UNPARALLELED EXPERTISE IN DERMATOLOGY, SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT AND CORPORATE OPERATIONS
Reid Waldman, MD
Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
Dr. Waldman is the Chief Executive Officer of Veradermics. Under his stewardship, he has positioned Veradermics for rapid growth by implementing a differentiated strategy centered on advancing first-in-class therapeutics for under-innovated markets in dermatology. He has also successfully led the company through three equity financings raising proceeds of more than $113M and has advanced two Veradermics assets, VDPHL, a non-hormonal oral therapeutic into a first-in-human trial, and, VDMN, an immunostimulatory dissolvable microarray for the treatment of warts into a 150-subject, Phase 2 clinical trial.
Dr. Waldman is a board-certified dermatologist with more than 10 years of clinical experience. Prior to founding Veradermics, Dr. Waldman was a prolific researcher authoring more than 100 publications including a textbook titled “Dermatology for the Primary Care Provider.” He has been the recipient of numerous accolades including the American Academy of Dermatology’s “Excellence in Patient Care” award. He earned his Bachelor of Liberal Arts and his Medical Degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City 6 Year BA/MD Program and completed his dermatology residency with a “Distinction in Clinical Trials” at the University of Connecticut.
Tim Durso, MD
President and Board Member
Dr. Durso is the President of Veradermics heading research and development for the company. Dr. Durso is a board-certified Dermatologist by training with more than 10 years of clinical experience.
In 4 years of development, he has successfully advanced the company from ideas on paper into clinical testing for 2 assets: VDPHL, a non-hormonal oral therapeutic for the treatment of pattern hair loss in a first-in-human trial, and VDMN, an immunostimulatory dissolvable microarray for the treatment of warts in a 150-subject Phase 2 clinical trial. In the same time span, he has also led advancement of the remainder of the company's portfolio, 3 additional programs, to a near-clinical stage of pre-clinical development.
Dr. Durso is a recognized expert in innovation for both drug and device domains within the field of dermatology having authored a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on a variety of subjects. He has also been awarded national recognition for his work including being named a Resident of Distinction by the DermMentors Foundation and a past Grand Prize Winner of MIT Hacking Dermatology. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and his Medical Degree summa cum laude from Loyola University Chicago.
Dominic Carrano, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Dominic is the Chief Financial Officer at Veradermics and a Certified Public Accountant with more than 15 years of experience managing areas of financial reporting, technical accounting, and financial planning with a focus in the biotechnology sector. Prior to joining Veradermics, Inc. he served as the VP of Finance and Controller at Rallybio Corporation (RLYB) developing the company’s financial reporting, treasury, tax, accounting, and financial analysis and planning functions. He led the finance function through the execution of Rallybio’s initial public offering, follow-on offering, and compliance with ongoing public company requirements.
Prior to joining Rallybio, he served in roles of increasing responsibility at Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), focusing on areas of technical accounting, SEC financial reporting, and other various strategic projects. Dominic began his career at Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Dominic earned his Master of Science and his Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Connecticut.
Michael Smolinski, PhD
Vice President of Development and Scientific Operations
Dr. Michael Smolinski is the Vice President of Development and Scientific Operations of Veradermics. He has more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery and pharmaceutical development primarily in the topical and oral space.
Dr. Smolinski served as CSO at Athenex where he managed drug discovery, nonclinical operations, CMC, and intellectual property. During his time there he was involved in advancing over ten investigational drugs into clinical studies, primarily in the oncology space. Several of these products had proceeded to NDA for which Mike was responsible for all nonclinical, CMC and intellectual property matters. Klisyri (tirbanibulin), a compound Mike had participated in the discovery of and worked on developing throughout his career at Athenex, was approved by the FDA and EMA for the topical treatment of actinic keratosis.
He received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, in Medicinal Chemistry and PhD in Chemistry from the University at Buffalo. He completed a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute where he focused on drug discovery for kinases and GPCRs.
Aron Shapiro
Vice President of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs
Aron Shapiro is the Vice President of Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs at Veradermics. Mr. Shapiro has over 25 years of clinical development, clinical operations and global regulatory strategy experience providing oversight across small and large molecule, as well as medical device programs. In his most recent prior roles at Ora, a leading ophthalmology CRO, Mr. Shapiro served as Therapeutic Area Head, leading clinical development and regulatory strategy, Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing all business development and sales activities, and managed the company’s investments and strategic partnerships.
Mr. Shapiro currently serves on the board of directors for Kiora Pharmaceuticals (KPRX: NASDAQ), an ophthalmic specialty pharmaceutical company. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Bates College.
Michael J. Murphy
Vice President of Project and Program Management, Business Technology and Chief of Staff
Michael Murphy is the Vice President of Project and Program Management, Business Technology and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Veradermics.
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Mr. Murphy has over 25 years of experience encompassing nearly every element of the drug development process. At Pfizer he started in the Clinical organization, working in several therapeutic areas overseeing clinical studies, before moving to Project Management, controlling multiple programs and managing project managers. He designed and implemented the portfolio and operations processes for the Out-licensing function before returning to clinical operations, governance and development optimization efforts as head of Governance Management. During his tenure, he has worked on programs from lead development to sNDA, and has worked on multiple regulatory filings, in the US and abroad.
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He was VP, Project Management Lead for the Complement program and head of Business Technology at Rallybio, among other duties. He has provided development-enabling consulting services as Principal/Managing Director of P3M US, LLC, serving small and mid-size biopharmaceutical organizations.
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Mr. Murphy is a pharmacist by training and holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Rhode Island.
Karl Pruss
Senior Director of Manufacturing Sciences and Technology
Karl is the Senior Director of Manufacturing Sciences and Technology of Veradermics. He brings over 30 years of pharmaceutical expertise encompassing analytical, formulation development, technical operations, and project management with an emphasis on early clinical to commercial manufacturing and outsourcing.
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He has worked at large industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, Glaxo Smith Kline, and Sanofi as well as smaller innovative companies such as Elan, Athenex, and NeuroTrauma Sciences and is skilled with a variety of pharmaceutical processes and equipment.
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Karl received his BS in chemistry from DeSales University and a MS in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Barbara Szymaszek
Director of Clinical Operations
Barbara brings over 30 years of clinical operations experience in the pharmaceutical industry and academia combined. She is highly experienced in most aspects of Phase I-IV clinical trials, with extensive focus on large global Phase 2/3 programs.
Prior to joining VeraDermics, she was an Asset Lead at Pfizer for 5 years. Her key indications included eczema, alopecia, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and colitis. Prior to working at Pfizer, she worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb for 18 years where she held a variety of roles including protocol manager, lead site manager, recruitment and analytics lead, and advocacy lead. She gained 10 years of functional line manager experience while at BMS, and managed projects across many therapeutic areas, including CNS, oncology, virology, and rare indications such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
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Prior to joining industry, Barbara worked for 8 years as a study coordinator and recruitment lead at UC Irvine, and the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Brecksville, OH. She coordinated clinical trials for patients with schizophrenia and other serious and persistent psychiatric indications. Barbara holds a Bachelor of Social Work from University of Texas, Austin.
Brian Trautman
Director, CMC Project Management
Brian is the Director, CMC Project Management at Veradermics overseeing the development and implementation of a holistic approach to science-based planning, risk management, and decision making. He brings more than 14 years of industry experience in the drug development space spanning scientific, management, and consulting positions.
Prior to joining Veradermics, Brian built his career advancing and managing the development of innovative dry powder and liquid inhalation therapies at Pulmatrix and Moderna, and leading CMC and global clinical supply initiatives on oral drug products at Athenex. He is a recognized leader accomplished in managing multidisciplinary teams and activities on highly visible, fast-paced programs. Brian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University.