After conducting doctoral research on the cellular mechanisms of the role of lipid accumulation in the progression of atherosclerosis, Bill entered the pharmaceutical/biotech industry over 25 years ago with an emphasis on developing cardiovascular and metabolic drugs.

At Parke-Davis (now Pfizer), he focused on diabetes- and lipid-modulating drugs, including heading the Lipitor (atorvastatin) medical team. From there, Bill was the CMO at Aegerion, where he directed the clinical development and approval process for the only MTP inhibitor on the market, Juxtapid (lomitapide), indicated for patients with severe genetic hypercholesterolemia (homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia).

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Subsequently, Bill joined Regeneron, where he led the development of CV/metabolic programs, including the PCSK9 antibody Praluent (alirocumab) and the ANGPTL3 antibody Evkeeza (evinacumab). Before joining Retension Pharmaceuticals and while at Espirion, Bill led the late-stage clinical development and approval of Nexletol for hyperlipidemia. His background and experience in the clinical development of metabolic and cardiovascular disease-modifying agents are unchallenged.

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Bill earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.

Dr. Ehrich is a Pharma/Biotech R&D leader with 8 FDA approved medicines who served as President of Skyhawk Therapeutics, a Venture Partner at 5AM Ventures, and Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Alkermes and LifeMine Therapeutics. As such, Elliot has had a pivotal role in shaping the development efforts across a variety of therapeutic focus areas and therapeutic modalities.

During his 18+ year tenure at Alkermes as CMO and Executive Vice President, R&D he was responsible for all research and development functions, yielding a series of late clinical stage and FDA approved products.  His work encompassed both small molecules and biologics for indications in neurology, psychiatry, and oncology.  Prior to Alkermes, Elliot spent 7 years at Merck Research Labs working in clinical pharmacology and clinical development.

Dr. Ehrich has also served on the advisory boards of numerous companies including Praxis Precision Medicines, Verge Genomics, Heptares Therapeutics, Aileron Therapeutics, and Trialnetworks.com.

Elliot received a B.A. at Princeton University and an M.D. from Columbia University. He completed a residency in internal medicine and immunology-rheumatology fellowship at Stanford University.  Elliot was a predoctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and a Cancer Research Institute sponsored post-doc at Stanford.

Bridget is a Scientific Advisor and CMC Consultant to Retension Pharmaceuticals with more than 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development. Bridget was part of the original Surface Logix team involved in the early development of RTN-001 and has since held senior scientific leadership roles including Chief Scientific Officer at 1910 Genetics and Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery at Nocion Therapeutics, where she led drug discovery strategy and advancement of novel therapeutic programs. During her career, Bridget supported the discovery and development of 6 phase 2 clinical candidates using her extensive expertise in medicinal chemistry, CMC, and translational drug discovery and development, and she is a co-inventor on over 30 US issued patents.  Dr. Cole received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Brandeis University and completed postdoctoral research at Boston College.

Enoch co-founded Surface Logix, the company conceiving of Retension Pharmaceutical’s lead asset, RTN-001, where he served in multiple roles, including chemistry, drug discovery, and preclinical development. Enoch was part of the core team that discovered and developed three novel chemical entities in metabolic, cardiovascular, and immunological indications. One of these, Rezurock, is now approved for treating graft versus host disease. 
  
Enoch has demonstrated success in translational research, from animal models used to establishing mechanisms of action to contributing to participating in first-in-man trials. His research experience includes medicinal chemistry, assay development, preclinical pharmacology, ADME, and drug formulation and manufacturing. Enoch conceptualized and invented RTN-001, making his understanding of the molecule unparalleled.
 
He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, where his research focused on the fabrication and functionalization of biological interfaces. This led to the development of soft lithography, a technique now widely used in biology and chemistry. 

John has been instrumental at Retension Pharmaceuticals since its inception. He significantly aided the early development and trials of RTN-001, drawing on his extensive scientific and drug development expertise. He is an entrepreneurial leader with over 35 years of managing R&D efforts in the private and public biopharmaceutical sector.

His background includes seven years at Surface Logix, Inc as Vice President of Development where he was directly responsible for moving RTN-001 through preclinical regulatory studies and positioning it for clinical trials. John was also involved in the conduct of multiple clinical trials exploring the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of RTN-001. His depth of preclinical and clinical knowledge regarding the compound is indispensable for Retension Pharmaceuticals. 

John holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from Houston's University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science. His postdoctoral training was within the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also holds a degree in business administration from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.

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Dhanapalan (“Naga”) is a highly accomplished medicinal chemist and drug discovery expert with over 35 years of experience. He has held senior functional and management positions at leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead), Bayer HealthCare, and Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corporation (currently Lundbeck). In these roles, he has led and managed drug discovery programs in various therapeutic areas, including cancer, virology, diabetes, obesity, pain, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. 

Naga directed the Medicinal Chemistry efforts of several HCV drug discovery projects, one of which yielded the therapeutic Sovaldi (sofosbuvir). Naga also has experience in developing commercial-scale processes for many active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). He founded DNSK International, LLC, and Medivedan Therapeutics, LLC. Naga graduated from the University of Madras, India, with a Ph.D. in Organic/Medicinal Chemistry and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Purdue University Cancer Center, and the University of Illinois. 

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Susan Alpert, Ph.D., M.D. was a Corporate Senior Vice President for Global Regulatory at Medtronic, Inc. and VP of Regulatory Science at C.R. Bard, Inc. She is the principal of SFADC LLC (SFA Regulatory, LLC), a one-person firm focused on strategies to place medical devices and other medical products into the global market.  

She previously worked at the US FDA. She was Director of the Office of Device Evaluation from 1993-1999 and held various management positions in the Centers dealing with drugs, devices and radiological health, and foods.  

Susan is a microbiologist and pediatrician with a specialty in infectious diseases. She completed her undergraduate degree at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City, holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from New York University, and a medical degree from the University of Miami (Florida). She is a member of several non-profit and for-profit boards.