Launchpad Review Board Members

Gene Barrett, MD, PhD, UVA’s Department of Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism

Dr. Barrett’s laboratory focuses on studies of insulin action and how insulin's action is altered by insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. He is also studying how these processes are affected by the action of other growth factors (growth hormone and IGF-I). A major hypothesis which we are exploring is that a significant fraction of the insulin resistance which is encountered in skeletal muscle in states like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension is attributable to impaired action of insulin on the microvasculature in addition to any effect on the muscle cell per se. He is published in the diabetes areas of insulin, hormonal effects.

Barrett received his MD and PhD at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY in Biophysics and Medicine and did his Internal Medicine Residency at the Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY and an Endocrinology Fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine.

William McPheat, PhD, MBA Adjunct Faculty Eastern Virginia Medical School in the Biomedical Sciences Program, former Project Leader AstraZeneca

Willie brings over 25 year of drug discovery, development as principal scientist and project leader from his career at AstraZeneca. He has co-authored dozens of publications in areas such as inflammation, cardiovascular and infectious diseases. His expertise areas include: infection, inflammation, pulmonary hypertension and cardiovascular (atherosclerosis, diabetes) biology.  Dr. McPheat has established and led collaborations with external academic groups and companies located in USA, France, Canada, Germany and China.

Current he serves as the head of business development for Loxara Biopharmaceuticals and as adjunct faculty at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he lectures on the economics and process of drug discovery to PhD and Masters students. Dr. McPheat also sits on the Virginia Commonwealth University-Commercialization Investment Panel.

McPheat received his PhD from the University of Glasgow in microbiology and received his MBA from the College of William and Mary.

Patrick Klepczyk, PhD, Director of Licensing, UVA Licensing and Ventures Group

Patrick Klepcyk joined the UVA Licensing & Ventures Group as the Associate Director of Licensing in November 2012 bringing his expertise in negotiation to the team. Patrick was promoted to Director of Licensing in July 2016 and set the standard for how LVG approaches licensing deals. Now leading the team, Patrick is responsible for the commercialization of UVA discoveries through business development, partnering, licensing and new venture formation.

Patrick is the liaison to the UVA School of Architecture, Nursing, Dentistry, Medicine, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Pathology, Surgery, Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology, the Center for Public Health Genomics, and the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center.

Prior to joining LVG, Patrick worked with the Industry Liaison Office of the National University of Singapore. He has held senior positions in business development at GlaxoSmithKline R&D China, Cleveland Clinic Innovations and Case Western Reserve University’s Technology Transfer Office.

Robert Meyer, Principal, Drug and Biological Products at Greenleaf Health Inc.

Dr. Robert Meyer, M.D., is currently a Principal in Drug and Biological Products at Greenleaf Health Inc. Formerly he served as the Director of the Virginia Center for Translational and Regulatory Sciences (VCTRS) and associate professor of Public Health Sciences.  Through VCTRS, he is developed a regulatory science educational track, as well as provide regulatory and translational knowledge resources to University and external entities who seek to translate basic science discoveries to the bedside.  Prior to UVA, Dr. Meyer was Vice President, Global Regulatory Strategy, Policy and Safety at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), where he was responsible for all regulatory strategy and operations, global regulatory policy and intelligence, as well as global product safety and pharmacovigilance.  Externally, Dr. Meyer chaired the Regulatory Affairs Coordinating Committee for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) from 2012-13, and served as a key PhRMA negotiator on PDUFA V.  Previously, Dr. Meyer worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA – 1994-2007).  In his last 5 years at the FDA,  Dr. Meyer was as the Director for the Office of Drug Evaluation II (ODEII) within Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), with responsibilities for pulmonary and allergy, metabolic and endocrine, and analgesics, anesthetics and rheumatologic drug products.  Dr. Meyer was involved in several CDER initiatives, amongst them chairing the development of the Pre-Market Risk Assessment guidance.  While at FDA and again at UVA, Dr. Meyer is as a technical expert to the Medical Aerosols Technical Options Committee to the Montreal Protocol on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, work for which he was recognized by both United Nations Environmental Programme and the US EPA.   Prior to joining FDA, Dr. Meyer was an academic pulmonologist and critical care specialist at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, where he helped create the medical service for the Lung/Heart-Lung Transplantation team. He received his medical degree from the University of Connecticut in internal medicine and completed a fellowship at the Univ. of Vermont in Pulmonology.

Anca Dobrian, PhD, FAHA, Associate Professor, Physiological Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School

Dr. Dobrian’s lab studies mechanisms leading to cardiovascular complications of obesity. In particular the research is focused on how inflammation and lipotoxicity in adipose tissue leads to insulin resistance and type2 diabetes. She is also interested in renal mechanisms that contribute to hypertension in obesity.

She teaches a variety of medical and graduate students in areas of: Integrated metabolism and Nutrition - Lipid Biochemistry, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Function and Dysfunction, Concepts in Research Design and Essentials in Physiology.  She received her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology, from the Institute of Biology and Pathology “Nicolae Simionescu”, Bucharest, Romania, 1997 and her M.S., Biochemistry, from the Polytechnic Institute, Faculty of Chemistry, Bucharest, Romania, 1988.

Matthew Miessau, Epidarex Capital, Analyst

Founded in 2012, Epidarex Capital is a venture capital firm based in Bethesda, Maryland. The firm prefers to invest in the life science and healthcare technology sectors. They have just raised >$100M for their new fund that will launch in early 2020.

Matthew Miessau joined Epidarex in 2014 and focuses on conducting due diligence on prospective fund investments as well as sourcing and analyzing opportunities for Epidarex’s strategic investors. Mr. Miessau is also currently an instructor at the NIH Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES), teaching Biomedical Business Development for Scientists. Prior to joining Epidarex, he was the Program Manager for the Georgetown University Center for Drug Discovery where he was responsible for managing the daily financial and research operations for the Center as well as developing the Center’s annual budget and grant proposals. Mr. Miessau holds an M.S. in biotechnology and a B.S. in biochemistry from Georgetown University.