Troy Hamilton
CEO
Troy Hamilton has more than 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and healthcare industries. Previously, he held several executive and global commercial leadership roles at Adare Pharmaceuticals, Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson. Troy has significant Gastroenterology-related experience in functional gastrointestinal disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, short bowel syndrome, rare pediatric cholestasis, and acid-peptic disorders. He also serves as a board member at Lazarus Pharmaceuticals, metaMe Health, and Bethanamist and board advisor at New Perspectives. Troy received his Bachelor of Science, Doctorate, and MBA degrees from Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Haub School of Business).
Dr. Gina Eagle
Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Gina Eagle is a Specialist Pediatrician with 16 years of hospital-based clinical experience followed by 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. She has focused on clinical development for orphan diseases with high unmet medical needs. Her demonstrated successes in clinical trial strategy and execution span from rare pediatric conditions to orphan respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions. She has advised multiple programs in the rare disease space and early clinical development strategy, and has served as an independent member on data safety monitoring boards. She brings an in-depth knowledge of human disease and a passion for bringing new medicines to patients with few or no treatment options.
Prior to joining Ellodi, Dr. Eagle successfully led the clinical development program at Insmed Inc. to bring the first and only approved drug to patients with NTM lung disease. She has multiple clinical development patents in her name and has authored or co-authored multiple publications in clinical microbiology. Having received her medical degree with Honors from the University of New South Wales, Australia, she later entered as a Fellow of the Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), specializing in pediatric medicine. Her career in pharmaceuticals started in Clinical Development/Medical Affairs at Novartis and subsequently she joined multiple biotech companies, including Aptalis, Insmed and Adare Pharmaceuticals focusing on clinical drug development, particularly for orphan diseases. Dr. Eagle was involved in the initial clinical development of what is now Ellodi’s flagship product, APT-1011, and currently leads the late stage development program.
Vered Katz Ben-Yair
Head of Program Management
Vered is a seasoned professional with over 12 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She has expertise in overseeing and managing global clinical research and development, clinical trial design and execution, medical writing and overseeing data safety monitoring boards.
Prior to Ellodi, Vered worked as a Director of Project Management for RedHill Biopharma, where she oversaw the development of investigational drugs, including the management of global clinical studies and pre-clinical programs. Before joining RedHill, Vered worked as a Scientific Consultant for Thomson Reuters and as a Scientist Project Lead at Selventa Inc. Vered studied towards a Ph.D in Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute Rehovot, Israel and holds a M.Sc in Medical Sciences from the Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Medicine.
Karol Knoop, RN, BS, CCRA
Senior Director, Clinical and Medical Affairs Operations
Karol Knoop, RN, BS, CCRA has led the operational aspects in the clinical development of Ellodi’s flagship product, APT-1011, over the last few years. She has over 30 years’ experience in clinical research, focusing on talent development, resource management, and strategic project oversight. Karol’s capabilities include the integration of resources during times of corporate evolution and change, particularly during mergers and acquisition.
Prior to entering the world of clinical research, Karol was the COO of a 501c3 Home Health Agency in Utah and key in the development of several entrepreneurial projects that included clinical research. Karol then spent over 10 years at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals leading workgroups to develop feasibility methodology for Phase I to IV clinical studies and identifying Key Opinion Leaders and Centers of Excellence for successful study execution. Her multi-therapeutic and entrepreneurial background bring a strong solution-oriented approach and knowhow to Ellodi Pharmaceuticals, for the integration of all to bridge clinical study activities with Medical Affairs and medical education, which are key for the preparation that underscores the launch of new drugs.
Karol has been an industry speaker for topics in quality cultures, project execution, patient recruitment/retention and project/performance metrics. She has been a co-author on industry publications and abstracts. Karol is an RN with a degree majoring in Health Care Administration, greenbelt in Lean Six Sigma and trained with the Project Management Institute. As the Executive Director of the Utah Nurses Association, Karol was an ad hoc member of the Advisory Boards for the nursing programs at the University of Utah and Weber State University.
Sarah Murchison
Chief of Staff and Head of Commercial Operations
Sarah Murchison has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. Previously she held executive and commercial leadership roles at New Perspectives, Inc., Eurand Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk and Merck Human Health. For the last 15 years, she has focused solely in establishing emerging biotech organizations with leadership responsibility for developing global commercialization strategies, market assessments, strategic and tactical launch plans, lifecycle management strategies and operational requirements. Sarah received her Bachelor of Arts from The College of Wooster and her MHA from Washington University School of Medicine.
James Nezamis
Executive Director, Biometrics
James Nezamis is a biostatistician with more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and CRO industries. He has broad experience in numerous therapeutic areas, including infectious diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pain management, depression and imaging contrast agents. In the last few years James work has focused on orphan diseases. He has extensive knowledge of Phase I through Phase IV clinical trial design, analysis, data management, data monitoring committees, and regulatory submissions. He brings an in-depth knowledge of statistics, strategy and regulatory requirements, along with extensive experience in regulatory interactions.
Prior to joining Ellodi, James successfully led the biostatistics and data management teams at Insmed Inc. to bring the first approved drug to patients with NTM lung disease and at Mannkind to bring Afrezza® to market. James obtained a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Western Michigan University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in both Applied Mathematics and Statistics. His educational background also includes extensive engineering and computer science studies.
Martin Waga
Director, Technical Operations and Pharmacovigilance
Martin Waga has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Before his current role, as Director of Technical Operations (Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing) and Pharmacovigilance, he was responsible for the quality oversight for APT-1011 at Adare Pharmaceuticals and its pipeline of clinical-stage products. He has extensive experience leading quality assurance teams and managing regulatory and pharmacovigilance operations. During this period, he was instrumental in creating comprehensive quality management systems, leading quality assurance teams, and managing regulatory and pharmacovigilance operations.
Martin’s expertise extends beyond Adare Pharmaceuticals, having held leadership positions in quality assurance, pharmacovigilance, medical device manufacturing, and regulatory operations at Luitpold Pharmaceuticals (a division of Daiichi Sankyo), Medidata Solutions Worldwide, ePharmaSolutions, Phase Forward, Palatin Technologies, Transave Inc., and Schering Plough. He has also hosted approximately 300 sponsor, partner, and regulatory inspections in his career, including regulatory authorities such as EMA state authorities, MHRA, FDA, Korean FDA, China FDA, and Health Canada. He holds a Six Sigma Green Belt and is a member of both the American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). Martin received his undergraduate biology education from Rutgers University and his MBA from Southern New Hampshire University.
Casey Walker
Administration Lead
Casey Walker has 17+ years of administrative and operational experience in managing client-centric office operations. She supports the day-to-day administrative, financial, and operational functions for the company and so much more. She has previously held positions as a contract specialist at Sikorsky Aircraft and Nektar Therapeutics. Casey received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Athens State University.
