Who is spoke?

Bio

Greg began his legal career as a trial lawyer in Atlanta and was immediately drawn to cases involving science and technology. That led him to intellectual property law, and a focus on life sciences and pharmaceutical patent litigation.

Greg has represented major branded pharmaceutical companies, as well as startup life sciences and technology companies in federal district court litigation, on appeal to the Federal Circuit, and in alternative dispute resolution proceedings including arbitration in the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In addition to litigation, Greg has worked extensively with clients to develop intellectual property portfolio strategies to protect crucial IP assets at all phases of a company’s growth.

Greg’s experience and relationships in the pharmaceutical industry led him to found Receptor Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company developing therapies for central nervous system disorders using FDA-approved drug-delivery technologies. Although he remains on the Board, Greg stepped down as CEO of Receptor at the end of 2020 to found Spoke Sciences, a consumer products company driven by science and dedicated to taking the plant derived functional ingredients industry to the next level. We bring proven, patented technologies – many of which were first deployed in pharma – to safely and effortlessly integrate plant derived ingredients across a wide range of food and beverage applications.

Greg lives in the Puget Sound with his wife and son, and enjoys being outdoors fly-fishing, skiing, gardening and bicycling all over the world.

Bio

Kim started her career in highly regarded research programs at Cornell University, Lehigh University and the Penn State Hershey Medical School, where she honed her skills in biological engineering, tissue and cell culture development, and biomaterials. Her work at Penn State on polymeric coatings for reduction of platelet adhesion in pediatric artificial heart devices led to her decision to pursue her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. During her time at Boston University, Kim expanded her skillset to include polymer synthesis and characterization, nano- and micro-particle formulation, and pre-clinical efficacy studies, allowing her to successfully design products for the treatment of lung and breast cancers. In support of her work in encapsulation & drug delivery, she was awarded a National Institutes of Health Fellowship in Quantitative Biology and Physiology.

Kim then joined Particle Sciences, Inc. (PSI), starting in the New Technologies group focused on development of highly complex drug products. In the following years, she increased her scope and expertise directing the approaches to product design and scale-up within the Formulation Services team, in addition to overseeing the R&D labs. After acquisition of PSI by Lubrizol Life Sciences, Kim went on to lead the Formulation Development department as Senior Director, providing oversight of 75+ on-going formulation and drug device development and manufacturing programs. Through her time there, she shepherded programs from early phase research through pilot scale manufacturing, primarily in small molecule drug delivery for all routes of administration (including injectable, oral, topical, intra-nasal, implantable). Her primary areas of focus included increasing solubility and delivery of hydrophobic actives through solubility enhancement, leveraging excipient technologies and particle size reduction and control.

In the midst of developing her scientific resume, Kim became a highly decorated professional track (velodrome) cyclist, representing the US National Team at multiple World Cups and the World Championships in 2017 & 2018. Throughout her racing career, she earned national championship medals in the omnium, team pursuit, elimination race, points race, keirin, and team sprint. She was a national champion, and a Pan American Championship silver medalist, in the madison, in addition to being the world #1 ranked rider in the women’s madison in 2018. After achieving such athletic milestones, Kim also became involved in the sport’s governing body, becoming a certified coach and contributing to developmental and women’s specific track cycling programs.

Kim lives in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania with her husband and two dogs. She enjoys spending time with them in the outdoors, cycling, hiking, and saltwater fishing

Bio

Dr. Brad Douglass possesses over a decade of professional experience in the pharmaceutical, dietary supplement, and cannabis industries. Prior to devoting his attention to the cannabis industry in 2013, he developed fine-chemical and active pharmaceutical ingredient applications using continuous flow reaction design before acting as an FDA Affairs consultant focused on the regulation of food, drugs, and dietary supplements.

Over the past decade, Dr. Douglass has served in a variety of roles related to cannabis and hemp including Scientific Director of a state-certified cannabis laboratory, Manufacturing Controls and Formulation Consultant, Director of Advanced Botanical Strategy, and VP of Regulatory Affairs.

Dr. Douglass is a tireless advocate for a utilitarian approach to botanical ingredient regulation who believes in the value of porting principles from existing regulatory frameworks, to help solve emerging challenges.

Brad lives in Black Diamond, WA near the blast radius of Mt. Rainier with his wife and two young children where he enjoys stacking-up books on his bedside table and honing his golf swing so it is in balance with the universe.

Bio

Michael is a seasoned entrepreneur with extensive experience leading operations, manufacturing, and sales in high growth settings.  He is performance driven, achieving the highest levels of quality, supply chain excellence, and productivity.

Michael has a proven track record as a leader in hands-on operational and strategic brand management environments. He has led brands such as Tazo Tea, Kombucha Wonder Drink, Yummy Spoonfuls, Don't Go Nuts and many more.

Bio

Mark founded his first company, sunSmart, Inc., in 1991 while still in his pediatric residency. The company produced the nano-zinc oxide sun protectant (via a toll manufacturer), trademarked as Z-COTE®, and sold it worldwide to pharmaceutical and personal care companies. Sunsmart was purchased by BASF in 1999.

In 2002 mark became the founding Chief Science Officer of International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), whose mission was to develop and bring to market a woman-controlled technology for the prevention of male to female transmission of HIV. That product, a vaginal ring containing an NNRTI, has been approved by the EMA and has already launched in several African nations.

In 2004, Mark founded Particle Sciences® (PSI) ,one of the leading formulation and cGMP production groups for complex drug products in the USA such as sterile products, highly potent compounds, nano-particulates and drug eluting devices. In 2015, PSI was acquired by Lubrizol, a Berkshire Hathaway company.

In 2018, became CEO of a nascent B2C tech company, Mindsciences (MS), a developer and marketer of evidenced based habit-change apps built on Dr. Judson Brewer’s work on the science of mindfulness. In the summer of 2020, MS was acquired by Sharecare.

Bio

Andrea started her career as a synthetic organic chemist with a PhD from Texas A&M University. From there she spent one-year testing the academic waters as a lecturer at the University of Maryland and then moved on to a postdoctoral research position at The Ohio State University. Subsequently, Andrea made her initial foray into industry as a research chemist at Stauffer Chemical Company designing and making novel herbicidal compounds. But the pharmaceutical industry came calling and Andrea joined a small start-up, Emisphere Technologies, pursuing novel approaches to oral drug delivery. While there, Andrea invented an oral absorption enhancer called SNAC. It is the primary component of the Novo Nordisk diabetes blockbuster Rybelsus® oral tablet. Moving from oral drug delivery to inhalation drug delivery, Andrea joined Mannkind Corporation where she played a major role in the development and regulatory approval of Afrezza® inhaled insulin.

By this time, Andrea was an internationally recognized authority on drug delivery with extensive experience in drug development from inception to FDA approval. This experience led to an association with Greg Wesner and they co-founded Receptor Life Sciences where Andrea serves as Chief Scientific Officer. At Receptor, she’s developing an orally inhaled CBD for the treatment of acute anxiety.

Andrea lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter. She is the President of the Board of Directors of ROAR (Ridgefield Operation for Animal Rescue) where she is also an animal care volunteer. Andrea will freely admit that she likes animals better than most people.