Team

Ocugenix was founded by a nationally recognized research team from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and is based on over 20 years of NIH-funded research into the molecular mechanisms of wound healing and cellular response. The company has assembled an experienced development team with expertise in clinical design, science, regulatory, toxicity, and CMC. Combined, the team has taken over 50 products through the ophthalmology section of the FDA to market.

Our Team

Sean McDonald

Position: Chief Executive Officer

Sean McDonald is a venture partner at Adams Capital Management and chief executive officer of Ocugenix. Mr. McDonald has a track record of building start-ups from early stages of venture capital investment to self-sufficient revenue generation. He previously led Precision Therapeutics, a market-leading personalized medicine company, that he grew through both internal development as well as acquisitions to $40 million in revenue. During Mr. McDonald’s tenure as chief executive officer, Precision Therapeutics developed the most diversified portfolio in the industry of validated personalized medicine products impacting lung, colon and gynecological cancers. Earlier in his career, he founded Automated Healthcare, a company that developed and marketed the first systems that automated the dispensing and administration of medications in hospital pharmacies. The system has been successfully deployed in several hundred hospital pharmacies across the country and dispenses a half a billion prescriptions annually error-free. Mr. McDonald grew that business from startup to close to $200 million in revenue. He also was one of the top five executives at McKesson Corporation for five years as well as a board member for ten years of Respironics, a medical device company purchased by Philips for $5.3 billion.

Sean McDonald

Chief Executive Officer

Sean McDonald is a venture partner at Adams Capital Management...

Alan Wells, M.D., DMSc

Position: Chief Scientific Officer

Alan Wells, M.D., DMSc, is currently the executive vice-chairman of the section of laboratory medicine (encompassing clinical chemistry, clinical microbiology, hematopathology, immunopathology, transfusion medicine, and clinical pathology throughout the UPMC Health System). He also serves as the medical director for the UPMC Clinical Laboratories. As the Thomas Gill III Professor of Pathology, Dr. Wells directs a large research endeavor investigating how cells interact with and respond to their microenvironment during cancer dissemination and wound healing, with an eye towards biologically engineered and stem cell therapeutics in these arenas.

Alan Wells, M.D., DMSc

Chief Scientific Officer

Alan Wells, M.D., DMSc, is currently the executive vice-chairman of...

Richard Kollender

Position: Advisor, Board Member

Mr. Kollender has more than 35 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Reaction Biology, and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Restorative Therapies. He also serves on the Boards of Directors for Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ: RPID), and Ocugenix, and as an adjunct faculty member at Lehigh University. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Strongbridge BioPharma, Insmed, NuPathe, Inc., and Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in addition to several other privately held companies. He holds an MBA and a certificate degree in the graduate program in health administration and policy, both from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in accounting from Franklin and Marshall College.

Richard Kollender

Advisor, Board Member

Mr. Kollender has more than 35 years of experience in...

Ian P. Conner, MD, Ph.D.

Position: Advisor

Ian P. Conner, M.D., PhD is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of the UPMC Eye Center. Through an unrestricted grant from the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), Dr. Conner has collaborated with faculty members affiliated with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine to investigate the structural, metabolic, and functional relationships between the eye and the brain in glaucoma. In addition to his research efforts, Dr. Conner has served as site investigator on several UPMC Eye Center clinical studies on glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Ian P. Conner, MD, Ph.D.

Advisor

Ian P. Conner, M.D., PhD is an assistant professor of...

Joel S. Schuman, MD

Position: Advisor

Joel S. Schuman, M.D. is currently the Chair of Ophthalmology at NYU. Previously he was the director of the UPMC Eye Center, one of the nation’s top authorities on glaucoma and diagnostic testing for eye disease, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He also held secondary appointments at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at UPMC, the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition jointly run by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and as professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. Dr. Schuman helped to develop optical coherence tomography (OCT), now known as Spectral OCT, which is the most powerful tool available for early detection of glaucoma. Dr. Schuman and his colleagues were the first to identify a molecular marker for human glaucoma, as published in Nature Medicine. This discovery has paved the way for other significant advances in the treatment and diagnosis of glaucoma.

Joel S. Schuman, MD

Advisor

Joel S. Schuman, M.D. is currently the Chair of Ophthalmology...

Clinical Advisors

SriniVas Sadda, MD, FARVO

  • President, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
  • Director, Artificial Intelligence and Imaging Research at the Doheny Eye Institute
  • Professor of Ophthalmology, UCLA

David Boyer, MD

  • Senior Partner, Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group
  • Adjunct Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Roger Goldberg, MD, MBA

  • Vitreoretinal Surgeon, Bay Area Retina Associates
  • Active Member, American Society of Retinal Specialists, the Retina Society, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Sunil Patel, MD, PhD

  • Vitreoretinal Surgeon and Managing Partner, Ophthalmology Specialist of Texas
  • President, Integrated Clinical Research

Raj Maturi, MD, FASRS

  • Founder and Partner, Retina Partners Midwest
  • Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine

Robert Avery, MD

  • Founder and CEO, California Retina Consultants
  • Co-Founder, California Retina Research Foundation

Sunil Srivastava, MD

  • Uveitis and Vireo-Retinal Specialist, Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic
  • Senior Achievement Award Recipient, American Academy of Ophthalmology

Ian P. Conner, M.D., Ph.D.

Founder and Clinical Advisor
Dr. Ian Conner is an assistant professor of ophthalmology and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of the UPMC Eye Center. Through an unrestricted grant from the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), Dr. Conner has collaborated with faculty members affiliated with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine to investigate the structural, metabolic, and functional relationships between the eye and the brain in glaucoma. In addition to his research efforts, Dr. Conner has served as site investigator on several UPMC Eye Center clinical studies on glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Cecelia C. Yates, Ph.D.

Founder and Scientific Advisor
Dr. Cecilia Yates is an associate professor of health promotion and development at UPMC School of Nursing. Dr. Yates’ research focuses on chemokine and extracellular matrix interactions in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the development of dermal and pulmonary fibrosis. She has a cellular and molecular laboratory fully equipped for basic and translational research located within the School of Nursing. Current members of the laboratory are investigating genomic regulation of molecules that mediate the development and progression of fibrosis. Dr. Yates is also developing small molecule therapeutics and cellular therapies to improve tissue remodeling.

Alan Wells, M.D., DMS

Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Alan Wells is the Thomas J. Gill III Professor of Pathology and the executive vice-chairman of the department of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, Dr. Wells is a professor of bioengineering and computational & systems biology (secondary appointments) and a staff physician at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Wells holds an AB in biochemistry from Brown University (1979) and received his DMS in tumor biology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1982. Returning to Providence, Rhode Island, he received his MD from Brown University in 1988. Following his studies, Dr. Wells completed a postdoctoral fellowship in tumor biology at the University of California in San Francisco, California, and a residency in laboratory medicine at the University of California in San Diego, California.
Sean McDonald, CEO

Sean McDonald

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Sean McDonald has a track record of building start-ups from early stages of venture capital investment to self-sufficient revenue generation. He previously led Precision Therapeutics, a market-leading personalized medicine company, that he grew through both internal development as well as acquisitions to $40 million in revenue.

During Mr. McDonald’s tenure as CEO, Precision Therapeutics developed the most diversified portfolio in the industry of validated personalized medicine products impacting lung, colon and gynecological cancers. Earlier in his career, he founded Automated Healthcare, a company that developed the first systems that automated the dispensing of medications in hospital pharmacies. The system has been successfully deployed in several hundred hospital pharmacies across the country and dispenses a half a billion prescriptions. Mr. McDonald grew that business from startup to close to $200 million in revenue.

Alan Wells, M.D., DMS

Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Alan Wells is the Thomas J. Gill III Professor of Pathology and the executive vice-chairman of the department of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, Dr. Wells is a professor of bioengineering and computational & systems biology (secondary appointments) and a staff physician at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Wells holds an AB in biochemistry from Brown University (1979) and received his DMS in tumor biology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1982. Returning to Providence, Rhode Island, he received his MD from Brown University in 1988. Following his studies, Dr. Wells completed a postdoctoral fellowship in tumor biology at the University of California in San Francisco, California, and a residency in laboratory medicine at the University of California in San Diego, California.