Our People

Dedicated, talented and experienced people make up Prolong Pharmaceuticals. Our team offers more than credentials and scientific backgrounds. They offer enthusiasm, wonder, hard work and results, as well. Meet them.

Our Management Team
Abraham Abuchowski, Ph.D. is a founder of Prolong Pharmaceuticals and will serve as the Company's President , COO and member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Abuchowski was the founder and past Chairman and CEO of Enzon, Inc., a multi-billion dollar, biopharmaceutical company that specialized in PEGylation technology. During his 13 years at Enzon (1983-1996), Dr. Abuchowski successfully commercialized PEGylation by gaining FDA approval for three protein-based drugs. Dr. Abuchowski was instrumental in helping Enzon mature from a developmental stage company to a fully integrated publicly traded biopharmaceutical company.

Dr. Abuchowski holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University. He is an internationally recognized authority on drug delivery and has published numerous scientific papers and several book chapters on therapeutic products. In 1994, Dr Abuchowski founded and served as the first Chairman of the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey. Dr. Abuchowski is one of New Jersey's top entrepreneurs and is recognized at both the state and national levels as an outstanding bioscience executive.

Stanford Lee, Ph.D. has joined Prolong Pharmaceuticals as Director of Development. Dr. Lee has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and held senior positions in research and development with scientific responsibilities for protein chemistry, protein drug development, and pegylation of drugs. Prior to joining Prolong Pharmaceuticals, he was president of American Biotech Institute, assisting biotech companies in developing programs for pharmaceutical development and implementation of manufacturing processes. Before that, he was Director of Chemistry at ELUSYS Therapeutics where he received 2 patents for the production of antibody-conjugated heteropolymeric drugs. Previously, Dr. Lee was Director of Protein Chemistry at Enzon, where he had more than 14 years experience working on the pegylation of protein drugs in various drug categories, including hemoglobin, EPO, IFN, ADI, single chain antibodies, and more than 10 other anticancer drug candidates. He was instrumental in the development of joint venture projects in cytokines, antibodies, growth factors and small molecules. He has been involved in process transfer from research to large scale production of therapeutic proteins for clinical trials. Dr. Lee has published more than 50 papers and 6 patents. Earlier in his career, Dr. Lee held various positions at Enzo Biochem working on antibody and gene probe diagnostics, and at Cytogen working on cancer imaging and therapy using drug-antibody conjugates. Dr. Lee has an MA and pH.D degree from Yale university and had postdoctoral training at the Columbia University Cancer Center.

Board Members
Zachary Berk, O.D., Chairman of the Board, CEO is a managing director and co-founder of KBL Healthcare Ventures, a venture capital fund that has Novartis Pharmaceuticals as its largest Limited Partner. KBL invests in early and mid-stage healthcare companies. Dr. Berk has over thirty-five years working and investing in the healthcare industry. Dr. Berk was an optometrist for sixteen years and has been an investment banker and venture capitalist for the past twenty years. He has invested in and started many healthcare companies including Summit Technologies, the first ophthalmic refractive laser company, Cambridge Heart, a cardiovascular device company, and founder of Transgenic Sciences, Inc., now part of Genzyme Transgenics Corporation.

Most recently, he was the architect and founder of Lumenos, the leading provider of consumer-driven healthcare, serving as its Vice Chairman. Consumer-driven healthplans are in the process of replacing HMO's as the major health insurance model. Currently, Dr. Berk is chairman and president of KBL Healthcare Acquisition Corporation, a publicly traded acquisition fund and was co-founder of the KBL Healthcare Acquisition I

Marlene R. Krauss, M.D. is a managing director and co-founder of KBL Healthcare Ventures. Dr. Krauss is also CEO of KBL Healthcare Acquisition Corp. II, which is a publicly-traded healthcare fund. In 1993, Dr. Krauss served as chairperson and chief executive officer of KBL Healthcare Acquisition I. Following the merger with Concord Health Group, a rapidly growing nursing home/assisted living company, she became Vice Chairperson. Dr. Krauss has co-founded and/or led the initial financing for the following companies: Candela Laser Corporation; Summt Autonomous, Inc.; and Cambridge Heart. Dr. Krauss currently serves as a member of the board of directors of PneumRx. Inc. Dr. Krauss received a B.A. from Cornell University, and M.B.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed her training as a vitreoretinal surgeon at New York Hospital in 1985.

Medical Advisory Board
Alan G. Harris, MD, PhD, FACP is Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of Prolong Pharmaceuticals. He has 20 years of experience working in clinical drug development in the pharmaceutical industry and is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Manhattan Pharmaceuticals Inc. after serving as Corporate Head of the Worldwide Medical Endocrine Care group at Pfizer Inc, New York. Before that he served as Vice President Global Healthcare Research & Outcomes and Senior Director of Medical & Scientific Affairs at Schering-Plough Corporation, Kenilworth, New Jersey, where he was involved in the joint venture with Merck in the clinical development of the novel cholesterol medication, ezetimibe (Zetia ). Other responsibilities at Schering-Plough included research in products for the treatment of allergic and respiratory disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and hepatitis (Peg-Intron). During his tenure at Sandoz (Novartis) Pharmaceuticals in Basel, Switzerland, Dr. Harris developed the first clinically useful, long-acting somatostatin analog, octreotide (Sandostatin ®), for the treatment of gastrointestinal endocrine tumors and acromegaly.

Dr. Harris received his medical degree cum laude from the Louis Pasteur Faculty of Medicine, University of Strasbourg, France and his Ph.D. in Endocrinology from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.Dr. Harris is currently Adjunct Professor of Medicine at NYU Medical School and Visiting Professor of Medicine in the Department of Endocrinology at Liège University Medical School, Belgium. Dr. Harris was Associate Professor of Medicine of UCLA School of Medicine, Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine and Medical Director of the Department of Technology Development and Transfer and Clinical Trials at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center/UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. Dr. Harris is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians (UK), the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the American College of Nutrition and the Royal Society of Medicine. Dr. Harris has authored over 100 peer reviewed scientific papers in the fields of endocrinology, diabetes mellitus, hepatogastroenterology, oncology, cardiology, allergy, immunology and respiratory medicine.

Adrian F. Daly M.D., M.Sc. is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of Prolong Pharmaceuticals. He has 15 years' experience in biomedical research in the pharmaceutical arena. Dr. Daly is a founder of Clinical Concepts, a European scientific consulting group that specializes in the analysis of key clinical/scientific data for the purposes of strategic planning and decision-making by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Dr. Daly has worked with clients including Schering-Plough, Pfizer and a variety of specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. His areas of expertise include the direction of scientific analyses and competitive market profiles, the identification and verification of promising new therapeutic targets and novel measures of therapeutic efficacy. Dr. Daly is an academic member of the Endocrinology Service of the University Hospital at the University of Liège, Belgium. Dr. Daly received his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and before this graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology from University College Dublin, Ireland. After training in General Internal Medicine, he undertook a Master of Science degree in Molecular Medicine from Trinity College, Dublin.

Scientific Advisory Board
Robert Shorr, Ph.D. will act as an Executive Consultant and serves as Chairman of Prolong Pharmaceuticals Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Shorr is the author of over 150 scientific publications in the areas of drug delivery, diagnostics, reagents and therapeutic agents. He has over 70 patents issued or pending. He served as Vice President of Science and Technology at Enzon, Inc. from 1991 to 1998. At Enzon, Dr. Shorr was instrumental in taking Enzon's blood substitute program (PEG-Hemoglobin) through Phase I clinical trials and bringing PEG-Intron to market. Prior to joining Enzon, Dr. Shorr held management positions at AT Biochem and Smith Kline and French. He is currently a Principal Partner in Altira Capital and Consulting LLC and Director of Business Development at the State University of New York at Stony Brook Center for Advanced Technology. Dr. Shorr received a B.S. in Biology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of London, Imperial College of Science & Technology.