team science-based research projects between basic and clinical researchers.

Dr. Lilli Wright has over 15 years of experience in identifying molecular pathways and targets in a variety of therapeutic indications. She earned an undergraduate degree in Biology from Clark Atlanta University and a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of South Alabama-Mitchell Cancer Institute. Her thesis research has been cited over one hundred times and has laid a foundation for novel insights for blood vessel formation in cancers. She was an NIH-T32 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina where she identified a novel signaling pathway in ischemic cardiac injuries. She has co-authored several high-impact research and review articles in her career and has been invited to speak at local, national, and international research proceedings.

She has written multiple grants that were awarded and supported robust research and discovery programs. Her roles at KOR Life Sciences include being a scientific thought leader in the ideation, development, and execution of innovative pre-clinical IND-enabling studies. Dr. Wright supports the team in establishing and maintaining a variety of cross-functional internal and external collaborations to advance product development. She also serves as a Board Member of Claflin University’s Master’s in Biotechnology program and volunteers in her community through active membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the National Society of Black Engineers.

Saeed Khan, Ph.D., is an internationally acclaimed scientist, professor, and leader in the field of life-science technologies. Presently, he holds the esteemed position of President of Research and Development at Vikor Scientific/KOR Life Sciences. He also continues to share his extensive knowledge as an Adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins Oncology and Affiliate Professor of Biomedical Science and Drug Discovery at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Additionally, he serves on the Academia to Industry (A2I) committee of the College of Medicine at MUSC, bridging the gap between academic research and industry applications.

In his current role at Vikor Scientific/KOR Life Sciences, Dr. Khan has distinguished himself through his effective leadership and wealth of experience in commercializing early-stage life-science technologies. His robust connections with institutional venture investors, thought leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, and leading clinicians worldwide enable him to stay at the forefront of his field. Dr. Khan’s career has been punctuated by notable successes in cancer drug discovery and research development. His remarkable team organization skills have enabled him to assemble groups capable of addressing all aspects of a project, with professionals from academia, industry, and healthcare alike. His managerial expertise, together with his firsthand experience in drug discovery and development, covers both small molecules and biologics.

Throughout his 30-year career, Dr. Khan has proven his proficiency as a senior scientist and professor. He has devoted over 25 years to cancer research, with experience in both academia and FDA organizations that directly supports the innovative initiatives at KOR Life Sciences. Dr. Khan has initiated a groundbreaking drug discovery and development research program that focuses on cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

His contributions to the field are manifold, including key academic collaborations on the QD product assets which target solid tumors. Dr. Khan, alongside Dr. Neamati of the University of Michigan, championed pancreatic cancer drug development from its inception through the initial stages of discovery and preclinical studies. His research ranges across various cancer types, antiviral compounds, and anti-HIV agents, utilizing in vitro and xerograph models. His consistent, dedicated efforts have resulted in ten international patent applications over the past two decades in the field of cancer therapy.

Before joining Vikor Scientific/KOR Life Sciences, Dr. Khan served as the Senior Research Scientist and Chief of the Shelf-life Extension Program of Medical Countermeasure Drugs at the Food and Drug Administration. In this role, he was a crucial subject matter expert in the approval of pharmaceutical products. Prior to his tenure at the FDA, he served as a faculty member at Johns Hopkins Oncology and as the Director of the Drug Discovery Center at the same institution, assisting the oncology faculty in revitalizing the drug development program and leading the product development team.

Dr. Khan, contributes a wealth of knowledge and practical experience in the field of drug discovery and development to KOR Life Sciences. His history of proficient leadership, combined with his extensive abilities in research and development, bolsters his standing as an essential player in the company’s continuous expansion and advancement. His profound expertise unquestionably establishes him as an indispensable asset to the company.

Scotty Branch has been an executive, entrepreneur, and founder for multiple organizations from the corporate pharmaceutical world to the diagnostics and lab industry. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he held multiple positions with large pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Roche. These positions ranged from sales representation to corporate management. As a Co-Founder of Vikor Scientific, he manages the business relations of Vikor, which includes the management of the Sales Division and Area Vice Presidents, C-Suite relationships with healthcare institutions and commercial partners, payor relations, and other facets of business growth. Mr. Branch’s business acumen and experiences have been instrumental in helping KOR Life Sciences with generating viable products for clinical and commercial development.

Shea Harrelson is an experienced clinician and entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working in the medical and biotech industry. After graduating from the Medical University of South Carolina with her Physician Assistant degree, she practiced in the field of Cardiology for nine years. She then joined St. Jude Medical where she specialized in the Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. Shea began her entrepreneurial career in 2013 with building a national sales commercialization and worked with several start-up companies to bring new diagnostic products to market. While always passionate about the medical field, Shea is specifically driven to develop modalities to help combat the global epidemic of antibiotic resistance, which led her to Vikor Scientific. Shea manages the internal operations, employees, and resources of Vikor. She is responsible for the initial and ongoing development of the diagnostic panels, testing algorithms and the overall planning, implementation, and integration of the company’s strategies. She leverages this expertise in helping KOR Life Sciences with thorough product development and business strategies.

Dr. Palrasu is a cancer biologist with more than 10 years of experience in in vitro and in vivo oncology. During his PhD, Dr. Palrasu has investigated the molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of chemically induced gastric and oral cancers. His research work has revealed the potential chemopreventive effect of medicinal plants (Ocimum sanctum and Azadirachta indica) and their phytochemicals (Eugenol, Azadirachtin, Nimbolide and quercetin) on experimental oral and gastric animal tumor models. He has also screened the anticancer effects of small molecules against various cancers. One of his most recent study, which has been published in Journal of Clinical Investigation (2020), provides new important insights into the role of Helicobacter pylori in gastric tumorigenesis. This study also helped Dr. Palrasu receive certificates of recognition for his scientific accomplishment as an early career investigator by the American Gastroenterology Association at DDW 2019. He has extensive expertise in developing and optimizing multiple cancer mouse models for in vivo drug efficacy. Dr. Palrasu has been a Scientist (Molecular Biologist) with KOR Life Sciences since January 1, 2022, where his work focuses on in vitro and in vivo studies for cancer drug discovery.

Dr. Imran Ansari is a trained Medicinal and Synthetic Organic Chemist. Dr. Ansari joined KOR Lifesciences as a Scientist in March 2021. Over the last decade, Dr. Ansari is involved in several drug discovery projects that leveraged structure-based and computer-aided drug design approach. During doctoral studies at Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), he developed lead anti-cancer molecules that exhibited better drug profiles than the FDA-approved drug tamoxifen. During postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, he synthesized and developed opioid analgesics that do not have the side effects associated with the currently approved opioids. Dr. Ansari’s work on opioid analgesics was highlighted in several leading media outlets in the United States including Baltimore Sun. In addition, he synthesized several libraries of small molecules for the treatment of malignant melanoma. Currently, Dr. Ansari also serves as an Associate Editor of the Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences (Springer Nature). Dr. Ansari has published 18 peer-reviewed research articles in international journals and reviewed more than 70 invited articles from prestigious journals. Dr. Ansari is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS).

Dr. Elsa Lu received her PhD in Polymers and Materials Chemistry from the University of Toronto. During her doctoral studies, she gained extensive experience with the synthesis, surface modification and characterization of nanomaterials while developing lanthanide nanoparticle-based reagents for mass cytometry. Since August 2021, she has been a Scientist at KOR Life Sciences focusing on nanoparticle-based approaches to drug delivery and therapeutics.

Maryisis Phillips is our Senior Administrative Assistant who assists with various aspects of the team’s needs, including grant proposals, procuring lab equipment, preparing agreements, expenses, correspondence, calendaring, and other administrative tasks. She has a BA in Political Science and MA in Public and International Affairs, both from the University of Pittsburgh. She is also an American Bar Association approved paralegal.

Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science (India) in Developmental Biology & Genetics. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Azhar is also involved in graduate and medical teaching, as well as service via membership of the Journal Editorial Board of Nature Laboratory Investigation, Institutional Review Board (IRB), and the Dorn VA Medical Center. He has several invention disclosures and US patents related to his drug discovery research.

Ph.D. degree from the University of Hawaii. He serves as the Charles and Carol Cooper/Smart State Endowed Chair of Drug Discovery, Biomedical Sciences and Public Health at the MUSC Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine and holds Adjunct appointments with The University of Maryland’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology. He has published over 250 scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and guided over 100 graduate students/postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars.

Ph.D. from Oxford University. Distinguished and Regent’s Professor of Toxicology in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology at Texas A&M University. He has trained 98 PhD students, published over 800 papers. He has served in multiple NIH study sections, reviewed for multiple journals, and is a review editor for multiple journals.

Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo (Canada). He is the founder of Paraza Pharma Inc. Formerly held senior level positions in companies such as Shire-BioChem Pharma (Montreal, Canada), Neogenesis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), Schering-Plough Corporation (Cambridge, MA) and Merck & Co. (Cambridge, MA). Dr. Siddiqui is an inventor on 81 patents and co-authored 76 research papers.

Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He has authored more than 135 manuscripts, holds 11 patents, reviews for more than 50 scientific journals, and has given numerous invited presentations. He currently serves as Professor, Chair and SmartState® Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Ulrich Krull is a professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Toronto, Mississauga (UTM). He holds the endowed AstraZeneca Chair in Biotechnology. Recently, he served as the Vice-President of the University of Toronto, and the Principal of the Mississauga campus. His research work explores biosensors, bioassays, immobilized biomolecules and nanomaterials. Some of these technologies have been commercialized, and work by his research team has been fundamental to the launch of four start-up companies. At present, his research team is investigating the use of nanoscale materials and microfluidic chip technologies to build devices for detection of DNA and RNA biomarkers. His research group has produced over 250 refereed publications, 60 books / book chapters / conference chapters, and 8 patents. A Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada, he has received both the McBryde Medal and the Maxxam Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (the top awards for analytical chemistry research in Canada). He has been a recipient of the University of Toronto Faculty Excellence Award and a UTM Teaching Excellence Award. For many years, Krull was previously the senior editor of Analytica Chimica Acta, a leading Elsevier journal for analytical chemistry. He has served on numerous industry advisory boards, and with organizations that support start-up companies. Krull has worked with various departments of the City of Mississauga and the Region of Peel supporting activities in economic development, community health, and smart city implementation.

Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Professor of Cancer Medicine, Emeritus, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Adjunct teaching appointments at three sister Houston academic institutions. Holder of 13 US and international patents, including one for the development of Hepsera, a drug currently used worldwide for the treatment of patients with hepatitis B. Consultant to several national and international pharmaceutical companies. Standing appointments to two NIH study sections. Reviewer for several state government research programs as well as national and international research and medical journals. Served as Chair of the MD Anderson Senate, an organization that represents the professional interests of nearly 2000 faculty members.