MANAGEMENT TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Josefino B. Tunac, President & Chairman
Dr. Joe Tunac is a medical scientist specializing in the discovery and development of drugs. He studies the biochemistry and physiology of the human body and designs drugs to target dysfunctional mechanisms. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of the
Philippines then graduate studies at South Dakota State, Penn State and a doctorate degree at Rutgers University, NJ (at The Waksman Institute: known as the birthplace of antibiotics); Dr. Tunac discovered his first drug (Hydroheptin) at the Waksman Institute. This feat prompted Merck to hire Dr. Tunac as a senior scientist and became instrumental in the discovery and development of multi-billion dollar drugs, including antiparasitic agent (Avermectin , Ivomec ® Heartgard ®); and antibacterial antibiotic (Primaxin®). Avermectin was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Dr. Tunac was recruited to Detroit by Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis (later bought by Pfizer) as a Director of Antibiotics and Chemotherapy where he was responsible for the development of Pentostatin (Nipent®, an anti-cancer drug), Vidarabine (Vira-A®, an anti-viral drug), and Daunomycin (Daunorubicin®, an anti-cancer drug) and the discovery of a number of experimental anti-cancer drugs.
Dr. Tunac left Parke-Davis and founded Fermical, Inc. (Ferndale, MI), a biopharmaceutical company. Discoveries from this lab were parlayed into the start-up of other companies including: Tunair Labware (Detroit, MI) biotech equipment (Tunair™ Culture Flask, sold world-wide); SuperGen, Inc (Dublin, CA), anti-cancer drugs; JJ Pharma, Inc., (San Ramon, CA), cholesterol-modifying and arthritic drugs; Acea Biotech, Inc. (San Francisco, CA), Corifungin™ to treat fungal, amoebic and protozoal infections (FDA has granted the orphan-drug status for Leishmaniasis, and the deadly brain-eating amoeba Naegleria). Another company he founded was Farmaceutix, LLC, involved in the manufacturing of the anti-cancer drug Mitomycin and in 2012, research and development of the diagnostic tool, GlycoCardia (utilizing the surrogate blood marker designed in the discovery of Embotricin) and other novel synthetic compounds, that in combination were designed to be preventative and curative of chronic diseases, with the early focus on CVD.
Dr. Tunac has more than 40 years of drug development experience , at least 30 patents and patents pending and more than 35 scientific publications. He was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Metropolitan Center for High Technology, Detroit, MI. He lives in Oxford, MI.
Brett Homovec, Chief Executive Officer
Brett Homovec is the Managing Partner, founder and President of Peak Blue Ventures Inc., a consulting firm serving entrepreneurs and business owners with strategy and implementation of business development plans, corporate finance and capital raising
activities, and mergers and acquisition advisory services. Brett also formed Company Connections of Southeast Michigan to join the Company Connections network for M&A services. He also provides corporate finance services to Company Connection clients when consensus is reached that acquisition or growth funding will best serve our client.
Brett served as President and COO of Enercorp, Inc., a closed-end Investment Company and business development company. At Enercorp, Brett was responsible for originating investment opportunities and providing on-going assistance and advice to investee companies, including corporate finance transactions, strategic acquisitions and divestitures. Prior to Enercorp, Brett served as a Principal and General Manager to a group of privately-owned luxury automotive retail centers, helping expand from a single location to four exclusive dealerships. He directed corporate affairs for companies with over $120 million in sales, including finance, accounting, insurance, regulatory compliance and corporate litigation. Brett also served as Vice President of Corporate Development and Franchise Operations for Sterling Optical Corporation, the nation's fourth largest optical retailer.
Brett gained his Corporate Finance/Mergers and Acquisitions experience as a Vice President in the Investment Banking Group for Rodman & Renshaw Inc. in New York and Chicago, where he advised business owners, corporate clients and financial buyers on business valuations, M&A and private placements. He also served as a Senior Associate in the Dean Witter Reynolds Corporate Finance Group and as an audit professional for Touche Ross & Co. in New York.
Brett graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Economics and received his MBA in Finance from New York University - Stern School of Business.
Bonnie H. Weiner MD MSEC MBA MSCAI FACC FAHA DNBPAS
Bonnie is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases (ABIM and NBPAS) and interventional cardiology (NBPAS). Holds a Master of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Council on Clinical Cardiology and the American Heart Association. She is a past
President of SCAI. Over the course of her extensive career, in both academic, clinical medicine and as
a consultant, she has been the Principal Investigator for many industry and government sponsored research activities for pharmaceuticals, medical devices and connected health societies.
Bonnie has also been instrumental in the design and execution of clinical trials leading to regulatory approvals and post market data acquisition. Her early career was spent performing whole animal research in atherosclerosis and clinical lipid and cardiovascular risk factor management. More recently and independently as well as Senior Medical Director at Boston Biomedical Associates, she has consulted with multiple companies in industry on the development of animal studies as well as clinical trials. Her focus in these areas has been in the acquisition and analysis of quality data that can be used develop a strategy for regulatory approvals that ultimately lead to improved patient outcomes and to inform the appropriate use of technologies. Through interest and expertise in digital technologies, she has explored ways to integrate new approaches into these processes and sees the future of healthcare in the confluence of technology, patient engagement and objective, meaningful data acquisition and analysis. In addition, she has been a member of numerous clinical trial safety and monitoring committees in the evaluation of new device, pharmacologic and biotech technologies.
Bonnie is also the President of Imaging Core Lab Services, a company that provides independent imaging analyses for clinical trials in cardiovascular diseases and other clinical environments and is also the Chief Medical Officer of Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence, an organization whose mission is to accredit facilities and provide independent external review services to facilities performing catheter based cardiovascular procedures. She also serves on the board of the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS).