Meet the Team
Leadership Team
Steven Visuri, PhD, CEO of Stem Pharm, has 25 years experience in therapeutics, devices, and diagnostics and has successfully led 12+ products through the FDA. He has held senior leadership roles in R&D, Marketing, Regulatory, and Clinical Affairs at start-ups and established biotech companies.
Connie Lebakken, PhD, COO of Stem Pharm, has 20 years experience in life science companies with roles in manufacturing, operations, and R&D. She has extensive expertise in high-throughput biochemical and cell-based drug discovery assays with a focus on neuro and oncology.
Bill Murphy, PhD, CSO of Stem Pharm, is a professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedics & Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin. He has co-founded four companies, published over 170 scientific manuscripts and has over 50 patent applications.
Ryan Gordon, PhD, Sr. V.P. of Business Development and Commercialization, has 20 years of business, R&D, and operational experience in developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceutical technologies to revolutionize disease treatment and improve patient outcomes.
Advisors
Mary Haak-Fredscho, PhD, CEO of Spotlight Therapeutics and former venture partner of Versant Ventures, specializes in oncology, immunology antibody/bio-therapeutics, pharma partnering, team-building, and start-ups.
Anne Bang, PhD, Director at Sanford-Burnham Prebys, whose lab focuses on models for high throughput drug screening with an emphasis on neurological disease while specializing in the application of stem cells to disease modeling and translational development.
Sheila Singh, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Biochemistry and chief pediatric neurosurgeon at McMaster Children’s Hospital, whose lab studies brain tumorigenesis and brain tumor initiating stem cells (BTIC).
Edsel Abud, MD, PhD, KL2 Clinical Scholar at Scripps Translational Institute, is completing his research track speciality in Allergy and Immunology. His Ph.D. work helped develop one of the first methods to generate human microglia from stem cells showing their functional genomics and role in health and disease.
