James Sapirstein has served for over thirty-eight years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently the Chairman, CEO and President of First Wave BioPharma (NASDAQ: FWBI).

He began his career in 1984 with Eli Lilly, moving to Hoffmann-LaRoche in 1987, where he served for almost a decade on various commercial teams in the US and Internationally. He joined Bristol Myers Squibb as the Director of International Marketing in the Infectious Diseases group in 1996. While at BMS, he worked on several important HIV/AIDS projects including Secure the Future.

Mr. Sapirstein started his career in smaller biotech companies when he later joined Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) in order to lead the Global Marketing team in its launch of Viread (tenofovir). In 2002, he accepted the position of Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories. Later, in 2006, he became the founding CEO of Tobira Therapeutics, then a private company. Tobira Therapeutics was acquired by Allergan in 2016. In 2012, Mr. Sapirstein became the CEO of Alliqua, Inc. Thereafter, he served as CEO of Contravir Pharmaceuticals from March 2014 until October 2018. All of these are publicly listed companies. Mr. Sapirstein has raised over $300 Million dollars in venture capital and public capital markets financing in his various engagements as CEO. He was named as a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015 as well as in 2016.

Mr. Sapirstein holds board positions on Enochian Biosciences (ENOB:NASDAQ) and Blue Water Vaccines (BWV:NASDAQ). He was Chairman of the Board for BioNJ, an association of biopharma industries in New Jersey from Feb 2017-Feb 2019. In addition, he is a Board Director for BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization), the leading biotechnology trade organization promoting public policy and networking in the healthcare space, where he sits on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board.

Mr. Sapirstein received a BS (Pharmacy) from Rutgers University in 1984 and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1997.

Previous to joining First Wave BioPharma, Dr. Pennington spent eleven years at Anthera Pharmaceuticals as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Clinical Fellow. Prior that, he has held senior medical positions in a number of biopharmaceutical companies, including InterMune, Cotherix, and Bayer Pharmaceutical. Dr. Pennington has led registration efforts for twelve successful BLA/NDA submissions in the U.S. and another ten in Europe and Asia. Prior to joining the biotech industry, Dr. Pennington spent ten years on the Medical Faculty of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Pennington received his medical degree from the University of Oregon Health Sciences University, and is boarded in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Sarah Romano, CPA, was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of First Wave BioPharma in March 2022. She previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KPRX) (formerly EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing products for treating ophthalmic diseases, from February 2017 through February 2022 and as its Corporate Controller from August 2016 to January 2017. Prior to joining Kiora, Ms. Romano served as Assistant Controller at TechTarget from June 2015 through August 2016 and Corporate Controller at Bowdoin Group, a healthcare-focused executive recruiting firm, from September 2013 through May 2015. Previously, she held financial reporting positions of increasing responsibility at SoundBite Communications from 2008 until its acquisition by Genesys in 2013, and at Cognex Corporation from 2004 through 2008. Ms. Romano began her career as an Auditor in the Boston office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. A licensed CPA in Massachusetts, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from College of the Holy Cross and a Master of Accounting from Boston College.

Mr. Krusin is an experienced executive with 20 years of business development, strategic marketing, financing and operating experience in the healthcare, financial services, and consulting sectors. Prior to joining First Wave BioPharma as VP for Business Development in 2014, Mr. Krusin was VP for BD at FluoroPharma Medical, Inc.; Director of Business Development at Clewed (a business services and investment partnership); an Experienced Commercial Leader at GE Capital in its Global Sponsor Finance, Healthcare Financial Services, and Capital Solutions units; Vice President of Marketing & Sales and Director of Business Development at Electro-Optical Sciences (MelaSciences); and an analyst in the Emerging Markets Strategic Planning Group at Citigroup. He has also served as a mentor, business coach and head of coaching to over 20 life-science starts-ups, spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare IT, and bio-materials, in the ELab NYC EDC entrepreneurship program from 2016 to the present. Mr. Krusin received an MBA from Columbia Business School in finance and marketing, an MPhil. in political economy from Oxford University, and a BA in international relations from Swarthmore College.

Mr. Stover joined First Wave BioPharma in 2020 as the Product Development Director to oversee CMC and Project Management. Prior to joining First Wave BioPharma, Mr. Stover spent 20 years focused on manufacturing operations and analytical method development to support all stages of pharmaceutical drug development. Most recently Mr. Stover served as the Senior Director of Program Management for Biorasi after holding positions of Vice President Manufacturing at SCI and Operations Manager for Prioria Robotics. Mr. Stover earned his MBA from the University of Florida.

Ms. Chandler has more than 25 years of experience in the medical device, pharmaceutical and combination product industries, supporting CNS, cardiovascular, endovascular, consumer and wound care product development and manufacturing. She began her career at Johnson & Johnson where she held multiple positions of increasing levels of responsibilities within the Quality Assurance organization (QAU, QA, QC, QE, SQA). She has expertise in the development of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs organizations and systems throughout all stages of a product life cycle. In addition, she has created both US and international strategies and submissions to secure key regulatory approvals and ensure quality and compliance. Ms. Chandler holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry, a M.S. degree in Textile Technology, and is RAC (Global) certified.

James Sapirstein has served for over thirty-eight years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently the Chairman, CEO and President of First Wave BioPharma (NASDAQ: FWBI).

He began his career in 1984 with Eli Lilly, moving to Hoffmann-LaRoche in 1987, where he served for almost a decade on various commercial teams in the US and Internationally. He joined Bristol Myers Squibb as the Director of International Marketing in the Infectious Diseases group in 1996. While at BMS, he worked on several important HIV/AIDS projects including Secure the Future.

Mr. Sapirstein started his career in smaller biotech companies when he later joined Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) in order to lead the Global Marketing team in its launch of Viread (tenofovir). In 2002, he accepted the position of Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories. Later, in 2006, he became the founding CEO of Tobira Therapeutics, then a private company. Tobira Therapeutics was acquired by Allergan in 2016. In 2012, Mr. Sapirstein became the CEO of Alliqua, Inc. Thereafter, he served as CEO of Contravir Pharmaceuticals from March 2014 until October 2018. All of these are publicly listed companies. Mr. Sapirstein has raised over $300 Million dollars in venture capital and public capital markets financing in his various engagements as CEO. He was named as a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015 as well as in 2016.

Mr. Sapirstein holds board positions on Enochian Biosciences (ENOB:NASDAQ) and Blue Water Vaccines (BWV:NASDAQ). He was Chairman of the Board for BioNJ, an association of biopharma industries in New Jersey from Feb 2017-Feb 2019. In addition, he is a Board Director for BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization), the leading biotechnology trade organization promoting public policy and networking in the healthcare space, where he sits on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board.

Mr. Sapirstein received a BS (Pharmacy) from Rutgers University in 1984 and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1997.

Mr. Borkowski joined our board of directors in May 2015. He previously served as the Executive Vice President at TherapeuticsMD and Chief Financial Officer of ConvaTec Healthcare, CareFusion Corporation and Mylan, Inc. and in a variety of finance positions at Pharmacia, American Home Products, Cyanamid and at Arthur Andersen. Mr. Borkowski holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Political Science from Allegheny College and a Master in Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Rutgers University.

Mr. Casamento joined our board in March 2017. Since 2007 Mr. Casamento has been executive director and principal of The Sage Group, a health care advisory group. He was president and CEO of Osteologix, a start up company which he eventually took public, from October 2004 until April 2007. Mr. Casamento was the founder of Questcor Pharmaceuticals where he was president, CEO and chairman from 1999 through 2004. At Questcor he acquired Acthar, a product whose sales eventually exceeded $1.0 Billion. Eventually Questcor was acquired by Mallinckrodt. At RiboGene Inc. he was president, CEO and chairman from 1993 until 1999 when he merged the company with another company to form Questcor where he continued as CEO and Chairman. He was also co-founder, president and CEO of Indevus (formerly Interneuron Pharmaceuticals). Eventually Indevus was acquired by Endo.He has held senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President, American Hospital Supply, where he was Vice President of Business Development for the Critical Care division, Johnson & Johnson, Hoffmann-LaRoche and Sandoz. He holds a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from Iona College. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of AzurRx, Relmada Therapeutics and Eton Pharmaceuticals. He was previously a director and vice-chairman of the Catholic Medical Missions Board a large not for profit international organization. During his career he has served as a director on the Boards of fourteen Biotech/Pharma companies.

Ms. Coelho joined our board of directors in August 2021. She has served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Development Officer of CinCor Pharma, Inc. a clinical stage cardiorenal therapeutics company, since November 2021. Prior to her current role Ms. Coelho served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI), a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company, since January 2019. Prior to her tenure at BDSI, Ms. Coelho served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Balchem Corporation (NASDAQ: BCPC) from October 2017 to October 2018. Previous to her role at Balchem she served as Chief Operating Officer for Diversey, Inc., a multi-billion-dollar global private equity carve-out from Sealed Air Corporation. She additionally held senior finance positions at Diversey Care, including that of Division Chief Financial Officer and VP of Global Commercial Excellence, from October 2014 through August 2017. Ms. Coelho has also served in senior finance and operational leadership roles of increasing responsibility with leading global organizations, including Mars, Incorporated, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals from 2007 to 2014, including serving as Global Head of Oncology Development Finance. Ms. Coelho earned an MBA in Finance from IBMEC in Brazil and a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and International Relations, summa cum laude, from The American University School of International Service in Washington, DC. She has led Women’s Networking ERGs and is a founding Steering Committee Member of the CFO Leadership Council – Charlotte, North Carolina, chapter.

Mr. Hoffman joined our board of directors in April 2022. Mr. Hoffman has an extensive background in financial markets and venture capital. He currently is the principal of Miliardi Capital, a consulting firm dedicated to early- stage companies in fintech and biotech. Previously he was a Senior Vice President for ED&F Man Capital where he founded an options software company called OptionsLive. The software provides traders worldwide, with real time streaming analytics and execution capabilities for options. Prior to this role Mr. Hoffman was a Managing Director from 2015-2019 at Nomura Securities where he led the proprietary trading team. He has held similar roles from 1994 through 2015 with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank. Mr. Hoffman has supervised trading and sales of Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange teams in New York, London, Tokyo, and Sydney. He has spoken extensively on financial markets and is the author of a recent book, The Intelligent Trader. Mr. Hoffman has a BA in economics from Rutgers University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Dr. Riddell joined our board of directors in September 2015. He is also currently Chairman of a private UK biotech, Nemesis Biosciences Ltd, Chairman of a UK AIM listed medical imaging company Feedback plc and Chairman of the South West Academic Health Science Network, which fosters links between the NHS, industry and universities. He was also on the board of directors of another US private company, Skyline Vet Pharma until April 2017. Dr. Riddell has over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical, life science and biotech industries, 18 years as main board director. After 10 years directing phases 1-4 clinical trials of antibiotics, oncology and intensive care products for companies including Lederle (now Pfizer) and Centocor (now J&J), he spent 5 years managing sales and marketing for oncology and imaging products for Amersham International (now GE Healthcare). This led to 12 years as CEO for 3 UK biotech companies, Pharmagene, Paradigm Therapeutics and Stem Cell Sciences; in these roles he was the principal involved in significant fund raising including an IPO on UK’s main list and trade sales to Takeda in Japan and Stem Cells Inc. in the USA. He has since had several roles in UK government initiatives related to promoting cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and the NHS and assessing projects for funding with Innovate UK. He began his career as a medical doctor in a variety of hospital specialties and in general practice. He was recently awarded a Doctorate of Science, Honoris Causa by Aston University.

Dr. Brian Feagan is a gastroenterologist, with training in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, now serving as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University and Senior Scientific Director at Alimentiv, Inc. He earned his medical degree at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in London, Ontario, Canada. His postdoctoral training included a residency in Internal Medicine and a clinical fellowship in Gastroenterology in the Department of Medicine at UWO, and postgraduate training in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr. Feagan holds membership in the Canadian and American Association of Gastroenterology, the American College of Gastroenterology, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada (CCC) and European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO). He has authored over 480 articles and book chapters and has given over 600 invited presentations at national and international scientific meetings. In 1997, Dr. Feagan was named Director of Robarts Clinical Trials at the Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario and in 2020, he became Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc. (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials). His research efforts focus on the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials of therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. He has been the principal investigator on numerous large-scale randomized clinical trials.

Michael Konstan, M.D. is Vice Dean for Translational Research and the Gertrude Lee Chandler Tucker Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the Austin Ricci Chair in Pediatric Pulmonary Care and Research at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Konstan has spent his entire professional career in the care and research of people with cystic fibrosis (CF). He has led numerous national and international clinical trials of potentially new therapies for CF, and his seminal work has led to several therapies that are in use today, including the only therapy recommended in guidelines for treating the lung inflammation in CF using high doses of ibuprofen. Dr. Konstan was the first recipient of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Harry Shwachman Clinical Investigator Award, and later in his career he received the Richard C. Talamo Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award from the Foundation. He has published extensively in the medical literature with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, nearly all related to cystic fibrosis. He has served on multiple advisory boards and committees for the CF Foundation, the NIH and the FDA, all related to advancing the treatment of CF. He currently serves on the CF Foundation’s Clinical Research Executive Committee. Dr. Konstan received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). After completing his internship and residency in Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, he returned to CWRU and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital for Fellowship training in Pediatric Pulmonology.

Dr. Richard Marlink has served at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ since 2016 as the Director of the Rutgers Global Health Institute and the Henry Rutgers Professor of Global Health. A medical oncologist by training, he has extensive experience in epidemic response and capacity building, having worked to establish large-scale HIV/AIDS research, training, and clinical care programs in the U.S. and abroad. This work included helping establish the first AIDS clinic in Boston, serving as the principal investigator for “The Tshepo Study,” the first large-scale antiretroviral treatment study in southern Africa, and serving as Scientific Director and Vice President for Implementation at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. More recently, Dr. Marlink’s work in NJ has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. He serves on the Newark Reopening and Recovery Strikeforce and helped develop the city’s initial COVID-19 testing plan, while also spearheading an initiative to support the safe reopening of small businesses in low-income and minority communities and to better prepare those communities for future public health threats. Dr. Marlink has authored or co-authored 147 peer-reviewed articles, numerous scientific articles and chapters, and the textbook, Global AIDS Crisis: A Reference Handbook. He also co-edited the book, AIDS in Africa, served as chief editor for two special supplements to the journal AIDS and served as executive editor of the 320-author, three-volume textbook, From the Ground Up: Building Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Care Programs in Resource Limited Settings. Dr. Marlink completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from the University of New Mexico and received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Dr. Anthony Opipari is a physician scientist known for his recent work at the interface between clinical medicine, basic research, and drug development. He co-founded the former First Wave Bio and served as the company’s Chief Medical Officer until its acquisition by AzurRx BioPharma (now First Wave BioPharma). Previously, Dr. Opipari was a member of the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, in the Division of Gynecological Oncology, until he retired from active faculty and was awarded emeritus status in 2019. His NIH-funded research at the University of Michigan resulted in the discovery of novel drug targets and associated novel therapeutic mechanisms of action that formed the basis for multiple biotechnology spinouts, including Lycera Corp., which he co-founded. Dr. Opipari also co-founded and directed translational medicine at IFM Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer. Dr. Opipari earned a medical degree and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan.