Management 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.

Eric has nearly 20 years of operating experience in biotechnology and medtech companies. Prior to joining Kiora, he served as the CEO of OccuRx Pty Ltd as well as Co-founder and Director of Bayon Therapeutics, Inc., both focused on the development of next generation ophthalmic therapeutics. Eric is also a Co-Founder and Director of Okogen, Inc., a specialty ophthalmic biotechnology company. Eric previously served as part of the leadership teams at Puregraft LLC, Tensys Medical, and Cytori Therapeutics, Inc., serving in senior medical, R&D, and commercial roles. Eric holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, where he also received his MD from the UCLA School of Medicine. Eric received his BS in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Melissa Tosca is the Chief Financial Officer for Kiora Pharmaceuticals. She has 22 years of public accounting and finance experience, including 15 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. Prior to Omniome, she spent 9 years at Caris Life Sciences, 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 B.S. in Accounting from the University of Arizona.

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.