Lewis H. Bender, M.S., M.A., M.B.A., Founder and CEO
Mr. Bender has over 28 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience and has helped take products leveraging novel drug delivery techniques from discovery through product approval. Prior to founding Intensity Therapeutics, Mr. Bender was the CEO of Interleukin Genetics, a personalized medicine company, from January 2008 until August 2012. Prior to joining Interleukin, Mr. Bender held numerous positions at Emisphere Technologies, Inc., a drug delivery company specializing in the oral delivery of poorly absorbed molecules. His roles included: Interim President & CEO, President, Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President of Business Development, and Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Development.
During his career, Mr. Bender has partnered with several major pharmaceutical and biotech companies using structures such as joint ventures, licensing and research collaboration agreements. In addition, Mr. Bender has been successful in raising capital from institutional investors through multiple types of transactions.
Mr. Bender has a Bachelor of Science and a Master’s of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and a Masters of Arts in International Studies, also from UPenn.
Dan Donovan
Daniel J. Donovan joined the Board in January 2023. Mr. Daniel Donovan is an entrepreneur with extensive experience within the biotech industry. Since 2014 to present he has been the Chief Executive Officer of rareLifeSolutions, Inc., a company creating the connections to engage, unify, and amplify the voices of patients, advocates, and caregivers to inform and accelerate the development and commercialization of emerging treatments especially in rare diseases. Dan was a member of the Board of Directors and Chief Business Officer at Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals (CPP), a late-stage pharmaceutical development company with compounds targeted at several rare diseases. Prior to rareLife and CPP, Dan established Envision Pharma in 2001, serving as President through June 2011. He was the visionary behind the creation and development of Datavision, the market leader in medical publications technology. Envision Pharma was acquired by the United BioSource Corporation (UBC) in April 2008. At UBC Mr. Daniel Donovan was Senior Vice President Strategy and Market Development. Dan began his career at Pfizer serving in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility, ranging from sales to market research and marketing in the US domestic and international market place, culminating in his position as Director and European Team Leader. During his time at Pfizer, he played a pivotal role in the commercialization of some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most successful product launches. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance at Lehigh University. We believe that Mr. Daniel Donovan’s background in cancer and rare disease, finance, drug development, patient advocacy and small company board experience allows him to make valuable contributions to our Board.
Mark A. Goldberg, MD
Dr. Mark A. Goldberg most recently served as president and COO of PAREXEL International, one of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical service providers, with consolidated service revenue of approximately $2.1B, over 18,000 employees, and 86 locations across 51 countries. He was responsible for overseeing all revenue generating business segments including Clinical Research Services, PAREXEL Informatics, and PAREXEL Consulting, as well as sales, marketing, corporate quality, and information technology. Dr. Goldberg helped to pioneer PAREXEL’s strategic partnering approach with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, and to build out the company’s global infrastructure, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, through both organic growth and acquisitions. Earlier in his PAREXEL career, he founded the company’s medical imaging business and helped establish its technology subsidiary, Perceptive Informatics (now PAREXEL Informatics). Dr. Goldberg holds a BS in computer science from MIT and an MD from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed residency training in radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also served as chief resident and a staff physician with academic appointments at Harvard Medical School.
Emer Leahy, Ph.D.
Dr. Leahy has more than 25 years’ experience in drug discovery, clinical development and business development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including extensive knowledge of technology assessment, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning. She is currently CEO of PsychoGenics Inc., a profitable, preclinical-stage CNS service company, CEO of PGI Drug Discovery LLC, a company engaged in psychiatric drug discovery with three partnered Phase II clinical programs and Adjunct Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Prior to her appointment as CEO of PsychoGenics, she was Vice President of Business Development, a position she also held at American Biogenetic Sciences and at AMBI Inc. Dr. Leahy served on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board for the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and currently serves on the Business Review Board for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation. Dr. Leahy received her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from University College Dublin, Ireland, and her MBA from Columbia University.