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.
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. In this role, 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 our lead candidate prosetin, a novel MAP4 kinase inhibitor that protects motor neurons from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress.
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.