Executive Team

Brian was a co-founder and Director of Bayon Therapeutics, Inc., and Okogen, Inc. Prior to founding Okogen, Brian worked at Sound Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, and Shire, where he was responsible for business development and corporate strategy in ophthalmology, otology, and regenerative medicine.

Brian began his career at Cytori Therapeutics with elevating roles within the commercial and R&D departments. Brian received his BS in Bioengineering from Cornell University and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA.

Melissa Tosca is the Chief Financial Officer for Kiora Pharmaceuticals. She has 24 years of public accounting and finance experience, including 17 years at biotechnology and life science companies.

Prior to joining Kiora, Melissa served as Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Treasurer for Neomorph, where she managed the company’s finance and accounting functions. Prior to Neomorph, Melissa served as Director of Finance and Accounting at Omniome, where she built the accounting and finance infrastructure and managed the company’s financial operations. She spent 9 years at Caris Life Sciences prior to Omniome, serving in various leadership roles including Director of Finance and Accounting, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, and Senior Director of Sales Operations.

Melissa began her professional career in public accounting at Clifton Gunderson and later Ernst and Young as an Audit Manager. Melissa is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Arizona.

Mr. Lane joins Kiora from Ora, Inc., an ophthalmology-focused clinical research organization, where he most recently served as the Chief Scientific Officer. During his tenure, he oversaw clinical operations and regulatory strategy for more than 60 ophthalmic trials, including 12 global Phase 3 pivotal studies that supported three new drug application submissions and one biologics license application submission. His experience spans small molecules, biologics, gene therapies and cell therapies across retinal disease, inherited retinal disease, glaucoma, optic neuropathies and inflammatory eye conditions.

Mr. Lane earned an MBA in health sector management, with honors, from Boston University's Questrom School of Business and a Bachelor of Science from Bates College.

Stefan acts as Executive Vice President CMC and Operations at Kiora. Previously, he was the co-founder and COO of Panoptes Pharma. Prior to this position he was global Project Manager at Nabriva Therapeutics AG, responsible for development of XENLETATM from early preclinical to clinical phase 2 programs. Before that he had various roles in R&D at Biovertis AG, Austria and Wilex AG, Germany.

He has profound knowledge of drug development and is an inventor on numerous patents. Dr. Stefan Sperl received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried, Germany.