Board of Advisors

Jodi Akin is a healthcare executive, leader, innovator, and advisor with 25+ years of experience in clinical development, scientific and regulatory strategy, management and medtech market development. Jodi has led seminal global clinical trials and approvals of transcatheter heart valve therapy at Edwards Lifesciences, LLC through 2014. She is a serial entrepreneur, most recently founding Hawthorne Effect, Inc., an innovative platform for revolutionizing patient follow-up. She is also a humanitarian, leading multiple international healthcare initiatives in underserved geographies including Heart To Heart International Children’s Medical Alliance, The Heart Lung Institute of the East Bay, and The Nahapetov Friendship Foundation. Ms. Akin was also a co-founder the China Heart Group, a joint venture with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Ms. Akin holds an undergraduate degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a Masters in Physiology and Nursing from Pace University in New York and 8 patents.

Gary Zweiger is a co-founder, investor, and adviser at Fluent BioSciences. He served as a venture partner and operating partner at Cota Capital from 2020 to 2022. Prior to that Gary co-founded and was managing director at BioInflexion Point Partners, a firm that helped companies in the life sciences bring innovative technologies to commercial readiness. He supported companies such as Moleculo (sold to Illumina), Zephyrus Biosciences (sold to BioTechne), Blueprint Genetics (sold to Quest Diagnostics) and Mission Bio. Gary has over 20 years of experience in business development with leadership roles at Agilent Technologies, ABI (Thermo), Affymetrix (Thermo), and Bionano. He completed his BS degree in Biological Sciences at Stanford University, obtained a PhD in Genetics from Stanford University’s School of Medicine, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Genentech.

Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, Ph.D. founded My Own Med in January 2013, based on over two years of work on a database, web and mobile application platform technology for family-based co-management of health. Previously, Dr. Seyfert-Margolis was the Senior Advisor for Science Innovation and Policy in the Office of the Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. While at the FDA, she oversaw the development and execution of an agency wide strategic plan for regulatory science. Prior to the FDA, she served as Chief Scientific Officer at the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), a non-profit consortium of researchers seeking new treatments for diseases of the immune system. At ITN, Dr. Seyfert-Margolis oversaw the development of over 20 leading edge assay development and centralized laboratory facilities, bringing them to GLP and CLIA compliance. She designed and implemented biomarker discovery studies for over 25 Phase II clinical trials across a broad array of immunologically mediated diseases including autoimmune disorders, allergy, and solid organ transplantation. Prior to this, she served as Director of the Office of Innovative Scientific Research Technologies at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, where she worked to integrate emerging technologies into existing immunology and infectious disease programs. Dr. Seyfert-Margolis completed her PhD in immunology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, and her post-doctoral fellowship work at Harvard University and the National Cancer Institute.

Gary Yeung is a life science investor, executive, co-founder, board member and advisor with extensive experience forming and building biotech companies and developing novel therapies. He has raised over $600 million in capital and has co-founded three biotech startups and a venture capital firm: two spin-offs from Stanford University and Duke University, GGTG Biosciences and YK Bioventures Capital. Gary has also built multiple biotech companies: Xilis, NiKang, Erasca, Guardant Health and Annexon (NASDAQ: ERAS, GH and ANNX) as well as leading organizations engaged in filing 42 INDs and launching multiple FDA-approved treatments at Genentech. He is a former strategy consultant and operational leader at McKinsey and GE.

Frank is founder of Arsenal Life Science, a consulting firm he founded in 2018 and is a recognized thought leader in the life sciences and biotech industries. Frank has spent over twenty years in biopharmaceuticals serving in commercial leadership roles and leading companies through times of great transformation. At Takeda, Amylin, and Acadia Pharmaceuticals he was a founding member of the team that brought them from R&D-only into launch-ready commercial organizations. His 15 product launches include large market brands such as Lipitor to orphan drug portfolios. Frank’s strong record of increasing company value has resulted in company acquisitions of over $100 billion.