Haima Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Dr. Wolfgang Bergmeier and Dr. Beth Shaz to its Scientific Advisory Board
NOVEMBER 23, 2020. Cleveland, OH. Haima Therapeutics, a pre-clinical biotechnology company focused on developing platelet-inspired therapies to mitigate bleeding dysfunctions, announced today the appointment of Wolfgang Bergmeier and Dr. Beth Shaz to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Bergmeier is a world-renowned scientist and key opinion leader in platelet biology, hemostasis and thrombosis. He is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at The University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
“It is a pleasure to join Haima’s SAB. The SynthoPlate product is very promising and I hope to support its pre-clinical and clinical development” Bergmeier said. “Furthermore, I am excited about the future potential of the pipeline of platelet-inspired technologies that Haima is developing and look forward to providing scientific insight and technical support for their programs.”
“It is exciting to have Dr. Bergmeier join Haima’s SAB " said Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board and Chief Scientific Adviser for the company. “Dr. Bergmeier’s vast expertise and insight in platelet biology, platelet dysfunctions and in vivo models can significantly advance the company’s R&D and translational endeavors in platelet-inspired technologies.”
“Dr. Bergmeier brings the platelet biology expertise needed to support the development of SynthoPlate, our lead program, in addition to providing technical guidance on our future platelet-inspired technologies under development.” said Dr. Michael Bruckman, Haima’s CEO. “He has proven to be a great collaborator during our first Small Business Innovation Research Award from the National Institutes of Health, and we are excited to have him on our SAB to help shape the future of Haima.”
Dr. Shaz is a world-renowned expert and thought leader in transfusion medicine. She is currently the Deputy Director for the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures at Duke University and also she was the Past Association President of AABB for 2019-2020 period.
“It is a pleasure to join Haima’s SAB. The SynthoPlate product is very promising and I hope to support its clinical development” Dr. Shaz said. “Bleeding patients, especially prehospital and in austere or rural settings, need access to a platelet alternative, like SynthoPlate, to control their hemorrhage and save their lives.”
“It is exciting to have Dr. Shaz join Haima’s SAB " said Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board and Chief Scientific Adviser for the company. “The value and expertise that Dr. Shaz brings because of her decades of experience in transfusion medicine and blood product logistics will be highly significant in clinical and translational development of Haima’s hemorrhage control technologies.”
“I am really excited that Dr. Shaz agreed to join our SAB. Her experience in transfusion medicine across a wide variety of bleeding pathologies dovetails perfectly with the rest of our SAB. Her insights into the use of platelets in a variety of clinical indications will further support our clinical strategy.” said Dr. Michael Bruckman, Haima’s CEO.
About Wolfgang Bergmeier
Wolfgang Bergmeier, PhD, is a biomedical researcher working in the fields of signal transduction, platelet biology, and hemostasis and thrombosis. He studied biology at the University of Regensburg in Germany and graduated from Witten-Herdecke University, Department of Molecular Oncology, in 2001.
For his postdoctoral studies, Dr. Bergmeier joined the laboratory of Dr. Denisa Wagner at Harvard Medical School (HMS). In 2004 he was promoted to Instructor of Pathology at the HMS. During his time there, Dr. Bergmeier studied the molecular mechanisms leading to platelet damage during extended storage and to platelet adhesion at sites of vascular injury.
In 2007, he moved to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia where he became an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a member of the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research. During his time in Philadelphia, he built an externally funded research program that investigates signaling transduction pathways critical for platelet function in hemostasis.
In 2011 Dr. Bergmeier moved his research program to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and a member of the Blood Research Center, both in the UNC School of Medicine. His lab identified the small GTPase Rap1 and its regulators as a unique Rheostat for platelet reactivity, both in circulation and at sites of vascular injury. His ongoing work focuses on a better understanding of the Rap1 signaling pathway in platelets and megakaryocytes, and the implementation of his findings for the development of improved anti-platelet therapies.
Dr. Bergmeier has over 120 publications and 6 book chapters with an impressive H-Index of 52 based on the research he has conducted.
About Beth Shaz
Dr. Shaz is currently the Deputy Director for the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures at Duke University. Prior to joining Duke University Dr. Shaz served as Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President at the New York Blood Center where she established herself as a thought leader in transfusion therapy and management. The New York Blood Center is one of the largest independent, community-based, nonprofit blood centers in the United States. In that role, Dr. Shaz directed all medical activities, including medical oversight of blood donation, hemophilia services, transfusion services, cellular therapy laboratory, bone marrow recruitment and donation, perioperative autologous services and apheresis services. Additionally, she is the Past-President of the AABB Board of Directors and an Associate Editor for the journal Transfusion and was on the editorial board of the journal Blood.
Dr. Shaz has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and co-editor of 10 books on transfusion medicine.
Dr. Shaz received her BS from Cornell University in Chemical Engineering and completed her MD at the University of Michigan. She then completed a surgical internship at Georgetown University and received her Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Transfusion Medicine training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.
About Haima Therapeutics
Haima Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company developing platelet-inspired technologies for the treatment of a variety of blood-related diseases. Haima’s initial focus is on platelet’s primary responsibility, hemostasis, wherein they are developing bio-inspired therapies to mitigate bleeding in multiple therapeutic indications, including traumatic injury, surgery, and thrombocytopenia. Haima’s lead product is called SynthoPlate, a novel, fully-synthetic hemostatic technology that mitigates bleeding by acting at the site of injury and amplifying your body’s natural clotting mechanisms.
Learn more at www.haimatherapeutics.com, follow us on twitter @HaimaThr, or email us at info@haimatherapeutics.com