Stephen E. Jacobs – Chairman of the Board

Mr. Jacobs was appointed Chairman of the Board in 2001.  Mr. Jacobs recently
retired as a Senior Partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a large international
law firm, where he headed the firm's Corporate Practice and served as a long-term member of its Management Committee. 

He presently devotes his efforts as counsel to Leucadia National Corporation, a NYSE listed corporation, with diversified investment holdings. Mr. Jacobs specializes in corporate acquisitions and takeovers.

Gerald Shanahan – Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Gerald Shanahan was appointed C.E.O. of LAGeT Inc. in June 2005. He has had extensive experience in business management and execution strategy. He was managing partner for Coopers and Lybrand's Rochester office from 1979-1996 where his primary responsibility was client services for major multi-national corporations as well as business development and marketing.

Since 1997 he has served as advisor to private companies in the health care, construction and investment advisory sectors. His education was completed at St. Bonaventure University and the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Edward M. Schwarz, Ph.D. – President/ Director

Dr. Schwarz founded LAGeT, Inc. in 2001 and currently serves as its President and a member of the Company’s Board. He is a thought leader in the fields of rAAV gene therapy and musculoskeletal research. In addition to his dedication to the overall success of the Company, Dr. Schwarz also maintains a Professorship at the University of Rochester’s Center for Musculoskeletal Research. Dr. Schwarz is responsible for oversight and direction of the pre-clinical development of LAGT. He has published LAGT research in peer-reviewed journals and has presented LAGT data at national and international scientific meetings. Dr. Schwarz recently published LAGT related research in the prestigious journal Nature: Medicine {lto et. al Nature Medicine, March 2005; 11(3), pp.291-297}

Dr. Schwarz received his Ph.D. from Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In 1999, Dr. Schwarz was named outstanding new investigator by The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons. In 2005, Dr. Schwarz received the Orthopaedic Research and Societies Foundation’s Kappa Delta Award for his work with LAGT. This award is given yearly in recognition of an outstanding researcher, and has been referred to as the “Orthopaedic Nobel prize.”
 

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George Gray – Chief Counsel

A partner in the firm in Gray & Feldman LLP, Mr. Gray's practice is concentrated in the areas of tax and business law.  Mr. Gray has been practicing law since 1977 and is a member of the Monroe County and the N.Y. State Bar Associations.  He has made presentations of a variety of business and tax planning topics throughout Capital Central and Capital Western New York.  Mr. Gray serves on the Board of Directors of The Learning Disabilities Association, the LDA Capital Foundation and the Norman Howard School Foundation.  He is a graduate of Hamilton College and Albany Law School of Union University.

Regis J. O’Keefe, M.D., Ph.D. - Chief Clinical Officer

In addition to his role with LAGeT, Dr. O’Keefe is a Professor in the University of Rochester’s Department of Orthopaedics.  He is a world-renowned Orthopaedic Tumor surgeon and musculoskeletal scientist.  In 1988, Dr. O’Keefe received an AOA Resident Traveling Research Award; in 1995 he was awarded the Kappa Delta Award from the Orthopaedic Research & Education Foundation; and in 1999 he was selected for the American-British-Canadian Traveling Fellowship.

Dr. O’Keefe received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Rochester.  He completed his residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center and fellowship in oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Michael D. Maloney, M.D. - Director of Articular Cartilage Repair and Regeneration

In addition to his role with LAGeT, Dr. Maloney is an Associate Professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Orthopaedics. He is the Director of the Division of Athletic Medicine and specializes in the evaluation and treatment of articular cartilage injuries.

Dr. Maloney received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University, completed his Orthopaedic residency training at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Sports Medicine fellowship at the prestigious Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, CA.

Paul T. Rubery Jr., M.D. - Director of Spinal Fusion and Repair / Director

In addition to his role with LAGeT, Inc., Dr. Rubery is an Associate Professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Department of Orthopaedics where he is a leading spine surgeon.

Dr. Rubery received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College.  He completed his residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery and fellowship in spinal surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Jerry Kuper, Ph.D. - Optical Engineer / Independent Contractor

Dr. Kuper has been engaged by the Company to assist with the overall design and development of the commercial LAGT laser and its components.  He has over 20 years of experience in the optics field; including time spent as Laser Energetics, Inc. (Mercerville, NJ) where he was the Director of their solid-state laser programs. 

Dr. Kuper received his Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Rochester, as well as an M.S. in physical chemistry.  He has co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of chemistry and optics.
 

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Inder Verma, PhD - is Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.  Dr. Verma is world renowned as one of the original pioneers of Gene Therapy.  He was President of the American Society for Gene Therapy from 2000-2001, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.  Dr. Verma has served as a Director of Cell Genesys Inc. since May 1997. Previously, Dr. Verma had served as a Director of Somatix Therapy Corporation since June 1996.

Christopher Evans, PhD - is Professor and Director of the Center for Molecular Orthopaedics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.  He is also the President of the Orthopaedic Research Society.  Dr. Evans completed the first gene therapy trial in Orthopaedics and currently serves as the Principal Investigator on LAGeT’s clinical trail to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the rAAV-coated “revitalizing” allograft in patients with bone cancer. 

Dan Gazit, DDS, PhD - is Professor and Chief of the Skeletal Biotechnology Lab, and Director of the Hebrew University Biotechnology Center, Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.  He is world renowned for his work in musculoskeletal tissue engineering and orthopaedic gene therapy.  Dr. Gazit also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Nanospine Inc.

Frank W. Jobe, MD - is co-founder of the, Kerlan Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, CA and the Director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. He has world-renowned expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of sports medicine injuries and orthopaedics. He is considered one of the founding fathers in the field of Sports Medicine and has pioneered the use of biomechanics to study joint motion and injury specific to athletics.  His past positions have included President of the American Shoulder and Elbow Society, President of the Major League Baseball Physician's Association and he has been Team Physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers for over 30 years.

David S. Bradford, MD - is a world-renowned spinal surgeon whose career has been devoted to complex spinal reconstruction.  Dr. Bradford is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at The University of California- San Francisco, a department that he chaired from 1991-2004.  He has published hundreds of scientific papers and made numerous scientific presentations.  His intellectual interests span the gamut from novel surgical techniques, to biochemistry and biomechanics to innovative spinal implants. He has edited several major journals in the field. Dr. Bradford is a past president of the Scoliosis Research Society and The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons.  He serves as an advisor to IST Scientific, NuVasive, Spine Solutions, and several venture capital funds.

Russell F. Warren, MD - is an acclaimed sports medicine and shoulder surgeon who currently serves as Emeritus Surgeon-in-Chief of the Hospital for Special Surgery, and Professor of Surgery at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York. Widely recognized as an innovator in the field, he has published extensively, presented at numerous scientific meetings, and holds several patents.  Dr. Warren has devoted much of his career to the study of ligament and cartilage repair and healing. He is past president of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and The American Shoulder and Elbow Society. He has served as an editor of several journals in the field. Dr. Warren has been team physician of the New York Football Giants since 1984. He is a co-founder and past chairman of the board of Professional Sports Care.
 

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