About Us
Our Mission
At ProJenX, our team is on a mission to develop the first effective treatment, and ultimately a cure, for ALS.
ProJenX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company with novel, brain-penetrant, targeted therapies to address neurodegenerative diseases, with an initial focus on ALS. ProJenX was created out of a long-term research collaboration between Project ALS and researchers at Columbia University to rapidly develop and commercialize its lead therapy candidate, prosetin, for people with ALS.
Management Team
Stan Abel, who joined ProJenX as President and CEO in April 2022, brings more than 20 years of senior management and financial experience in the life sciences industry. Under his leadership, executive teams with emerging businesses have identified and in-licensed development-stage drug candidates, raised more than $100 million to fund operations, conducted large-scale clinical trials and implemented successful M&A strategies. Prior to joining ProJenX, Abel was CEO of SiteOne Therapeutics Inc., where he led a team developing new treatments for acute and chronic pain. Before this, he was CEO of Corthera Inc. through its sale to Novartis with a focus on a new treatment for heart failure. Earlier in his career, Abel was the CFO of Cerexa Inc. from its inception through its sale to Forest Laboratories. In addition, he was CFO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals Inc. through its sale to Johnson & Johnson. Abel began his career in finance positions with Eli Lilly and Company and DowBrands Inc.
Abel earned a B.S. in business from Indiana University and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is chairman of SiteOne Therapeutics and serves as an advisor to early-stage life science companies.
Erin Fleming is a co-founder and Vice President of Research & Development at ProJenX. Prior to ProJenX launching in November 2021, Ms. Fleming was Director of Research Operations at Project ALS, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that identifies and funds promising scientific research toward the first effective treatments and a cure for ALS.
Previously, Erin was associate director at Project ALS, project manager at the biotech Applied Therapeutics, and project director at the boutique life sciences consulting firm Clearpoint Strategy Group. She holds a BA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Board of Directors
Stan Abel, who joined ProJenX as President and CEO in April 2022, brings more than 20 years of senior management and financial experience in the life sciences industry. Under his leadership, executive teams with emerging businesses have identified and in-licensed development-stage drug candidates, raised more than $100 million to fund operations, conducted large-scale clinical trials and implemented successful M&A strategies. Prior to joining ProJenX, Abel was CEO of SiteOne Therapeutics Inc., where he led a team developing new treatments for acute and chronic pain. Before this, he was CEO of Corthera Inc. through its sale to Novartis with a focus on a new treatment for heart failure. Earlier in his career, Abel was the CFO of Cerexa Inc. from its inception through its sale to Forest Laboratories. In addition, he was CFO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals Inc. through its sale to Johnson & Johnson. Abel began his career in finance positions with Eli Lilly and Company and DowBrands Inc.
Abel earned a B.S. in business from Indiana University and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is chairman of SiteOne Therapeutics and serves as an advisor to early-stage life science companies.
Valerie Estess, along with her sisters Jenifer and Meredith, founded Project ALS, which has revolutionized the way that science and medicine approach disease research. As Director of Research, she motivates world leading scientists and clinicians to work together toward a deeper understanding of ALS, and the closely related Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury.
In twenty-two years, Project ALS has raised over $120 million for
research. With Jenifer, Valerie is the author of the national bestselling memoir, Tales from the Bed. Project ALS was featured in the critically acclaimed HBO original documentary Three Sisters: Searching for a Cure, produced by Academy Award winner Sheila Nevins. In 2004, Meredith and Valerie were named Women of Vision by the Weitzmann Institute of Science. In 2008, Time magazine named “iPS cells from ALS patients,” an experiment facilitated and fully supported by Project ALS, as its scientific breakthrough of the year.
Estess holds a B.A. from Barnard College.
Eric Heil joined Medical Excellence Capital (MEC) as Managing Partner in 2021. Prior to joining MEC, Eric served as an SVP/Advisor to Health Quality Partners, a non-profit organization committed to care delivery design and value-based care, and served as an adjunct professor at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania teaching healthcare entrepreneurship from 2016-2020. In 2017, Eric co-founded and helped launch Upward Health with the BCBS Venture Fund, a technology-enabled care delivery service for complex patients with mental health challenges. Prior to co-founding Upward Health, Eric served as SVP, Chief Commercial Officer of Software Solutions at naviHealth Inc., a UnitedHealthcare Company, serving over 850 hospitals and 11,000 post-acute care providers nationwide. In 2012, Eric co-founded and served as president and CEO of RightCare Solutions, an evidence-based venture-backed health care IT company specializing in care transitions and discharge planning. In December 2015, RightCare Solutions, Inc. was successfully acquired by naviHealth, Inc.
Early in his career, he was an investment professional at Domain Associates, LLC, a leading life-science venture capital fund with over $2.5 billion under management, and became an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2012 when launching RightCare. During his tenure there, Eric also led business development at Corthera (acquired by Novartis) and Celator Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals). Before joining Domain Associates, he was an Equity Research Analyst at Bear Stearns covering the Managed Care sector and a consultant with Easton Associates (now Navigant Consulting), a management consultancy dedicated to the medical industry.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering with a focus in healthcare systems from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Heil also completed his MBA from Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012.
John Prufeta founded Medical Excellence Capital (MEC) in 2020 and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner.
Over the past 30 years, John has served as an operator and consultant to academic medical centers internationally. He also serves as Chairman of The Medical Excellence Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to providing grants to support America’s most promising health care research at academic medical centers and research institutes.
In 2009, John co-founded the Medical Excellence Group, a global private health advisory firm with offices in New York, Moscow, London, and Shanghai, and served as Chairman since its inception. The company operates as a virtual “Family Office for Health Care” offering comprehensive, state of the science programs in preventative medicine, complex case management, telemedicine, and longevity. From 2000-2003, John served as president and CEO of Medix Resources, a publicly-held (NYSE:MXR) health care technology company. Prior to this, John served as Managing Partner of Agilence Health Advisors and OnPoint Partners, consulting companies advising academic medical centers, managed care organizations, and health care technology firms.
He is a founding Board member of Veterans Moving Forward, a 501(c)(3) charity that serves Veterans with physical and mental challenges. Additionally, Prufeta is a founding board member of CuraLeaf, a publicly held medical cannabis company that is now the largest integrated provider in the United States. One of his most treasured experiences was as a board member of America’s Huey 091, a project that fully restored a Vietnam-era helicopter and donated the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institute. The helicopter is now the largest artifact in the “America at War” exhibit.
John is a graduate of the Harvard Executive Program, OPM 28 at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He holds a B.S. degree in Management from St. John’s University.
Dr. Hynek Wichterle is a Jerry and Emily Spiegel Professor holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and Neuroscience (in Neurology) at Columbia University. He received his M.S. degree from Charles University in Prague and his Ph.D. degree from The Rockefeller University under the tutelage of Dr Arturo Alvarez Buylla. He trained with Dr. Thomas Jessell at Columbia University, where he became assistant professor in 2004 and associate professor in 2012. He serves as a co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease and as a Vice-Chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine.
Dr Wichterle developed groundbreaking methods for producing spinal cord neurons from pluripotent embryonic stem cells in a culture dish. His lab capitalizes on the unlimited source of spinal neurons to study motor neuron degenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), with the goal of discovering new drugs that promote motor neuron survival.
Scientific Advisory Board
Leonard H. van den Berg is a professor of neurology who holds a chair in experimental neurology of motor neuron diseases at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Leonard H. van den Berg is also director of the center’s Laboratory for Neuromuscular Disease, director of the Netherlands ALS Center, and chairman of the European Network to Cure ALS (ENCALS), a network of the European ALS Centres.
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Prof. van den Berg completed a fellowship in neuroimmunology at the Neurological Institute at Columbia University in New York. He then completed his PhD degree at the University Medical Center Utrecht in a program that combined a residency in neurology with scientific research.
As a practicing neurologist specializing in neuromuscular diseases and neuroimmunology, Prof. van den Berg’s research pursuits lie in immune-mediated or degenerative diseases of motor neurons. A major emphasis of his research has been in ALS and other motor neuron disorders, and he has been a principle investigator on numerous drug trials concerning treatment options for the disease.
Claire Henchcliffe is the Chair and Stanley van den Noort Professor of Neurology, University of California, Irvine since 2020. Prior to this, she spent 17 years at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC)/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, becoming Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, and Vice Chair for Clinical Research in Neurology. Her undergraduate and graduate training was completed at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, UK, and the University of California at Berkeley, followed by neurology residency training and movement disorder fellowship at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York City. Her clinical and research focus is on Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, including working to develop new Parkinson’s disease therapeutics such as stem cell-based and gene therapy interventions.
Joe Lewcock serves as CSO and Head of Discovery at Denali Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on novel therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, and genetically defined rare disorders. In this role, he serves as a member of the Denali Management team and coordinates the preclinical stage portfolio, which has resulted in the progression of 8+ molecules ranging from small molecules to biotherapeutics advancing to clinical trials. His group defines therapeutic strategies based on genetically defined pathways that contribute to neurodegeneration including Lysosomal Function, Glial Biology, and Cellular Homeostasis. As delivery to the brain represents a major challenge, Joe’s discovery team has developed Denali’s proprietary Transport Vehicle (TV) platform to shuttle biologics across the Blood-Brain Barrier. This highly modular technology enables effective brain delivery and broad biodistribution of a range of cargos including enzymes, antibodies, and oligonucleotides.
Prior to joining Denali in early 2016, Joe spent 9 years at Genentech, where he helped to build the neuroscience research team and portfolio. In his role as Director of the Department of Neuroscience, he was responsible for generating the disease area strategy and management of the neuroscience portfolio, which included both large and small molecule programs. During his time at Genentech, Joe also served as a project team leader where he led a program for treatment of ALS from target discovery to IND filing and led a discovery lab focused on identification of new therapeutic drug targets for ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. He received his BS from University of California, San Diego, a PhD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and did a Postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute.
Lee Rubin is Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. His work focuses on neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disorders and has a strong translational focus. Currently, his efforts are focused on producing muscle stem cells to treat muscular and neuromuscular disorders and, importantly, on discovering therapeutics capable of reversing the degenerative changes associated with brain aging.
Dr. Rubin received his PhD in Neuroscience from the Rockefeller University and had postdoctoral training, also in Neuroscience, at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine.
Neil Shneider serves as the Claire Tow Associate Professor of Motor Neuron Disorders and the Director of the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center at Columbia University. He is an investigator in the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease where his lab focuses on the study of models and mechanisms of ALS and the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for ALS and related disorders. Dr. Shneider worked with Ionis Pharmaceuticals to develop ION363 (Jacifusen), an anti-sense oligonucleotide (ASO) for ALS patients with rare mutations in the FUsed in Sarcoma (FUS) gene. Dr. Shneider is a graduate of Harvard College and earned his MD and PhD degrees at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
In partnership with n-Lorem and Columbia University, Dr. Shneider founded Silence ALS, an initiative to develop ASOs for ALS patients with nano-rare, pathogenic mutations in ALS genes. Dr. Shneider was co-chair of the Translating Fundamental Research into Potential ALS Therapies Working Group for the NIH ALS Strategic Planning Workshop.
Community Advisory Board
Layne is a pharmacist by training and was a healthcare consultant business owner for over 25 years focusing on marketing, strategic planning, and program coordination/implementation. Prior to being a business owner, Layne worked in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Layne has been married to his beautiful wife Ann for 40 years, has 5 children (2 married in), and 4 grandchildren (all girls). He loves to spend time with his family.
Layne was originally diagnosed with PLS in 2017 by Dr. Matthew Harms at Columbia University. The diagnosis was changed to ALS in November 2020. Since his ALS diagnosis, Layne has been active in the ALS community, with involvement in I AM ALS, the NEALS PEACe Committee, the HEALY Platform Patient Advisory Committee, and the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations. Layne was a member of the NIH/NINDS ALS Strategic
Plan Steering Committee.
Since her diagnosis with ALS at age 32, Gwen Petersen has poured her energy into advancing the science of her disease. Gwen’s motivation behind participating in ALS research is to help move the needle towards disease-modifying treatments for ALS, and eventually, cures. Gwen is not the stereotypical ALS face; she does a lot of media work to dispel the myth that ALS is an older man’s disease.
Gwen is married to her best friend, Nathan, and they are parents of an exuberant Goldendoodle named Annabelle. Prior to her diagnosis, Gwen worked as a Recruiter for one of the top ten medical centers in the country.
Joey Porrello is a 30 year old husband and father of two from Las Vegas, Nevada. He was diagnosed with limb onset ALS in 2022. A former professional civil engineer, Joey now puts his skills to use by building relationships and developing programs to benefit the ALS community.
Joey founded the Porrello Project in conjunction with the Nevada Chapter of the ALS Association. Their mission is to improve the experience of living with ALS for those that have been diagnosed and their loved ones. A desire to sustain hope, build community, and serve others guides all Joey’s efforts.
Gretchen Roy was her husband Bill’s caregiver for more than 3 years following his ALS diagnosis. Bill and Gretchen were passionate supporters of prosetin, having learned of the brain-penetrating medication’s unprecedented results in laboratory testing which was published by Project ALS. Together, they served on the Community Advisory Board before Bill’s passing in January of 2023.
Today, Gretchen continues to serve in honor of Bill. She eagerly awaits the day prosetin, along with other brain-penetrant drug therapies, will change lives for those suffering from ALS.
Dr. Nadia Sethi is Director, Community Outreach and Engagement for ALS TDI. She lost her husband to ALS in 2020.
A dentist by training, Nadia already had a firm background in science and healthcare prior to her husband’s diagnosis. Her background, combined with her drive to better understand ALS, led to her becoming actively involved in the ALS community, diligently seeking information on ALS clinical trials and connecting with others who were experiencing similar struggles.
Nadia also serves as the co-chair for the NEALS Patient Education and Advocacy Committee and is involved in many current efforts focused on research and science for ALS.
Michele Stellato was diagnosed with ALS in 2020 at the age of 32. Months after her diagnosis, she began speaking out about her diagnosis publicly, raising funds for research and advocating for accelerated access to therapies.
Michele is a founding member of Her ALS Story, a group of women diagnosed before their 35th birthday. Her professional experience is in corporate communications. Michele was named to the Top Women in Communications list by Ragan Communications in the Community Givers category in 2022 for her work in ALS advocacy.
She lives in Nutley, NJ with her husband Kevin.
Founders
ProJenX was built on a purposeful collaboration between the nonprofit organization Project ALS and the early-stage venture capital firm Medical Excellence Capital, alongside renowned researchers from Columbia University.
Emily Lowry is the Director of Internal Operations at the Project ALS Therapeutics Core at Columbia (the Core), where she designs and coordinates ALS drug screening efforts, and oversees the day-to-day work of the Core’s scientific team. Dr. Lowry develops novel approaches to ALS drug discovery, optimization, and evaluation. She also works closely with the broader Columbia and Project ALS teams to establish scientific collaborations with outside academic and industry partners. Dr. Lowry received a PhD in Neurobiology and Genetics from The Rockefeller University and conducted postdoctoral research in the lab of Hynek Wichterle at Columbia University.
Dr. Lowry is an expert in developing and improving cellular models for ALS drug screening. At Columbia, she has validated new protocols for the differentiation of stem cells into motor neurons, the cells that are vulnerable to degeneration in ALS. She has optimized several small molecule-based screening platforms to identify new therapeutic compounds to treat ALS, including prosetin, a novel MAP4 kinase inhibitor that protects motor neurons from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. She is also using high throughput gene editing techniques to dissect the molecular underpinnings of ER stress-mediated neurodegeneration and identify new, druggable components of these pathways.
Brent R. Stockwell, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Biological Science, and a Professor in the Departments of Biological Science and Chemistry, at Columbia University. He has been teaching biochemistry for 16 years at Columbia University, and is the advisor to biochemistry majors. His research involves the discovery of small molecules that can be used to understand and treat cancer and neurodegeneration, with a focus on biochemical mechanisms governing cell death. These interdisciplinary investigations led to new methods of small molecule drug discovery, and the discovery of a new form of cell death known as ferroptosis. He has received numerous awards, including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, an HHMI Early Career Scientist Award, the BioAccelerate NYC Prize, the Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, the Great Teacher of Columbia College Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates, and an NCI R35 Outstanding Investigator Award. He has given >100 seminars around the world, trained >100 students, technicians and postdoctoral scientists, published >150 scientific articles, been awarded 20 US patents, and received >50 research grants for >$40 million. He founded the biopharmaceutical companies CombinatoRx Incorporated, Inzen Therapeutics, and Nevrox Limited, and is the author of The Quest for the Cure: The Science and Stories Behind the Next Generation of Medicines.
Hynek Wichterle is a Jerry and Emily Spiegel Professor holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and Neuroscience (in Neurology) at Columbia University. He received his M.S. degree from Charles University in Prague and his Ph.D. degree from The Rockefeller University under the tutelage of Dr Arturo Alvarez Buylla. He trained with Dr. Thomas Jessell at Columbia University, where he became assistant professor in 2004 and associate professor in 2012. He serves as a co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease and as a Vice-Chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine.
Dr Wichterle developed groundbreaking methods for producing spinal cord neurons from pluripotent embryonic stem cells in a culture dish. His lab capitalizes on the unlimited source of spinal neurons to study motor neuron degenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), with the goal of discovering new drugs that promote motor neuron survival.
Arie Zask, PhD is a medicinal chemist with extensive pharmaceutical and academic drug discovery experience in neuroscience, inflammation, oncology, women’s health, and diabetes research. Dr. Zask currently serves as the Facility Manager for the Columbia University Chemical Probe Synthesis Facility at Columbia. Prior to working at Columbia, Dr. Zask was a Principal Research Scientist and Medicinal Chemist at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for 15 years. He is a member of the AAAS, the American Association for Cancer Research, American Chemical Society and the New York Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Zask is an expert in the drug discovery process including computer aided drug design, virtual screening, high throughput screening, hit to lead development, lead optimization, and late stage discovery. He specializes in the design and synthesis of therapeutically active molecules leading to compounds in clinical development, and has authored over 140 publications, presentations, and patents. He received his BS in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Princeton University, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Bioorganic Chemistry at Columbia University.
Jenifer Estess, her sisters and friends, started Project ALS in 1998, when Jenifer was diagnosed with ALS. Project ALS shifted the paradigm of ALS research, requiring its funded researchers and doctors to work together in small teams, toward a new standard of results-oriented accountability. In twenty-four years, Project ALS has raised over $120M and has overseen productive research collaborations among 25 leading institutions leading to the discovery of over 60 ALS genes, the development of the world’s first patient-based models of ALS, and the acceleration of ALS drug testing and clinical trials.
Medical Excellence Capital (MEC) is an early-stage life-science venture capital firm that combines accomplished investment professionals and operators (formerly with Domain Associates) with a proprietary national medical network platform to create the most unique venture firm in life sciences. The medical network platform was developed by John Prufeta at Medial Excellence International, a private health advisory service to help high-net worth families and individuals around the world access healthcare in the US. Medical Excellence International has had three members with ALS and seen the devastating impact of the disease firsthand. Throughout their careers the partners at Medical Excellence have collectively invested in over 50 companies and help co-found and/or operate 20 companies. MEC specializes in company creation and deploys precision capital to nurture and advance the precision health innovations that solve the biggest, most complex medical problems. MEC has extensive experience investing in areas such as drug discovery artificial intelligence, cell and gene therapy, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, and precision medicine.
Built on Purposeful Collaboration
Jenifer Estess, her sisters and friends, started Project ALS in 1998, when Jenifer was diagnosed with ALS. Project ALS shi...
Jenifer Estess, her sisters and friends, started Project ALS in 1998, when Jenifer was diagnosed with ALS. Project ALS shifted the paradigm of ALS research, requiring its funded researchers and doctors to work together in small teams, toward a new standard of results-oriented accountability. In twenty-four years, Project ALS has raised over $120M and has overseen productive research collaborations among 25 leading institutions leading to the discovery of over 60 ALS genes, the development of the world’s first patient-based models of ALS, and the acceleration of ALS drug testing and clinical trials.
Prosetin was invented at the Project ALS Therapeutics Core—a drug discovery and development program led by researchers a...
Prosetin was invented at the Project ALS Therapeutics Core—a drug discovery and development program led by researchers at Columbia’s Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease and its Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center—and researchers from the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology, Biological Sciences, and Chemistry.
Medical Excellence Capital (MEC) is an early-stage life-science venture capital firm that combines accomplished investment...
Medical Excellence Capital (MEC) is an early-stage life-science venture capital firm that combines accomplished investment professionals and operators (formerly with Domain Associates) with a proprietary national medical network platform to create the most unique venture firm in life sciences. The medical network platform was developed by John Prufeta at Medial Excellence International, a private health advisory service to help high-net worth families and individuals around the world access healthcare in the US. Medical Excellence International has had three members with ALS and seen the devastating impact of the disease firsthand. Throughout their careers the partners at Medical Excellence have collectively invested in over 50 companies and help co-found and/or operate 20 companies. MEC specializes in company creation and deploys precision capital to nurture and advance the precision health innovations that solve the biggest, most complex medical problems. MEC has extensive experience investing in areas such as drug discovery artificial intelligence, cell and gene therapy, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, and precision medicine.