Team
Jeffrey N. Weiss, M.D.
President
Jeffrey N. Weiss, M.D., is the former Chief of Retinal Surgery at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Faculty of Harvard Medical School, and Visiting Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He entered college at 16 years of age, and medical school at age 19 on full scholarships. While in medical school he obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude with distinction, and graduated from Medical School, Summa Cum Laude, at 23 years of age.
Dr. Weiss is the author of more than 100 publications, including 20 books, holds more than 20 U.S. and foreign patents and has been a Reviewer for multiple scholarly journals. He has served as a Visiting Professor, performed surgery, and lectured both nationally and internationally. Dr. Weiss is also the founder of two profitable companies, Ocular Research Associates Inc., and Micron Ophthalmic, Inc., which have manufactured and sold Dr. Weiss’ inventions worldwide.
Dr. Weiss was the first to invent the equipment and develop the technique to safely perform retinal vessel cannulation. This surgery remains the only option for patients with severe stroke in the eye.
He was also the first to report the use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment to successfully treat dry age-related macular degeneration and longer standing central retinal artery occlusions.
Dr. Weiss performed the first retinal stem cell surgery in the world in 2010, and is the Principal Investigator of The Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Studies I/II, the largest retinal and optic nerve stem cell studies in the world; The Neurologic Stem Cell Treatment Study; The Stem Cell Spinal Cord Injury Exoskeleton and Virtual Reality Treatment Study; and The Alzheimer’s, Cognitive Impairment and Autism Treatment Study. The studies are Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved, registered with NIH and listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Dr. Weiss first visited Dubai in 2008, where equipment he had invented was being showcased at Arab Health, the second largest medical equipment meeting in the world. In 2015, he obtained a Dubai medical license and has been traveling to Dubai to examine patients, perform surgery and lecture. His work has been featured in all the major UAE newspapers and on television. He was a finalist for the United Arab Emirates HealthCare Award in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, he was asked to write the Regenerative Medicine Regulations for Dubai.
Ian White, Ph.D.
Vice President
Dr. Ian White is considered a leading expert in the field of aging and regenerative medicine with 20 years experience working with stem cells, regenerative cells and tissue regeneration.
Dr. White received his BS and MS from Liverpool University, England prior to being hired at Dartmouth college to study the genetics of gamete biology. From there, Dr. White was recruited to Harvard University to work with hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and immune cell biology under the mentorship of the world-renowned Dr. Laurie Glimcher, where he co-authored several high impact peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts on the subject.
Dr. White received his Ph.D. from the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Division of Regenerative Medicine at Cornell University under the guidance of Dr. Shahin Rafii.
During this time Dr. White developed an in vitro method for culture expanding autologous stem cells in an artificial vascular niche for the treatment of cancer patients who have undergone bone marrow ablation following chemo- or radio-therapy.
This technology has since gone on to be commercialized by Cornell University and has been described in several co-authored manuscripts and research grants awarded by the NIH.
Dr. White has also worked with Dr. Stephen Dalton, whose pioneering work led to the inclusion of c-myc as one of the 4 factors used by Nobel award winning Dr. Shinya Yamanaka in the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Subsequently, Dr. White relocated to the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. Dr. White published ground-breaking research in the field of regenerative medicine alongside Dr. Joshua Hare, including a book chapter on the use of Mesenchymal Signaling Cells (MSCs) in Cardiology.
In 2015 Dr. White’s work on the regeneration of the heart was featured on the cover of Circulation Research, one of the top peer-reviewed journals for cardiovascular medicine in the world.
In 2016 Dr. White was honored with an award for the Best Manuscript by the American Heart Association for his work highlighting the role of peripheral nerves in cardiac regeneration.
In 2018 Dr. White joined with IMAC Regeneration Centers as their Chief Scientific Officer to take them public on NASDAQ.
Dr. White currently sits as the president and CSO of NeoBiosis, LLC a perinatal regenerative tissue research and manufacturing CDMO facility in Gainesville, FL, and is a founding board member of The American College of Regenerative Medicine.
Pascal Goldschmidt, M.D.
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt is an accomplished cardiologist, professor, academic healthcare leader, and medical researcher.
He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of Lennar Corporation (LEN on NYSE).
Additionally, he has served as a tenured professor at three prestigious institutions: Duke University School of Medicine, Ohio State University (OSU) and University of Miami.
Dr. Goldschmidt also served as center director at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (then OSU), Chief of Cardiology at OSU, then at Duke, and Chairman of Medicine at Duke.
In 2006, he became dean of Miller School of Medicine and Founder/CEO of UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.
Dr. Goldschmidt and his team expanded UHealth to include the medical practice, three hospitals and major outpatient clinic facilities along both coasts of South Florida.
Clinical revenues increased three-fold over a ten-year period, which represented one of the fastest compound annual growth rate for academic medical centers in the USA.
During his tenure at the University of Miami, the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine increased 13 positions (from 51 to 38 out of 177 United States Medical Schools) in the national rankings of research medical schools based on grants received from the National Institutes of Health, thus establishing the facility as the highest-ranked medical school in Florida.
To achieve this, Dr. Goldschmidt established new Institutes and Centers focused on team science and big data that brought in groundbreaking new knowledge, jobs, millions of dollars in research funding, and poised the Miller School and UHealth for continued excellence.
Dr. Goldschmidt has a long list of honors and awards, beginning in 1980 with his graduation as a medical doctor and Valedictorian of Class of 225 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
The list of his patents, publications, articles numbers more than 300. His 250 invited lectureships and speaking engagements are testimony to his professional expertise. In 2018, Goldschmidt (founder and president of Alzady International LLC) joined Anoup Treon (European Care Global Ltd) to form American Healthcare System Ltd (AHS) in the UK. AHS is focused on healthcare management, operations, and the development of academic healthcare education, in Africa and beyond.
Dr. Asawari Bapat
Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Asawari Bapat earned a medical degree with specialty in pathology. She is experienced in the complete operational management for stem cell facilities. Dr. Bapat serves many organizations as an expert in regulatory compliance, having worked with AABB, FACT, JCI, CAP, US FDA, and the Ministry of Health for various nationalities. Dr. Bapat held a chair on the committee that developed the cord blood banking regulations adopted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). She has worked for the family cord blood banks Cordlife, LifeCell, Cryo-Save Arabia, Americord, and Cord for Life. Dr. Bapat is originally from India but has been based in Dubai for the past decade. She does consulting on regulatory issues around the world, and has working proficiency in eight languages.
Holly Hewitt
Member of the Board of Directors
A leader in the field, Holly Hewitt has more than 15 years of experience in the birth tissue industry and 25 years of experience in birth tissue collection.
Earning her BS in biology from the University of South Carolina and MBA in international business from the University of Phoenix, Holly began her career as a tissue recovery technician with the American Red Cross Tissue Services. In 2000, Holly, along with her team, created and launched the first nationwide program to improve relationships between medical examiners and the organ and tissue donation community.
In 2011, Holly began working with living donors and in 2013 became chair of the first birth tissue work group, playing an integral role in having birth tissue recognized and included in current AATB standards.
Holly is an active member of the American Association of Tissue Banking (AATB) and currently holds the positions of AATB Birth Tissue Committee Co-chair and AATB Living Donor Council Chair. As author of the original AATB birth tissue guidance document adopted by the FDA, Holly played an integral role in having birth tissue recognized and included in current AATB standards.
In 2017, Holly cofounded Birth Tissue International, Inc., a birth tissue collection organization committed to increase awareness and donation rates to continue to support the development of medical innovations using amnion, cord blood and umbilical cord. Currently, Holly serves as Chief Operations Officer.
In her downtime, Holly enjoys spending time with her husband, and two dogs, Collette and Vincenza. She is also a professional singer, spending most weekends performing for private events.
