Board of Directors

Deepa brings over 20 years of healthcare experience spanning venture capital, investment banking, operations, and legislation. She most recently served as Managing Director at WestRiver Group. She currently sits on the Board of Design Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DSGN) and is an Independent Advisor to Equilibre Biopharmaceuticals. In June 2021, Deepa was awarded the Falk Marques General Partners Rising Star Award sponsored by Deloitte. Previous to WestRiver, Deepa’s roles included Chief of Staff at Blue Shield, Regional VP for Optum, VP of Financial Strategy and Business Development at Coherus Biosciences (Nasdaq: CHRS) and several years in biotech investment banking executing private placements and buyside/sellside M&A. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with an emphasis in Health Industry Management.

Robin Abrams serves as Executive Chair of the Board of Directors and has extensive expertise in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with nearly 20 years in senior legal roles. She previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel at vTv since 2016. Robin is also the General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer for Siga Technologies. Prior to joining vTv, Robin was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Purdue Pharma where she was responsible for the company’s federal and state government investigations and litigation, and oversaw the regulatory, employment, and compliance groups within the Law Department. Prior to Purdue, Robin served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, rising to the position of Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, and clerked for then-Chief Judge Jack B. Weinstein, federal District Court, Eastern District of New York. Robin earned her Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.

John Fry is the 14th president of Drexel University. Following his appointment at Drexel in 2010, John set out to transform the institution into a private research university with a strong public purpose – an institution that harnesses its strengths in cooperative education, translational research, online education and entrepreneurship to serve students, its neighborhood, the city and nation. Prior to Drexel, John was president of Franklin & Marshall College, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania, and a management consultant for the higher education and nonprofit sectors. John graduated from Lafayette College and earned a master’s degree in business administration from New York University Stern School of Business.

Hersh Kozlov is the managing partner of the Cherry Hill, New Jersey office of Duane Morris, a law firm with more than 800 attorneys in the United States and internationally. With over thirty years of experience, Hersh provides counseling to clients in the areas of litigation, federal and state regulatory matters, gaming law and complex financial institution management. Hersh has managed numerous matters involving complex commercial litigation and has served as lead counsel before both federal and state courts in New Jersey and elsewhere. He was certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a civil and criminal trial attorney, having received his initial certification in 1984 and having been twice re-certified thereafter. He has represented investment banks and lenders, private equity firms, financial institutions and banks, and gaming companies in jurisdictions both domestic and international. In addition to his directorship at vTv, Hersh serves on the board of directors of The Bancorp, Inc. (TBBK NASDAQ). He has previously been a member of the board of directors of Resource America, Inc. (REXI NASDAQ), where he served as the lead independent director Jeff Banks, Inc. (JEFF NASDAQ) TRM Corporation (TRM NASDAQ) Hudson United Bank (HUB NYSE) US Healthcare Life Insurance Company and as a member of the Board of Directors of Princeton Insurance Company and the Healthcare Insurance Exchange. Hersh has also served as counsel to the board of directors of US Healthcare, Inc. Hersh graduated from Temple University with a B.A. degree in 1969 and graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1972, which has identified and honored him as an outstanding graduate.

Rich Nelson is Executive Vice President Corporate Development for MacAndrews & Forbes (“M&F”) and Vericast, responsible for the identification and execution of global merger and acquisition opportunities. In this role, Rich works with business leaders to source, negotiate and close acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships that complement M&F’s and Vericast’s long-term vision and strategy. Rich brings more than 20 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Vericast, Rich served as Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Development at The Nielsen Company. Rich also served as Managing Director, Mergers and Acquisitions at IAC/InterActive Corp. Previously, Rich had been President and Co-Founder of Trendum, n/k/a Nielsen BuzzMetrics and SVP/General Counsel of RSL Communications, a telecommunications company. Rich began his career as a mergers and acquisition attorney at Skadden Arps. Rich earned a Bachelors in Business Administration in Finance with High Distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Rich is a member of the National Advisory Board for the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, the Board of Directors of Think Pink Rocks breast cancer charity, and a former member of the Board of Directors of Reply.com, RSL COM U.S.A. and Trendum, Inc. Rich is an active venture investor and advisor to various stage private companies and their Boards, including Woolsey Pharmaceuticals.

Noel Spiegel was a partner at Deloitte & Touche, LLP (“Deloitte”), where he practiced from September 1969 until his retirement in May 2010. In his over 40-year career at Deloitte, he served in numerous management positions, including as Deputy Managing Partner, member of the Executive Committee, Managing Partner of Deloitte’s Transaction Assurance practice, Global Offerings and IFRS practice and Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice (Northeast Region), and as Partner-in-Charge of Audit Operations in Deloitte’s New York Office. Noel holds a B.S. from Long Island University and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Howard L. Weiner is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, Director and Founder of the Brigham MS Center and Co-Director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston which has over 250 scientists and investigates five major brain diseases: Multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumors. He has pioneered immunotherapy in MS and has investigated immune mechanisms in nervous system diseases including MS, Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, stroke and brain tumors. He has also pioneered the investigation of the mucosal immune system for the treatment of autoimmune and other diseases and the use of anti-CD3 to induce regulatory T cells for the treatment of these diseases. He discovered Th3 regulatory T cells which act via TGF-β, now recognized as a central cytokine in immune system differentiation and he is currently at the forefront of investigating the microbiome in MS and modulating the microbiome by oral administration of microRNAs. Many of his discoveries in basic neuroimmunology are being translated to human disease including MS, ALS, and AD. He established the Comprehensive Longitudinal Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis (CLIMB) observational cohort of 2300 MS patients at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital now in its 20th year to deeply phenotype MS patients and the development of precision medicine for MS. In 2004, Harvard Medical School honored him with the establishment of the Howard L. Weiner Professorship of Neurologic Diseases. Howard is the 2007 recipient of the John Dystel Prize for MS Research and in 2012 he received the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award for investigating the innate immune system in Alzheimer’s disease. Howard holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.D. from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.