Meet Our team

Core Team
Advisors

Philip Sell

MS

Co-Founder, President, and CEO

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Jaejin (Joey) Lee

PhD

Co-Founder, and CSO

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Eric Michel

PhD

Chief Operating Officer

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Max Heckhausen

MBA

Chief Financial Officer

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Negin Forouzesh

PhD

Chief Technology Officer

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Farhad Parhami

PhD, MBA

Founder, President & CEO, MAX BioPharma, Inc. Professor Emeritus, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

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Edward C. Jones-López

MD, MSc

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Keck School of Medicine at USC

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Kyu Y. Rhee

MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine College

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Jason Rifkin

JD, MS

President & CEO PhageNova Bio, Inc.

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Richard Balagtas

MBA

Professor of Medicine, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine College

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Max Heckhausen, MBA

Chief Financial Officer

Max Heckhausen brings extensive expertise in healthcare finance and strategic planning. He has led strategic growth initiatives for UCI Health, driving its expansion from a single to a six-hospital system with over $2.6 billion in annual revenue. Max has spearheaded financial planning for multiple major health system acquisitions and transformations, including optimizing enterprise revenue cycles to increase collections by $167 million and developing a 10-year integrated financial plan to grow revenues by $1.7 billion. His career spans leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente and GE Healthcare Partners, where he advanced strategic and financial operations for major health systems.

Negin Forouzesh

Chief Technical Officer

Negin received her Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Computer Science. She has a strong background in theoretical computer science, and in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures. She has applied physics-based/mathematical modeling, high-performance computing (HPC), and machine learning to simulate and understand biomolecular systems. As a researcher, she worked on computational methods for accurate yet fast simulation of protein-ligand complexes which have vast applications in drug discovery. To this end, she uses classical physics-based methods, such as implicit solvent modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, end-point free energy methods, and utilizing modern machine learning models such as deep generative models and convolutional neural networks to aid in hit identification and lead optimization. She has acquired her computational skills from her involvement in many technical HPC projects, including the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine (SCGPM) to develop a database of genetic variant annotation on a cloud platform, the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) at Virginia Tech building, testing, and deploying software packages on computing clusters. With extensive experience in software development and project management, Negin is leading the advancement of Metaba's innovative computational drug discovery platform technology, implementing in silico hit screening and lead optimization methods.

Jason Rifkin, J.D., M.S.

President & CEO- PhageNova Bio, Inc.

Jason is a seasoned executive with extensive expertise in developmental stage life sciences companies. He has successfully overseen various aspects of company operations, including clinical operations, business development, technology licensing, and capital raising. Before his current role as CEO at PhageNova Bio, Jason served as the President of PreScience Labs, an early-stage oncology company, where he played a key role in establishing a Phase 1clinical trial program. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Delcath Systems, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company focused on oncology. In this capacity, he led the transition from a developmental stage company to a publicly traded commercial operation. Jason served as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations at Delcath, where he managed the clinical development program and successfully completed Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in the United States and abroad. Before his tenure at Delcath, Jason practiced law as an associate in the Corporate Department-Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Group at Fox Rothschild. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Law Degree from Northeastern University School of Law, and a Masters of Biotechnology from The University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. At his role as Business Advisor to Metaba, Jason will provide guidance on company’s business and operational efforts as it evolves into a multifaceted biopharmaceutical company during preclinical and future clinical stages.

Richard Balagtas, M.B.A.

Commercial Strategy

Richard worked in biopharma consulting with VOZ Advisors, a firm specialized in developing patient advocacy and engagement strategies for companies including Novartis, CSL Behring, Incyte, and Sanofi-Regeneron. He has supported commercial launch strategies for 10 new drugs/indication expansions across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular disease, CNS, rare disease, and oncology. Richard has also worked in partnership with advocacy groups and professional societies including the American Heart Association, CancerCare, the National Kidney Foundation, and WomenHeart to develop innovative support programs designed by and with patients. Before his time in biopharma, Richard was a US Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines. His research examined the impact public health policies had in mitigating transplant tourism and illicit organ trafficking across Asia-Pacific on in-country kidney donation and transplant rates. Richard is receiving his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Richard will be involved in developing and executing the business and marketing strategy for Metaba.

Kyu Y. Rhee, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology,
Weill Cornell Medicine College

Kyu is a tenured Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology & Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine and has dedicated his career to pre-clinical tuberculosis (TB) drug development. In addition to pioneering the development of metabolomics technologies that have enabled systems level biochemical studies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis physiology, he has applied such technologies to guide rational TB drug development through their ability to enable studies of intrabacterial pharmacology of preclinical drug compounds. Kyu is a founding signatory of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation TB Drug Accelerator consortium as well as principal investigator of the NIH funded Tuberculosis Research Unit. Kyu brings significant expertise and knowledge of the field of TB microbiology and drug development from both the academic and pharmaceutical perspectives. Kyu will continue to provide his expertise and guidance to Metaba’s scientists as they continue their efforts to identify new targets in infectious diseases using metabolomics.

Edward C. Jones-López, M.D., M.Sc

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Keck School of Medicine at USC

Edward is physician-scientist and inventor trained in infectious disease and epidemiology, with over 25 years of experience conducting translational research across the entire spectrum of the tuberculosis (TB) disease cycle (i.e. transmission, infection, and disease). He has a long-held passion for combating TB through innovative translational and public health solutions that include bridging basic and clinical sciences. Edward obtained his M.D. from La Salle University School of Medicine, is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and has held faculty positions at Rutgers University, Boston University, and currently at Keck Medicine of USC. He has led several multidisciplinary teams of clinicians and scientists conducting clinical trials in the U.S., Uganda, and Brazil. Over his professional career, he has diagnosed and treated hundreds of patients with TB, including individuals with multidrug resistant TB, and HIV-associated TB in Mexico, Angola, Thailand, U.S, Uganda, and Brazil. His pursuits in industry include experience in startups and large companies. As Lead Scientific Director and co-patent holder, Edward was a founding partner of Thisis Diagnostics, Inc. in 2013, a start-up company dedicated to developing a promising ultrasensitive molecular diagnostic for TB and led all phases of assay development including bench, pre-clinical, and several clinical studies in the U.S., Uganda, Brazil, and The Gambia. He also served as Medical Director of Infectious Diseases R&D for Quest Diagnostics where he guided and oversaw the R&D agenda and supervised launch of two new molecular assays and led development of new assays for various infectious diseases. Edward will continue to provide his expertise and guidance to Metaba’s scientists as they continue their R&D efforts in infectious diseases.

Farhad Parhami, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Founder, President & CEO, MAX BioPharma, Inc. Professor Emeritus,
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Farhad Parhami was trained as an Experimental Pathologist in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), under the mentorship of the late Professor Judith Berliner. His training and experience include molecular and cellular biology, lipid metabolism, bone and stem cell biology, and inflammatory, , vascular and fibrotic diseases.. In 1996 he obtained a faculty position and held the title of Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Medicine at UCLA until his departure from the University in July 2016, presently holding the title of Professor Emeritus. Dr. Parhami received his M.B.A. degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in July 2012. In addition to discovering the cross talk between Liver X Receptors and Hedgehog signaling pathway, Dr. Parhami is credited with seminal discoveries including the identification of osteogenic and anti-adipogenic effects of specific oxysterols, the recognition that dyslipidemia causes adverse effects on bone cells and bone formation, and that cholesterol biosynthesis by osteoprogenitor cells is necessary for their proper differentiation and maturation into bone forming osteoblasts. Dr. Parhami has published and continues to publish in many peer-reviewed scientific journals and is regularly invited to present his research nationally and internationally. Dr. Parhami is the original inventor of the Oxysterol Therapeutics® platform technology based on which he founded MAX BioPharma Inc. in December 2010 and negotiated an Exclusive License Agreement from UCLA for an oxysterol compound undergoing therapeutic development for spine fusion. Dr. Parhami has been successful in developing MAX BioPharma into a fully functioning biotechnology company that currently has 6 employees, performs R&D in 3 major preclinical programs that utilize novel oxysterols as therapeutic candidates, and has raised more than $16M in non-dilutive NIH grants and sublicensing income from an industry partner. In his capacity as President and CEO of MAX BioPharma and Scientific Advisor to Metaba, Dr. Parhami continues to provide guidance to Metaba’s business development and scientific R&D efforts, and has initiated collaborations with Metaba’s scientists in the areas of drug discovery for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) that have resulted in three submitted joint NIH SBIR applications.

Philip Sell, M.S.

President & Chief Executive Officer; Co-Founder

Philip was technically trained in microbiology and virology. He received his B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and M.S. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Southern California. From research on novel bacteriophages, exploring their potential use in combination with natural antimicrobials for the development of phage therapy, he transitioned into the field of metabolomics, focusing on adaptive survival mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). His thesis work shed light on the role of desaturase enzymes in the adaptive metabolic switch that promotes Mtb persister formation, highlighting potential novel drug targets. Recognizing the importance of context in the host environment and response to infection, his research interests expanded to encompass the underlying metabolic mechanisms of how Mtb alters the host immune response through secreted metabolites. Aimed at deeper understanding of the complex relationship between pathogen and host during infection, Philip published several peer-reviewed scientific papers, scientific reviews, and a textbook chapter. He served as a Research Lab Specialist in the Covid Core at Keck School of Medicine where the team operated as a service core, providing experimental data to research labs and companies working with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The projects ranged from brief pilot studies to extensive, multi-month endeavors, including assessing the efficacy of therapeutic compounds, testing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, generating substantial datasets from clinical samples, and validating HVAC air purification system. In addition to service projects, Philip was responsible for validating the in vitro and in vivo COVID-19 models used by the Core, characterizing strains of SARS-CoV-2 in multiple cell types and murine strains. Philip’s research, experiences, and desire to develop novel therapies for debilitating and fatal human diseases, led him to co-found Metaba with Dr. Jaejin Lee. Metaba aims to bring innovation to the treatment strategy for TB and other infectious diseases, and provide expertise in metabolomics to help advance innovation in other indications.

Eric Michel

Chief Operating Officer

Eric received his Ph.D. from Kyung Hee University, Korea in Biomedical Engineering. He has extensive experience in providing strategic insights for the development of new products and improvements to business processes. With his technology expertise, he played a crucial role in driving business decisions, strategic planning, and identifying avenues for growth in his previous position as the Chief Technology Officer at Oysterable Co. Ltd. He was accountable for the creation and improvement of product offerings, crafting technology strategies, continually refining the technological roadmap, and integrating innovative solutions to achieve cost-effective and efficient outcomes. His handling of recruitment, resource allocation, and the implementation of analytical tools to facilitate data-driven decision-making is invaluable to Metaba’s efficient operations. Eric has over 6 years of Biomedical Engineering research experience, over 12 years of combined experience designing and building products from idea to creation for different markets, over 7 years of experience as a product manager and team leader for internal and outsourced teams across different countries, over 5 years of experience in full stack product development for B2C/B2B businesses, and 6 years of experience in managing startup companies.

Jaejin (Joey) Lee, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer; Co-Founder

Jaejin received his Ph.D. from Myoungji University, Korea in Molecular Biology where he developed a rapid and precise method for detecting antibiotic resistance genes on a large scale. Jaejin’s postdoctoral research focus at the University of Southern California has been on the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms, specifically, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), and its ability to form persister cells. His investigations on metabolic patterns in Mtb during persister formation has allowed for elucidation of molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, and will contribite to transformative improvements in the prevention, identification, and response to the debilitating epidemic of drug resistance. This innovation led to a deeper understanding of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens and played a crucial role in monitoring the emergence of antibiotic resistance genes. Consequently, his work has contributed to the advancement of biological sciences research, involving intricate and inventive ideas that have unveiled fundamental mechanisms, potential targets, diagnostic techniques, and therapeutic strategies. While a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Southern California, Jaejin investigated bacterial cells that escape the effects of antibiotics without undergoing genetic changes and examined how Mtb remodels its cell wall through turnover and internalization mechanisms that fuel downstream pathways essential for Mtb viability under stress conditions. His research on Mtb metabolism and cell wall remodeling under stress was published in top biology journals, such as Nature Communications. Recently, his studies focused on creating new therapeutic strategies using lipidomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to define cell wall-mediated phenotypic drug-resistance mechanisms. The promising results of this research have led Jaejin to co-found Metaba with Philip Sell to further develop and commercialize this technology and bring innovation to the treatment strategy for TB. It is his ongoing commitment to continue efforts and provide his expertise toward the development of novel therapeutics at Metaba.

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