Chris Gemmiti
External Advisory Board Chair
Senior Vice President of Therapeutics
Cellino Bio
Gemmiti is Senior Vice President of Therapeutics Development at Cellino Bio, with over 25 years of experience in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. He has led groundbreaking programs at CRISPR Therapeutics, Sentien, Harvard’s Wyss Institute, and Organogenesis, including the first CRISPR gene-edited therapy and the first allogeneic cell therapy approved by the FDA. He holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.S. from Johns Hopkins.
Erin Dasher
External Advisory Board Vice-Chair
Founder and CEO of Glui Inc.
Dasher is the founder and CEO of Glui Inc., a global advertising company creating engagement experiences across digital platforms. A seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and lawyer with more than 25 years in venture capital, private equity, and M&A, she began her career as an attorney and now serves on multiple advisory boards supporting STEM and innovation.
G. Russell Bell
Chief Scientific Officer Emeritus
Beckman Coulter, Inc.
Emeritus Petit Institute Advisory Board Member
Bell is the retired Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Beckman Coulter, where he led global businesses and pioneered diagnostic innovations, including the first PSA blood test for early cancer detection. With a career spanning leadership roles at DuPont, Hybritech, and Beckman Coulter, he now serves on multiple boards supporting healthcare, education, and biomedical research.
Paul Citron
Vice President of Technology Policy and Academic Relations Emeritus
Medtronic, Inc.
Emeritus Petit Institute Advisory Board Member
Citron is the retired Vice President of Technology Policy and Academic Relations at Medtronic, where he spent 32 years advancing implantable medical device innovations, including a groundbreaking pacemaker technology still in use today. An elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and Founding Fellow of AIMBE, he continues to advise startups and serve on boards supporting biomedical research and education.
Chris Fair
Managing Director and Founder
Medtown Ventures
Fair is a seasoned medical device executive with more than 25 years of experience leading commercialization of innovative technologies and building high-growth companies. He has held leadership roles at DePuy, St. Francis Medical Technologies, MedShape, Amniox Medical, and Amendia/Spinal Elements, and currently serves on the boards of Spinal Elements, CellectCell, and 510Kardiac.
Linda Griffith
School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Director, Center for Gynepathology Research
Griffith is the School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering at MIT, where she directs the Center for Gynepathology Research and the Human Physiome on a Chip Program. A pioneer in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, she is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship.
Anjali Kumar
Pharma/Biotech CBO, Scientist, Advisor
Kumar is a biopharmaceutical executive with 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development, currently leading early-stage innovation strategy for Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical sector. She previously held senior roles at Shire Pharmaceuticals and Flexion Therapeutics and holds a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Georgia Tech.
Dr. Bruce Lavin
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
D9 Designs Inc.
Lavin is a physician and biopharmaceutical leader with more than 15 years in industry and 25 years of clinical experience, specializing in immunology, virology, and anti-infectives. He has held senior roles at UCB, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Sanofi-Aventis, and currently serves as a U.S. Navy Reserve medical officer.
Vincent Ling
Chief Business Officer
Morphocell Technologies
Ling is Chief Business Officer at Morphocell Technologies, leading commercialization of ReLiver, a regenerative implant system for liver failure. With more than 30 years in biotechnology, he has driven innovation across cell devices, protein engineering, and stem cell therapies, and currently advises universities, ARPA-H, and the Gates Foundation.
Pete Petit
Emeritus Petit Institute Advisory Board Member
Petit is a successful entrepreneur and former chairman and CEO of several public companies, including MiMedx Group and Matria Healthcare. A Georgia Tech and Georgia State alumnus, he is a major supporter of bioengineering and bioscience initiatives and founder of The Petit Group, a private investment firm.
Brock Reeve
CEO and Co-founder
Eos BioInnovation
Brock Reeve is CEO of Eos BioInnovation, an investment firm accelerating company formation in regenerative medicine. Formerly Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, he brings extensive experience in life sciences operations and business development and serves on multiple biotech boards.
M. Richard Shen
Managing Director and Founder
RS Technology Ventures, LLC
Shen is an innovator and investor with more than 25 years of experience in genomics and molecular diagnostics, currently managing RS Technology Ventures and serving on boards in the liquid biopsy and diagnostics sectors. He previously held senior roles at PacBio, Omniome, and Illumina, where he helped develop technologies that transformed genome sequencing.
Shawn P. Davis
CEO
Liberate Bio
Shawn P. Davis is CEO of Liberate Bio, leading next-generation delivery technologies to expand genetic medicines beyond the liver and enable in vivo immune-cell engineering. He brings 20+ years across biotech startups and global pharma, with leadership in drug delivery, formulation, devices, and translational development.
Charles A. Gersbach
Director
Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies
Charles A. Gersbach is the John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and Director of the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies. His research focuses on genome and epigenome editing, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, and synthetic biology to understand genome function and treat genetic disease.
Christopher Cashman
Advisor
Georgia Research Alliance
Cristopher Cashman is an accomplished chief executive with extensive public market and private equity experience across the medical device, biologics, and advanced manufacturing sectors. He was most recently the CEO and President of Carolina Precision Technologies, a leading contract manufacturer to the Medical Device and Aerospace industries.