CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

[Makenlight]

Something else to ponder...UCLA Link?

Administration of an adsorbent polymer for treatment of systemic inflammation
US 20110212172 A1
Inventors John A. Kellum, Mitchell P. Fink

BIO

In 1976, Mitchell P. Fink, M.D., graduated from the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. After completing residency training in general surgery at the Naval Hospital Bethesda, Dr. Fink began a long and successful career in academic medicine, which included posts as Chief of the Division of General Surgery at the University of Massachusetts, Director of Surgical Critical Care Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Johnson & Johnson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Until 2007, Dr. Fink was the Founding Chair of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the first such department at a medical school in the United States. Dr. Fink was also the Watson Professor of Surgery and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Translational Research and Entrepreneurial Development at the University of Pittsburgh.

Under Dr. Fink’s leadership, the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh expanded rapidly. By the time that Dr. Fink left Pittsburgh to pursue other interests (see below), the Department of Critical Care Medicine included more than 70 fulltime faculty members, who provided “7 x 24” attending-level coverage for more than 200 adult and pediatric ICU beds. The clinical budget for the Department exceeded $14 million per year and research in the Department was supported by more $20 million per year in extramural grants or contracts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Projects Research Administration (DARPA), other governmental agencies and private industry. After Dr. Fink left the University of Pittsburgh (see below), the School of Medicine endowed the “Mitchell P. Fink Chair of Critical Care Medicine” in his honor.

The PubMed database of the National Library of Medicine lists more than 290 scientific publications, which have been authored or co-authored by Dr. Fink. Many of these research papers have appeared in very prestigious journals, including Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Gastroenterology, the American Journal of Physiology, the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, JAMA, Annals of Surgery, Archives of Internal Medicine, the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Critical Care Medicine. In addition to these journal articles, Dr. Fink is an author or co-author of numerous invited book chapters. Dr. Fink has been the editor or co-editor of 14 books. Dr. Fink has received numerous honors, including being named in Marquis Who’s Who in America every year since 2008.

As a researcher, Dr. Fink has been particularly interested in alterations in epithelial function due to inflammation, and the development of novel anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Dr. Fink is or has been a member of the Editorial Boards of numerous scientific publications, including the American Journal of Physiology, Biochemical Pharmacology, Intensive Care Medicine, and the Journal of Trauma. He is a Scientific Editor for Critical Care Medicine and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutic and the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

Until he transitioned from the world of academic medicine to the world of entrepreneurial biotechnology, Dr. Fink’s research program was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for more than 20 years. He is a Past-President of the Shock Society, a past Chair of the Program Committee for the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and a member of other prestigious scientific and medical societies, including the American Surgical Association, the James IV Association of Surgeons, and the American Physiological Society. Dr. Fink also has been on the Defense Sciences Research Council (DSRC) of DARPA and the Surgery, Anesthesiology and Trauma (SAT) study section of the NIH. In September 2004, Dr. Fink served as an ad-hoc member of the Council for the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences.

Dr. Fink is an inventor or co-inventor on more than a dozen issued or pending US and international patents.

In 2000, Dr. Fink co-founded Critical Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company based in Lexington, Massachusetts. Dr. Fink and his two partners wrote the business plan for Critical Therapeutics and raised the initial funding (more than $10 million) from venture capitalists to launch the company. Critical Therapeutics, Inc. had a successful initial public offering in 2004.

In 2005, Dr. Fink co-founded Logical Therapeutics, Inc., a Boston-based early stage biotechnology company devoted to developing novel drugs to treat pain and inflammation. In June 2007, Logical Therapeutics closed a round of financing, raising $30 million from a syndicate of highly regarded venture funds, including SVLS, Burrill & Company, Novitas and Novo A/S. In July 2007, Dr. Fink resigned from his position as Chair of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in order to assume the position of President and CEO of Logical Therapeutics. Under Dr. Fink’s leadership, Logical Therapeutics recruited a team of highly experienced drug developers, including experts in regulatory affairs, drug formulation and the conduct of clinical trials. This team with Dr. Fink as their leader organized and carried out a highly successful clinical trial of the company’s most advanced compound, LT-NS001. In October 2008, Dr Fink resigned from his leadership role at Logical Therapeutics, Inc. in order to live in California with his fiancé.

Dr. Fink has served or currently serves on the Boards of Directors of several biotechnology companies, including Critical Therapeutics, Logical Therapeutics, Inotek, Inc. (based in Beverly, Massachusetts) and Midway Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (based in Chicago, Illinois).

Currently, Dr. Fink is the Vice Chair for Critical Care in the Department of Surgery and Professor-in-Residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (Joint Appointments in Surgery and Anesthesiology).


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