Executives and Board of Directors

H. Kirk Hammond, MD, Co-Founder and Director

  • Dr. H. Kirk Hammond, M.D. serves as principle scientific advisor to the Company and is a cardiologist. Dr. Hammond has devoted his career to the study of heart diseases. Dr. Hammond co-founded Collateral Therapeutics, and subsequently co-founded Renova Therapeutics based on data from his laboratory indicating the promise of AC6 gene transfer for Heart Failure (HF). He is currently Professor of Medicine at University of California San Diego and a cardiologist at VA San Diego. He received training in cardiovascular research and clinical cardiology at University of California San Diego and joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1987. Dr. Hammond’s research focuses on mechanisms and treatments of human cardiovascular diseases using gene transfer. His laboratory employs molecular and cellular biology and integrative physiological techniques in translational studies designed to have an impact on the treatment of chronic heart disease. His pioneering work led to the first Phase 2 clinical trial of gene transfer for patients with heart disease. He is a past chairman of the Cardiovascular Section of the American Society of Gene and Gene Therapy. Dr. Hammond’s research laboratory at the University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego currently is funded for basic and translational research by the NIH and Veterans Administration. Hammond was a 2017 recipient of the Veterans Affairs William S. Middleton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biomedical Research. In 2020, Hammond received the VA Biomedical Research & Development Senior Clinician Scientist Investigator Award.

Michael Torres, Chairman

  • Michael A. Torres is the Chief Executive Officer of Adelante Capital Management, an employee and minority-owned SEC-registered Investment Advisor. Adelante manages publicly traded real
    estate securities strategies for public and private pension funds as well as high net worth
    individuals. In 2004, Mr. Torres led the management buyout of the company
    (www.adelante.com). He has over 30 years of real estate and securities research experience.
    Previously, Mr. Torres was a portfolio manager for Wilshire Asset Management. At Wilshire, he
    created the Wilshire Real Estate Securities Index, widely recognized performance benchmark.
    Mr. Torres serves on the Board of Directors of Colovore LLC and Renova Therapeutics, the
    Investment Committee for the Stern Grove Festival Foundation, and the BEE Partners LP
    Advisory Board. He has also served has a UC Berkeley Foundation Trustee. Mr. Torres is an
    active member of the NorCal YPOG Chapter. Mr. Torres received a B.A. in Architecture and an
    M.B.A. from University of California, Berkeley.

Roy Cosan, Vice Chairman

  • Mr. Cosan spent 32 years at J&J’s Pharma group, at Ortho Pharmaceuticals, Ortho Derm,
    Janssen Pharmaceuticals and The Johnson Development Corporation, the venture capital arm
    of J&J, where he invested in 19 companies and was a director on 11 boards. As Vice President
    of New Product Development at J&J, he launched a $billion+ product for schizophrenia, as well
    as a leading treatment for dementia. His responsibilities have ranged from sales and marketing
    to new product development to venture investing. He went on to form a medical device, diagnostic, pharma accelerator with Olav Bergheim Fjord Ventures. At CPRIT, Mr. Cosan helped form the Product Development and Research Committee and reviews companies for funding focused on oncology. He joined Renova as a board member, later served as President, and subsequently as acting CEO and President. He is now the Vice Chairmen of the Board.

Pierre Lecocq, Director

  • Pierre Lecocq served for 20 years as CEO of a global leading automotive components company
    with a manufacturing presence in 20 different countries. After the sale of the company, he
    created FINALEC SAS, a family holding company investing in scaling up start-ups in Europe and
    the US.
    He served as director in multiple private companies in Europe and the US and presently chairs
    the Boards of 5 companies including a large, diversified group in the South Pacific.
    He chaired the UNIAPAC global network of more than 30,000 CEOs promoting CSR deployment
    and is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of one of the largest French NGOs helping more than
    30,000 young people and families in distress in France.
    He holds master’s degrees in engineering and Macro-economics from Paris University and a
    MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. William Davidson, Director

  • William Davidson has served as a director of six public companies and more than ten private
    companies. He has served as chairman for one public and multiple private companies. He has
    been a partner in several venture capital funds and participated at varying degrees in more
    than 50 start-up and early-stage companies. He founded and ran MESA Research Group, a
    consulting firm which served many of the Fortune 100 firms, including IBM, GE, ATT,
    ExxonMobil and more.
    He was a tenured professor of management at the Marshall School of Business, University of
    Southern California from 1986-1998. He left USC to serve as a senior partner with Deloitte and
    Touche as Practice Leader for their Telecom and Media Group.
    He is the author of nine books, including The Amazing Race, 2020 Vision and Breakthrough. He
    has another book in the works entitled Great China.
    He was a member of White House China Task Force in the 1980’s that worked with senior
    Chinese leaders in the transformation and modernization of the Chinese economy and remains
    active in China. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College, an MBA and a doctorate in international management from Harvard Business School

Dr. Vijay Mahant, CEO and Director

  • Vijay Mahant (MS, Ph.D., Loughborough University, UK) is a visionary and a pioneer scientist in the healthcare industry with entrepreneurship qualities that spans more than three decades in genetic diseases, infectious diseases, and precision medicine (oncology, cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatry & pain management).  Vijay Mahant’s focus over the last decade has been on therapeutics (small drugs including biopharmaceuticals and cellular), drug delivery, and therapeutic devices. His pioneering work in diagnostics, as exemplified by ultra-sensitive tests in thyroid endocrinology and prostate cancer, has been a “game changer” in endocrinology and oncology. The products developed under his leadership have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. He is a passionate and a decisive leader who has mentored several young entrepreneurs in the biotech industry. Vijay Mahant brings in vast experience and wealth of knowledge including skills ranging from research and development including numerous FDA cleared & CE Marked products, fund raising, IPOs, acquisitions, licensing with conglomerates and major institutes, manufacturing, clinical trials and intellectual property management. He has held senior positions at Nicholas Institute/ Quest, and executive positions at Qualigen, and AGI. He is a founder and/or co-founder of diagnostic companies including MediLite Diagnostika and a former executive at an oncology company. He serves on the SAB/MAB of young oncology companies such as Trutino Biosciences and an oncology hospital. Vijay Mahant is on the Board of Directors of Renova Therapeutics and serves as the CEO. Vijay Mahant has authored and/or co-authored publications in peer-reviewed science and/or medical journals and contributed chapters in books. He has 32 issued international patents in health care. He launched a section entitled “The Eco-system of Translational Medicine” as the Section Editor of the Journal of Translational Medicine. 

Morgan Xu, Director

  • Mr. Morgan Xu is the former Chairman and CEO of Vistage China. Vistage is the world’s leading
    CEO leadership development organization, which entered into the Chinese market in 2007. Mr.
    Xu took over Vistage China in 2013, saving it from bankruptcy, and developed it to be the most
    prestigious CEO development organization for Chinese entrepreneurs. Mr. Xu is the Chairman
    of Huicheng Trade & Investment Co., Ltd, an entrepot trade agent company based in Hong Kong
    with close partnerships with many Fortune 500 enterprises and large Chinese state-owned
    corporations. Mr. Xi is also the Chairman of Shanghai Xingpu International Trade Co., Ltd and
    Shanghai Xingpu Logistics Co., Ltd. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Fudan.

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