John Alam, Founder and CEO

John Alam is an industry leader in translational medicine and has a track record of creating value to help build companies through clinical development success. Until May 2014, he was therapeutic area head for diseases of aging at Sanofi. In that role, he led all discovery and development activities directed at Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a number of other age-related diseases including sarcopenia/frailty, osteoarthritis, chronic pain and many others. From 1997 until 2008, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals including Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Medicines Development. At Vertex, he played major roles in the development of novel innovative medicines for HIV, Hepatitis C and Cystic Fibrosis. Prior to Vertex, Alam led clinical development of Avonex (interferon beta-1a) for multiple sclerosis at Biogen from 1991 to 1997.

John is a member of the board of directors of the Alliance for Aging Research (AAR), a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting innovation to address the healthcare needs of older Americans. John received a S.B. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a M.D. from Northwestern University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Sylvie Grégoire, Co-Founder, Executive Chair
​
Sylvie Grégoire is the former president of Human Genetic Therapies at Shire Pharmaceuticals, a position she held from 2007 to 2013. Previously, she was executive chairman of IDM Pharma Inc., and president and chief executive officer of GlycoFi Inc. From 1995 until 2003, Sylvie held various leadership positions at Biogen most recently as executive vice president of Technical Operations. Prior to Biogen, she was at Merck and Co, in clinical research and regulatory affairs for a period of 8 years. Sylvie currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors at Corvidia, Inc; and is a member of the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk A/S, ViFor Pharma and Perkin Elmer Corporation.

Sylvie has a Pharmacy Doctorate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a B.A. in Pharmacy from Laval University, Canada, and a Science College degree from Seminaire de Sherbrooke, Canada.
​Kevin Sarney, VP, Finance and Administration
​Kevin brings significant finance, accounting, operations and SEC reporting experience to EIP Pharma, having served more than 18 years in the life science industry in both early-stage and publicly traded companies. From 2014 to 2017, he was Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer at Enumeral. Before Enumeral, he worked with various biotechnology and medical device companies in Vice President of Finance & Administration and Controller roles, including his position as the Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer of Nitromed, Inc., a publicly traded, cardiovascular-focused pharmaceutical company. At Nitromed, Kevin was responsible for SEC reporting, financial planning, risk management, treasury, the initiation of the company's Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts, and financial and accounting support. Before entering the life sciences industry, he held the position of audit supervisor within the technology assurance group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Kevin earned a B.S. in business management from the University of Hartford, an M.B.A. from Boston University and an M.A. in accounting from Suffolk University. He is a certified public accountant in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Kelly Blackburn, VP, Clinical Development


Kelly Blackburn has more than 25 years of experience in clinical development operations, most recently as VP, Clinical Affairs at aTyr Pharma and as VP, Clinical Development Operations at Vertex. Of note, she held the senior global clinical operational responsibility for three major novel therapeutics:  Kalydeco® for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, Incivek® for hepatitis C, and Velcade® for multiple myeloma. Kelly has a B.S. degree in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Health Administration degree from Quinnipiac University. She is an active board member of the Hildebrand Family Self-Help Center, Cambridge MA; and long-standing long-standing volunteer case reviewer and emergency foster care mother for the Department of Children and Families in Massachusetts. 
Darryl Patrick, VP, Non-Clinical Development
​

Darryl Patrick is responsible for regulatory affairs and non-clinical development. Darryl has more than 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D. At Merck Research Laboratories, he was responsible for numerous preclinical development programs and eventually became Vice President, Worldwide Safety Assessment responsible for preclinical safety evaluation of all development programs and a member of Merck Research Laboratories management committees. From 2004 to 2011, he was at Vertex as Vice President, Exploratory Development, ultimately responsible for Toxicology, Drug Metabolism and Clinical Pharmacology. For his excellence and success in preclinical R&D, Darryl has received numerous awards, including as a member of the team that won the prestigious Prix Galien in 2000 for their work on Singular®. He started his career in veterinary sciences with the U.S. Air Force becoming Chief of Diagnostic and Comparative Medicine for the Uniformed Services, University of Health Sciences.  He is trained in veterinary anatomy, laboratory animal pathology and veterinary internal medicine; with a D.V.M. from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University.