Vision, Empowered
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Our Story
Innovators. Dreamers.
Cell-based therapy offers promising treatment solutions for many devastating and currently incurable diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and cancer. However, the lack of means to effectively track these therapeutic cells in a subject to assess treatment safety and effectiveness lengthens the time for development and introduction of these therapies to clinics.
This is why we founded Visicell Medical Inc. We are a team of a passionate scientist, engineer, and radiologist who began this journey with a singular goal: to help accelerate cell-based therapy to the market for patients in need. We all have been personally touched by the need of such promising therapy for our family, friends and colleagues. With our technology, our objective is to make such breakthroughs possible for patients.
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Our current suite of imaging tools empower scientists and clinicians to evaluate cell therapy in a faster, more cost-effective way early on in development, and understand safety and performance with continuity from pre-clinical stage to clinical trials. At Visicell, we strive to transform how biopharmaceutical products are developed and taken to market with our proprietary nanomaterial technology.
Our Innovative Technology
Advanced Solutions
Visicell Medical’s core technology is based on clinically applicable imaging tool published in Nature Medicine in 2012. Our Co-Founder, Mya S. Thu, is the first author of the article, and one of the inventors of the core technology. We have since further developed the technology for a fast, easy-to-use, and all-in-one solution that is applicable to different immune (CAR-T and NK) and stem cell types. Based on the imaging needs of specific disease models in a subject, we have also additionally expanded the technology for dual imaging modality. Visicell Medical centers its technological and product development philosophy on clinical applicability using standard imaging techniques available in today’s clinic such that its customers and clients are able to perform their studies with continuity from pre-clinical to clinical trials with minimal adaptations.
The Visicell Medical Team
Mya Thu, M.Sc., MBA
Co-Founder and CEO
Mya is the Co-Founder and President/CEO of Visicell Medical Inc. She has a unique passion to transform how much-needed technologies are developed and life-saving products are taken to market for patients based on her own personal family experience. She has more than twelve years of experience in nanomaterials, stem cell imaging, and stem cell-based therapy in neurodegenerative diseases, and have obtained her career training at prominent institutions including City of Hope Medical Center (COH) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is a trained Biomedical-Electrical Engineer and holds a Masters in Medical Device and Diagnostic Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Amil Gentili, MD, MBA, FACHE
Co-Founder and VP, Clinical Operations
Amil is a Co-Founder of Visicell Medical Inc. He is a practicing radiologist and a Professor of Radiology at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He has more than twenty-five years of medical imaging and healthcare management experience with extensive publications in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to medical training, Amil holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Rady School of Management, UCSD.
Jack Florio, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Jack Florio is the Chief Business Officer of Visicell Medical Inc. He brings to the company a unique set of experiences developed over his 50 years in the industry, which started with 29 years at Eli Lilly and Company in 15 different management positions domestically and abroad. Over the last 21 years he has held operational roles in both small and large companies across the life science space in the US and Europe. His experiences span from early-stage company formation through late-stage capital raising and M&A. This gives him a unique view of company development, including partnering with major pharma. Jack is currently a Partner with Deallus, a global life sciences consultancy working with major pharma as well an angel investor with NuFund Venture Group and MEDA Angels. Additionally he is an investment banker in the Finalis Network where he works with several other life science focused bankers on advisory, capital formation and M&A deals across the sector. Jack has a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Columbia University and an MBA from NYU/Stern School of Business.
George Smith, PhD,
MBA
Chief Development Officer
George joined VisiCELL Medical as the Chief Development Officer in January 2023 after spending 3 years on VisiCELL’s advisory board. Recently, he led strategy and development of next generation TIL therapies at Myst/Turnstone Biologics. He founded the IQVIA Cell and Gene Therapy Center, a strategic consultancy and services provider helping companies develop advanced therapies. He is an SME for clinical and preclinical development, strategy, pharmacology, translational medicine and asset evaluation. He has worked for small and large biopharma companies for a wide variety of therapeutic areas and modalities from concept through Phase III, including inventing Paxlovid, and is an advisor to several advanced therapy companies. George received his Ph.D. and MBA from University of California, San Diego.
Mark Stolowitz, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Mark retired in May of 2019 as the Deputy Director for Operations in the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine. He joined Visicell Medical Inc. as the Chief Science Officer in March of 2021. A seasoned scientific leader with over 35 years of experience conceptualizing and developing innovative life sciences research tools, he is acknowledged for creating technology platforms and developing intellectual property to facilitate new business segments and startup ventures, realize new market opportunities and create mergers and acquisitions opportunities. Over the course of 20 years, Mark served as either Chief Executive Officer or Chief Technology Officer in five start-up companies in the life sciences research tools industry. A prolific innovator, he has been issued 47 United States Patents related to Bioconjugation, Protein Chromatography, Protein Immobilization, Nucleic Acid Immobilization, Protein Biochips, SPR Biosensors, and Protein Sequencing.
Johnny Akers, PhD
VP, Scientific Operations and Alliance Management
Johnny leads our research and product development program with his strong analytical skill and extensive training in biochemistry and molecular cell biology. Prior to joining Visicell, he was an assistant project scientist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center developing novel exosome nanoparticle-based diagnostic and therapeutic tools for treating brain cancer. Johnny holds a PhD in biological sciences from University of California Irvine.
Advisory Board
Co-founder and Chair of SAB
Shoreline Biosciences
Professor of Medicine and Director of Cell Therapy
UC San Diego
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