Leadership Team

  • Michael Men, M.D.

    Chairman, ImStem

    Michael co-founded ImStem and has served as the chairman and head of the Board of Directors since our founding. At ImStem, Michael has overseen company operation and is responsible for making major decisions. He worked to form a research team with global talents that led to the development of IMS001 as well as its clearance for clinical trial by the FDA in 2020. IMS001 is believed to be the first human embryonic stem cell derived-mesenchymal stem cell (hES-MSC) based allogeneic cell therapy product accepted for clinical trial by the FDA. Michael has brought his experience and unique vision in clinical medicine and product commercialization into establishing our multi-center research platform that attracted collaborations from numerous universities and clinical centers, with a goal of accelerating the translational process of our product pipelines from research to patients.

     

    Michael’s involvement with cutting edge medical therapies started when he studied for his medical degree at the Southern Medical University. After graduation, he worked as a physician in Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. Years of clinical experience has helped build his drive to explore better and more effective therapies to patients in need of help. Michael believes that the best way to achieve more advanced therapies is through investing in innovative scientific research and attracting best talents across science and business. As a founder and angel investor, Michael is a passionate proponent for research and clinical translation of stem cell therapies. Michael is a member of the committee of the 6th China Medicinal Biotech Association and was certified as the Pioneer Fighter of Covid19 Outbreak.

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  • Rami Levin

    CEO, ImStem

    Mr. Levin is a seasoned biotech leader with over 26 years of experience in central nervous system disorders and rare diseases. He most recently served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Saniona, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative therapies for rare disease patients. While at Saniona, he built the company’s corporate office and hired the executive team in the U.S. and raised significant amount of capital to advance its clinical programs. Prior to joining Saniona, Mr. Levin was the President of Sobi Inc., the North American affiliate of Sobi, where he built and led the organization from infancy to a team of over 300 employees and generated over half a billion USD in annual revenue. Mr. Levin’s experience in mergers and acquisitions resulted in the successful acquisitions of Gamifant®, the first FDA approved treatment for primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (pHLH), and Synagis, the only FDA approved prophylaxis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).  Prior to Sobi Inc., Mr. Levin held commercial leadership roles of increasing strategic importance for 18 years at Merck Serono and Schering AG.

     

    Mr. Levin earned his MBA from the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University in Israel, majoring in International Marketing and has a BSc in Biology from Tel Aviv University.

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  • Xiaofang Wang, M.D., Ph.D.

    CTO, ImStem

    Dr. Wang is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of ImStem. Dr. Wang is responsible for providing technology strategy, implementing major technical programs and building up company's pipeline. He is in charge of technology development, quality control, and manufacturing development in compliance with all required regulations. 

     

    Dr. Wang has over 15 years of extensive experience in immunology and stem cell biology. He is a key inventor of the proprietary two-step method in differentiating human embryonic stem cells into mesenchymal stem cells. T-MSCs derived using this method are consistent, well-defined, of preferred biological properties and can also be expanded almost indefinitely, making T-MSCs the ideal off-the-shelf, allogenic stem cell therapy product to treat a wide range of autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

     

    He received his M.D. from Peking University after being admitted into the highly competitive seven-year program in Clinical Medicine. He obtained his PhD degree in Immunology from University of Texas-Houston/MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Wang worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale School of Medicine and University of Connecticut’s Stem Cell Institute before he founded ImStem Biotechnology, Inc. and has been awarded multiple stem cell research grants from the State of Connecticut totalling more than 1.3 million dollars.

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  • Ernst Zwikker, CPA

    CFO, ImStem

    Ernst Zwikker is the Chief Financial Officer of ImStem Biotechnology. With more than 25 years of experience in finance and accounting, he is responsible for all aspects of ImStem’s finances, strategic and financial planning, and financial reporting. 

     

    Before joining ImStem from PureTech Health, Mr. Zwikker served as Vice President, Corporate Controller and was involved in the listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Prior to this role, Mr. Zwikker worked as Global Corporate Controller for Candela Medical with responsibility for rebuilding the accounting and financial reporting function. Formerly, Mr. Zwikker had held several roles in external financial reporting, corporate accounting and consolidations for Pfizer, World Fuel Services, and Hitachi.

     

    In addition, Mr. Zwikker is a CPA who started his career with Arthur Andersen. He holds a master's degree in Accounting from the University of Connecticut.

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  • Richard Kim, M.D.

    CMO, ImStem

    Dr. Kim is a clinical trial expert in multiple sclerosis and autoimmune diseases in the United States. He is a board-certified physician who has approximate two decades of executive experience in both clinical development and medical affairs (phase I to IV) with demonstrated accomplishments in a wide range of indications, including multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, restless legs syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, alcohol use disorder, and post-herpetic neuralgia.

     

    Before joining ImStem, Dr. Kim was appointed as the CMO and Senior Vice President responsible for Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at XenoPort, where he led the successful relaunch of gabapentin enacarbil (Horizant) for the treatment of Restless Legs Syndrome and Post-herpetic Neuralgia. Additionally, he successfully drove execution of generating positive data with XP23829 in plaque psoriasis, which was later acquired by Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Prior to XenoPort, Dr. Kim served as Vice President for Clinical Development and Head of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Therapeutic Area at Elan Pharmaceuticals. He was a joint program team leader overseeing strategic development and execution of lifecycle management of TYSABRI in multiple sclerosis and Crohn's Disease in the United States. In his previous position at Biogen Idec Inc., he was the Global Medical Director for natalizumab (TYSABRI), responsible for the relaunch of multiple sclerosis (MS) indication in the United States and its global launch in the European Union. Before working for Biogen Idec, Dr. Kim worked as Director for Clinical Development in charge of the cladribine Phase 3 program at EMD Serono, Inc. He began his career as the Medical Director at Purdue Pharma, leading Phase 1 clinical pharmacology studies for buprenorphine transdermal delivery system.

     

    Dr. Kim earned his M.D. from Tulane University Medical School and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his neurology residency at Stanford University.

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