Who we are
Eun Jung (EJ) Choi
Chief Executive Officer, MD, Ph.D., MBA
EJ Choi is the Chief Executive Officer and a founder of Spave Science. As chairman and CEO, she leads Spave Science in its purpose as a pioneer in neuroscience, paving the road through science to change the lives of patients who desperately await solutions, with a focus on translating science into better solutions for patients. Her experience as a neurologist makes her focus on the ultimate outcome for patients. During her about 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she has held various leadership positions across the value chain of new drug development including clinical development, medical affairs, market access, and commercial function for multiple disease franchises including Neurology and cardiovascular, metabolism, and immunology at Novartis and UCB. Together with her unique scientific and business expertise, she brings extensive global market experience including Asia, Europe, and the US.
She received her M.D from Korea University and Ph.D. from Ulsan University in Seoul, S. Korea. She completed an internship, a residency, and a fellowship in Neurology at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, one of the biggest medical institutions in South Korea, and was appointed as a faculty in Neurology at Korea University until joining the pharmaceutical industry. She is a certified Board of Neurology and holds MBA, majoring in finance and management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
P. Michael Iuvone, Ph.D., FARVO
Scientific Advisor
Professor of Ophthalmology, Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Iuvone is the Sylvia M. and Frank W. Ferst Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine and Vice-director of Vision Research, Emory Eye Center. His long-standing research collaboration on the tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) pathway with Professor Frank E. McDonald and other researchers at Emory University led to the invention of a novel TrkB agonist. Dr. Iuvone is a neuropharmacologist and has ~50 years of experience researching the actions of drugs, neurotransmitters, hormones, and growth factors on the physiology and pathology of the retina and brain. He has been an editorial board member of several distinguished journals and has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed literature.
Ray Forslund, Ph.D., MBA
Head of CMC
Consultant, SVP, Head of CMC development at Syner-G Biopharma Group
Dr. Forslund received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his MBA from Babson College. Ray has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry working for both pharmaceutical and CRO/CMO companies. In his current role as Senior Vice President at Syner-G BioPharma Group, Ray leads the CMC Development, Project Management, and Quality Assurance business units. Ray’s team is made of a diverse group of scientists who follow his lead in providing practical scientific solutions for drug development programs including identifying and managing CRO/CMO/CDMOs for clients to support drug substance, drug product and analytical development activities in biologics, small molecules and peptides. Ray’s scientific team is also tasked with providing CMC strategy and Program Management oversight of development and clinical stage programs, while also leveraging Syner-G’s regulatory specialists as needed. Previously, Ray was part of the Senior Leadership team at Laurus Synthesis Inc. (LSI), a Boston based CRO/CMO where he led the Project Management group. He began his pharmaceutical career as a process chemist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and then moved on to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals holding several scientific positions of increasing responsibility, leaving as a Senior Manager of Operations.
Jong Sung Kim, MD, Ph.D.
Clinical Advisor, Stroke
Professor of University of Ulsan
Dr. Jong Sung Kim is an Honorary Professor of University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Center, South Korea. He was the former president of Korean Neurological Association, Korean Stroke Society, and the director of Asan Stroke Center. He published 30 books or book chapters including `Intracranial Atherosclerosis’ (Karger, 2016), and `Posterior Circulation Stroke’ (Springer, 2021), and approximately 600 peer-reviewed scientific articles. His main academic interests include sensory manifestation of stroke, intracranial atherosclerosis, posterior circulation stroke, stroke treatment, and mood/emotional disturbances after stroke. He is the founding editor of Journal of Clinical Neurology, and the chief editor of the Journal of Stroke.