Management Team & Board of Directors
Management Team
Ehud Geller, Ph.D.
Executive Chairman & Interim CEO
Dr. Ehud Geller has been active in the health care/biopharma and life science industries for over 30 years. The former president and CEO of Interpharm Laboratories, Ltd., he presided over the growth of this company from the seed stage to $18 million in revenues. Prior to that, Dr. Geller, was the president of the Pharmaceutical Division of Teva and Executive VP of the Teva Group, Israel´s largest pharmaceutical company. At Teva he led the merger of the pharmaceutical business involved in the acquisition of Ikapharm Ltd., and the strategy of Teva´s entry into the U.S. market. Earlier, Dr. Geller conducted pharmaceutical research at Wyeth Laboratories in the U.S.
Dr. Geller has a B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. degree in pharma/chemical engineering from Drexel Institute. He serves as founder and director of biotech and device health care companies.
Sigal Aviel, PhD eMBA
COO
Sigal brings Over twenty years of managerial experience in the Biotech industry. Prior to joining PainReform Sigal held the position of Chief R&D Officer at MediWound, a company specializing in deep burns and chronic wound care, where she was responsible for product development from early stages to final product approval by regulatory authorities. Previously she served as a VP of clinical and regulatory affairs at Biokine LTD focusing on cancer therapy. Formerly she directed both platform and project development at Protalix Biotherapeutics while managing a large group of scientists on projects ranging from autoimmune diseases to chemical warfare and genetic diseases.
Sigal holds a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from Duke University Medical School as well as an executive MBA degree from the Kellogg school of business at NW University. She did her postdoctoral work with Nobel laureate Prof. Aaron Ciechanover.
Rita Keynan, MSc Pharm
Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations
Rita brings over 25 years of managerial experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Mrs. Keynan has been responsible for drug development from early phase trials through NDA filings, including managing all chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) activities supporting product development, clinical supplies, scale-up, regulatory submissions and commercial manufacturing. Prior to joining PainReform, Mrs. Keynan served as Executive Director of Drug Development at VYNE Therapeutics Ltd., formerly Foamix Pharmaceuticals, where she managed the drug development department that included a team of nearly a dozen employees in Israel, as well as a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) team in Europe. Additionally, Mrs. Keynan collaborated with functional areas including regulatory, clinical, and quality to ensure successful execution of drug development activities to meet project and company goals. Previously, Mrs. Keynan served as CMC Director, Head of CMC/Innovative Research and Development, and Project Manager at Foamix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a clinical stage special pharmaceutical company. Mrs. Keynan is the co-inventor of over two dozen patents. Mrs. Keynan holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a M.Sc. in Pharm from the Hebrew University in Israel
Eyal Broder, MBA
Interim CFO
Eyal Broder has served as our Interim Chief Financial Officer since October 2024 and as our Finance Director since February 2023. He is a seasoned finance leader with over 25 years of experience in public and private companies across biotech and high tech with deep expertise in capital markets, SEC reporting, investor relations and strategic planning. Throughout his career he has led and supported Nasdaq fundraising processes across multiple structures. Previously Mr. Broder served as Chief Financial Officer at Inomize, Tradenet Group and Elbit Imaging India and as Director of Finance at Koor Industries and Telrad Networks.
Mr. Broder holds a BA in Accounting and Economics and an MBA with a major in finances, both from Tel Aviv University and is a CPA in Israel
Board of Directors
Ellen Baron, MD
Dr. Ellen Baron has served as a director of the company since September 2020. Dr, Baron has been a Managing Director of Outcome Capital LLC, a specialized life science and technology advisory and investment banking firm, since February 2017. From 2012 until joining Outcome Capital, she served as a Managing Director of Healthios Capital Markets, LLC. Prior to joining Healthios, Dr. Baron served as a life science venture capital Partner for Oxford Bioscience Partners and as Senior Vice President, Business Development at Human Genome Sciences, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Baron previously had spent 20 years at Schering-Plough Corporation in both Research and Development and Business Development. Dr. Baron served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tetragenetics Inc., a biotech company recently acquired by AbCellera on September 13, 2021, as an independent director at Sixth Element Capital, a UK-based oncology-focused venture capital fund and SFH, a Maine-based nutraceutical company. Dr. Baron holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine, a post-doctorate at the Public Health Research Institute in New York and bachelor’s degree from Goucher College.
Efi Cohen-Arazi, MBA
Efi was the Co-Founder & CEO of Rainbow Medical, Israel’s leading medical device innovation house since 2008. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Cohen Arazi served as the CEO and Co-Founder of IntecPharma Ltd. and as Chairman of CollPlant Ltd. since 2006. Mr. Cohen Arazi served as a board director for numerous biotech/medtech companies since 2005. Mr. Cohen-Arazi was the Senior VP Head of Operations at Immunex Corporation in Seattle, Washington until 2002 when it was acquired by Amgen where he served as VP and General Manager of the TO site in California.
Mr. Cohen Arazi served at Merck-Serono Group in Switzerland and Israel between 1988 and 2000. Mr. Cohen-Arazi graduated summa cum laude with a M.Sc. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Augustine Lawlor, MSc
Augustine Lawlor has served as Chief Operating Officer of Leap Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology company, since January 2016 and has been a Managing Director of HealthCare Ventures since 2000. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Chief Operating Officer of LeukoSite, Inc., a biotechnology company acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1999. Prior to joining LeukoSite, Mr. Lawlor was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development for Alpha-Beta Technologies, Inc., a company that specializes in electronics design, development, manufacturing and system obsolescence issues. He has held similar positions at both BioSurface Technologies Corporation, a company that provides products for biofilm investigations, and Armstrong Pharmaceuticals, a division of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Mr. Lawlor was previously a management consultant with KPMG. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. and a director of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., biopharmaceutical companies which are listed on Nasdaq.
Mr. Lawlor received his Master degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University and a BA degree from the University of New Hampshire.
Mr. Lawlor brings an important insight and knowledge to the Board based on his experience as a successful venture capitalist, service on the boards of public and private companies, and roles in commercial and business development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Asi Shavit, MBA
Mr. Shavit has more than 35 years of experience providing audit, tax and financial advisory services to public and private companies, including public corporations and subsidiaries of foreign entities. His areas of expertise include audits of financial statements, budget planning and control, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate liquidations, valuations, and complex cross-border and capital markets transactions. He currently serves as Managing Partner at Moalem-Shavit & Co., Certified Public Accountants, since 1995, where he leads a team of more than 14 professionals. Asi holds a B.A. in Accounting, Economics and Business Management and an M.B.A. in Business Management with a concentration in Finance and Banking. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.