Organization

Our Team

Don Lombardi, President, CEO and Founder, established the Intellectual Property Office at Children’s Hospital Boston and built it over 15 years to a highly successful technology transfer organization. His 16-person department generated tens of millions of dollars in license revenue based on six licensed medical products on the market and twelve more in clinical development. Under his leadership, the Intellectual Property Office instituted exemplary business practices for case and patent management, technology marketing, financial management, staff development, compliance and quality assurance. The plan for IPI grew out of pilot projects he conducted there to develop innovative practices to commercialize products for the pediatric market. Prior to his position at Children’s he founded the Chitin Company, Inc. to develop marine biopolymer applications, and later sold the company to Ducon, a Du Pont ConAgra joint venture. For both companies, he licensed technologies from academic institutions. Before his work in industry, Mr. Lombardi had an entrepreneurial career in education. After developing innovative science programs at MIT, he founded a nonprofit outdoor education center on a Boston Harbor Island that became a leading community resource for curriculum improvement and desegregation of the Boston Public Schools. He earned an MS in Life Sciences from MIT and a BA in Biophysics from Amherst College.

Ross Trimby, Chief Operating Officer
Ross Trimby has over 33 years marketing and sales management experience in the medical technology industry including VP Marketing Phillips Medical Systems, VP Sales and Marketing, Lifeline Systems, Inc., VP Sales and Marketing Acoustic Imaging, and Divisional Sales Manager for HP Medical Products group. In Phillips he directed the North American marketing activities for a $500 million medical imaging company and in Lifeline he managed sales growth of 75% annually for five years. As an officer in Lifeline he helped take a company public and as CEO for Health Data Resources he raised venture capital. As an angel investor, he is a member of LaunchPad angel group, and has invested in and helped to create 12 technology companies. He has worked with the Irish government to help them commercialize new healthcare technology and has chaired the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. Mr. Trimby has both a BEng and MEng in Engineering Physics from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stephen P. Spielberg, MD, PhD. Principal Investigator
Stephen Spielberg, MD, PhD, is the Principal Investigator for IPI's Pediatric Pharmaceutical Reformulation Project. Dr. Spielberg is with Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where he is the Marion Merrell Dow Chair in Pediatric Pharmacogenomics and Director of Personalized Medicine and Therapeutic Innovation at Children's Mercy Hospital. His career in pediatric clinical pharmacology and human pharmacogenetics has included faculty and leadership positions at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; the Hospital for Sick Children (University of Toronto); Merck Research Laboratories; and as vice president for Pediatric Drug Development at Johnson & Johnson. He was chair of the Pediatric Task Force for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), represented the pharmaceutical industry on the FDA Pediatric Advisory Subcommittee and on pediatric legislative initiatives in the US and EU, and was the rapporteur for the Pediatric ICH Initiative, ICH E-11. He has served as editor or on the editorial board of numerous journals, is on the board of directors of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, chairs the Pediatric Pharmacology Unit Advisory Board for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and was president of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (2006). He received an AB (Biology) from Princeton University, an MD and PhD (Pharmacology) from the University of Chicago, served a pediatric internship and residency at Children's Hospital, Boston, and a post-doctoral fellowship in human biochemical genetics at NICHD. He is the recipient of many awards for his contributions to pediatric therapeutics and adverse drug reaction research and was previously Dean of Dartmouth Medical School.

Carole Ferguson, PNP, BC, Director of Clinical Partnerships
Carole is an ANCC certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, a leader, teacher, writer and researcher. She provided clinical care as a PNP in clinics at Children's Hospital Clinics, Boston, at Floating Hospital, Boston, at University of Wisconsin, Madison and at Head Start and Early Head Start in Madison, WI. She also managed care programs in the Waltham (MA) Public Schools and in homeless family shelters in the Boston area. As Assistant Clinical Professor, she taught graduate and undergraduate Nursing at University of Wisconsin School of Nursing and at Mass Bay Community College, Wellesley, MA. She has been Preceptor to nursing students and pediatric residents in both inpatient and community settings. She started an innovative Early Head Start Program for babies and families that included a large research component. Her volunteer health care work with Project Hope took her to Ecuador, Columbia and Haiti. Her Bachelor's degree in English from UC Berkeley and M.A. from Northeastern University in Journalism support her love for children's literature and for hearing and telling people's stories. Her BS and MS Nursing degrees are from UCSF with a double Master's in Child Mental Health and Ambulatory Pediatrics.

Brad Slaker, Engineering Manager
Brad Slaker has 19 years experience developing products for the Medical Device Industry, including program management positions at Zimmer Orthopedics and currently Boston Scientific. He has held positions in all phases of product development from Research & Development engineering to Manufacturing to Quality Compliance. He currently holds seven medical device patents. Brad is in the formative stages of developing a non-profit medical device company focused on developing and delivering product solutions to unmet and underserved pediatric health needs. Brad has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

Board Of Directors

Don Lombardi, President, CEO and Founder

Stephen Spielberg, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator

Ross Trimby, COO

Ellen Baron, PhD
Dr. Baron brings more than 20 years of experience in healthcare investing principally in the biotechnology sector. She spent 20 years at Schering-Plough in Research and Development and Business Development prior to joining Oxford Bioscience as a partner. She is the Director of Braincells. Dr. Barron received a B.A. at Goucher College, a PhD in Microbiology from Georgetown University and was a post-doctoral at the Public Health Research Institute in New York.

Philip A. Cola
Mr. Cola is the Vice President for Research and Technology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC), of which Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital is a major component. Mr. Cola created one of the leading hospital based clinical trial sites in the country at UHCMC. He is a nationally recognized speaker and has published scholarly works on the responsible conduct of research and research administration and co authored peer reviewed articles in psychiatry and psychology. He has direct research experience at Case Western Reserve University under a National Institute of Mental Health Center Grant for the study of the psychopharmacology of schizophrenia. Mr. Cola received his Bachelors degree in Psychology and his Master's Degree in Experimental Psychology and Research Method and Design from Cleveland State University.

Murray M Pollack, MD
Dr. Pollack is the Chief Medical and Academic Officer at Phoenix Children's Hospital, a 325 bed facility in Phoenix Arizona. Along with his administrative duties, Dr. Pollack is a pediatric intensivist and health services researcher. He is an internationally known outcomes researcher with special expertise in the development and utilization of severity of illness methodologies, and multi-center, quality of care research especially regarding quality factors associated with outcomes from pediatric intensive care. He is the recipient of three career achievement awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Critical Care Medicine, and the Society for Pediatric Research. He has held numerous medical and research administrative titles prior to arriving in Phoenix in 2007. He received his BA from the University of Rochester, his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and his MBA from George Washington University.

Charles Homer, MD, MPH, CEO
Dr. Homer is a pediatrician with advanced training in epidemiology and the founder and CEO of NICHQ. He is associate Professor and Pediatrics and Public Health at Harvard University. He served as the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Steering Committee. Dr. Homer received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of medicine and his MPH from the University of North Carolina of Public Health.

Una S. Ryan, Ph.D., O.B.E.
Dr. Ryan is President and CEO of Waltham Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing vaccines and immunotherapeutics for cardiac surgery, cholesterol management, biodefense, travelers, food safety, and global health. She is also Research Professor of Medicine at the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute of the Boston University School of Medicine and serves on its Board of Visitors. She is immediate past Chair of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and serves on its Board as well as the Boards of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the New England Healthcare Institute, the Board of Associates of the Whitehead Institute, and the Board of Directors of IQuum, Inc. In 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded Dr. Ryan the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to research, development and promotion of biotechnology.

Jon E. Vice
Mr. Vice retired in January, 2009 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Hospital and Health System, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and its subsidiaries – Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital and Health System Foundation, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Kenosha, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, Children’s Health Education Center and Children’s Research Institute. He was Chairman and President of two other subsidiaries, Seegar Health Resources and National Outcomes Center, Inc. and served as Chairman of Children’s Medical Group, Surgicenter of Greater Milwaukee, and Children’s Community Health Plan.

Mr. Vice joined Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin as Executive Vice President in 1979 and was named President and CEO in 1984.

Mr. Vice is currently a member of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Children’s Miracle Network. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Skylight Opera Theatre, the Pettit National Ice Center, Mount Mary College, Junior Achievement of Wisconsin and Big Brothers and Big Sisters for Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties and he is a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. He was named director emeritus of the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin.