Dr. Chen is a board-certified neurosurgeon and the Director of Surgical Neuro-Oncology at USC. He is also a tenured- Professor of Neurosurgery and Pathology at USC. Dr. Chen graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also received Bronze Tablet honors and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society. He attended the University of California, San Francisco, and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. He underwent neurosurgery training at USC and obtained a Ph.D. degree in pathobiology. His thesis was on the role of immunotherapy in malignant brain tumors. He is also a fellowship-trained spine surgeon and one of a few surgical neuro-oncologists in the country who specialize in spine cancer surgery. Dr. Chen maintains a busy clinical practice in both surgical neuro-oncology and spine surgery and heads a research laboratory focused on glioma biology. Dr. Chen has published extensively on glioma biology and neurosurgery. He is on the editorial board for The Spine Journal and is on the review board for Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurosurgery. He also serves on numerous national neurosurgery committees.

Mr. Patrick Walters has over 30 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operation. Since 2001, Patrick has been the President of the Group1, LLC, advising small to medium size companies in need of infrastructure and financial restructuring. From 2005-2007, Patrick was the EVP Finance for a Shamrock Holdings portfolio company in the luxury magazine publishing business with a national network of 25  luxury magazines. He was instrumental in increasing the valuation of the company from $54 million to $235 million. Other clients have included the two family offices of Forbes 400;  an entertainment company; a financial institution; and a production company. Patrick was employed by Sony Pictures Inc. from 1984 to 2000, as the SVP, Operations, Worldwide Marketing. Patrick started his career at Deloitte & Co. where he earned his CPA license. 

Dr. Simmon has over 30 years of experience growing biotechnology companies and developing products in the biotechnology industry. Dr. Simmon has served as a Governor of the Emerging Companies Section of BIO (Biotechnology Industrial Organization) and as a director of the Chemical Industries Institute for Toxicology (Research Triangle Park). He has been CEO, COO, and/or a director of public and private biotechnology companies since 1990, including Alpha 1 Biomedicals, Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, and Xytis, Inc. Currently he is a member of the board of directors of Innovative NeuroTechnologies, Personalized Pharmaceuticals Systems, and Thuris Corporation. He has personally supervised the submission and acceptance of more than ten INDs.
Ph.D, VP, Chief Regulatory Officer

Michael A. Davitz is a registered U.S. patent attorney as well as a physician with over 15 years of experience in biomedical research, and more than 20 years of experience providing strategic counseling to clients in all aspects of intellectual property law.

Michael received his J.D. from New York University in 1997, his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1983, and his B.A. from Yale University in 1978. Prior to law school, he was an assistant professor of pathology and environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine, where he was a Lucille P. Markey Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. Following law school, he practiced law at the firms of Darby & Darby and White & Case then moved in-house as head of intellectual property for Taro Pharmaceuticals, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Currently, he is a partner Ascenda Law Group.

Dr. Chen is a board-certified neurosurgeon and the Director of Surgical Neuro-Oncology at USC. He is also a tenured Professor of Neurosurgery and Pathology at USC. Dr. Chen graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received Bronze Tablet honors and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa National Academic Honor Society. He attended the University of California, San Francisco where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. He underwent neurosurgery training at USC and obtained a Ph.D. degree in pathobiology. He is also a fellowship-trained spine surgeon and one of the few surgical neuro-oncologists in the country who specialize in spine cancer surgery. Dr. Chen maintains a clinical practice in both surgical neuro-oncology and spine surgery and heads a research laboratory focused on glioma biology. He has published extensively on glioma biology and neurosurgery and is on the editorial board for The Spine Journal and the review board for Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurosurgery. He also serves on numerous national neurosurgery committees.

Mr. Patrick Walters has over 30 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operation. Since 2001, Patrick has been the President of the Group1, LLC, advising small to medium size companies in need of infrastructure and financial restructuring. From 2005-2007, Patrick was the EVP Finance for a Shamrock Holdings portfolio company in the luxury magazine publishing business with a national network of 25  luxury magazines. He was instrumental in increasing the valuation of the company from $54 million to $235 million. Other clients have included the two family offices of Forbes 400;  an entertainment company; a financial institution; and a production company. Patrick was employed by Sony Pictures Inc. from 1984 to 2000, as the SVP, Operations, Worldwide Marketing. Patrick started his career at Deloitte & Co. where he earned his CPA license. 

Mr. James Walters has extensive experience in the planning, design, installation and review of financial management information systems. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University, as well as a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from California State University, Northridge. He began his business career in 1976 as an Accountant at Kellogg & Andelson and was its Partner in 1980 and has been a Managing Partner since 1984. In his capacity he has assisted clients with the preparation for their initial public offerings, as well as with their acquisition and consolidation strategies. Until 2016, he was also Chairman of the Board and responsible for the management of the company’s Accountancy Corp. Mr. Walters has founded, owned and managed companies in Commercial Photography, Corporate Events, Auto Repair and Concrete Molding industries. He serves as a Partner in Walters & Skylar, LLP.

Dr. Simmon has over 30 years of experience growing biotechnology companies and developing products in the biotechnology industry. Dr. Simmon has served as a Governor of the Emerging Companies Section of BIO (Biotechnology Industrial Organization) and as a director of the Chemical Industries Institute for Toxicology (Research Triangle Park). He has been CEO, COO, and/or a director of public and private biotechnology companies since 1990, including Alpha 1 Biomedicals, Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, and Xytis, Inc. Currently he is a member of the board of directors of Innovative NeuroTechnologies, Personalized Pharmaceuticals Systems, and Thuris Corporation. He has personally supervised the submission and acceptance of more than ten INDs.
Ph.D, VP, Chief Regulatory Officer

Mr. Patrick Walters has over 30 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operation. Since 2001, Patrick has been the President of the Group1, LLC, advising small to medium size companies in need of infrastructure and financial restructuring. From 2005-2007, Patrick was the EVP Finance for a Shamrock Holdings portfolio company in the luxury magazine publishing business with a national network of 25  luxury magazines. He was instrumental in increasing the valuation of the company from $54 million to $235 million. Other clients have included the two family offices of Forbes 400;  an entertainment company; a financial institution; and a production company. Patrick was employed by Sony Pictures Inc. from 1984 to 2000, as the SVP, Operations, Worldwide Marketing. Patrick started his career at Deloitte & Co. where he earned his CPA license.