Who We Are
Who We Are
Skipper Bio Med is a research consultancy that provides pro bono services to academic and industry research groups that are developing promising lung and pancreatic cancer technologies. Founded in 2018 and located in the Texas Medical Center, Skipper can provide our services pro bono because we are fully supported by a private US family that has been personally impacted by these devastating cancers and we are committed to bridging the research “valley of death” to improve patient outcomes.
Competitive Advantage
Skipper does not seek compensation of any kind (monetary, equity, IP, etc) from our clients, nor does it provide funding. With our patient-centric mindset, we are in a unique position to leverage resources and partnerships from academia, industry, and third-party organizations to give clients the personalized tools they need to translate their technologies into clinical practice.
Meet Our Team
Paul A. Kurywchak, PhD
Executive Director
Paul manages overall operations, leads all client and partner relationships, and makes major decisions for Skipper’s direction. He also develops client engagement strategies by prioritizing and delegating tasks among team members. Paul received his PhD in Cancer Biology from the MD Anderson Cancer Center – UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, where he studied exosome biology and their biomarker potential in the laboratory of Dr. Raghu Kalluri.
Sanjana Mahapatra, PhD
Strategy Director
Sanjana evaluates the regulatory, IP, and funding status of client technologies and develops tailored strategies to navigate their specific challenges towards commercialization. She also initiates partnerships with academic tech transfer offices (TTOs), investors, other consultancies, and service providers. Sanjana received her PhD in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine, where she studied the phenotype of natural killer cells in healthy children and pediatric HIV under the co-mentorship of Dr. Jordan Orange and Dr. William Shearer.
Dustin Srinivas, PhD
Research Director
Dustin’s focus is to leverage his expertise in cancer therapeutics to evaluate the quality and research potential of client technologies. Dustin engages directly with clients by assisting them with the development of research marketing materials and partnering opportunities. Dustin received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences and Translational Medicine from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he studied the delivery of cancer therapeutics via nanoscale receptor-targeting vehicles in the laboratory of Dr. Lali Medina-Kauwe.
Terry McNearney, MD
Senior Consultant
Terry is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. She performed basic and clinical research, and supervised patient clinics for 16 years at the UTMB in Galveston, TX. She recently spent 7 years as a Senior Medical Advisor in a Neuroscience/Pain Early Program at Eli Lilly. She has also served as a pancreatic and lung cancers program and grant reviewer, as well as a consultant to foundations for over 10 years.
Advisory Group
Kevin Coker, JD, MPH, MS
Regulatory Consultant
Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Clinical Research, former executive of several companies, and regulatory strategy expert
Wendy K.D. Selig, BA, MSJ
Business Consultant
Founder and CEO of WSCollaborative and builds relationships between nonprofits, industry, and government
Jim Graham, MBA
Investor
Head of Investments at Research Bridge Partners Catalyst fund, former venture capitalist, and former family office investor
Jeff Bockman, PhD
BioConsultant
Head of the Oncology Practice at Lumanity and decades of experience helping companies bring products to market
Glen Weiss, MD, MBA
Oncologist
Physician scientist and current VP of Clinical Sciences at SOTIO, with extensive phase I clinical trial and translational research experience