Management Team

Gerald E. Commissiong

President & CEO

Mr. Commissiong is President & CEO BioScience and a member of the Board of Directors of Amarantus, the company he co-founded with John Commissiong, PhD in 2008. From the inception of the Company, Mr. Commissiong attracted seed capital, acquired the intellectual property rights to MANF and recruited scientific and executive talent to Amarantus to allow for the further development of the technologies. Prior to becoming CEO in October 2011, Mr. Commissiong was the Chief Operating Officer where his duties included strategic transactions, licensing, research collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and fund raising. From August 2009 until March 2011, he served as Chief Business Officer where he was responsible for business and corporate development. Prior to co-founding Amarantus, Mr. Commissiong played professional football for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Mr. Commissiong received a B.Sc. in Management Science and Engineering with a focus on Financial Decisions from Stanford University.

John W. Commissiong, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Commissiong has served as the Chief Scientific Officer and a Director of Amarantus since co-founding the company in 2008. Prior to Amarantus, Dr. Commissiong served as the CSO of Neurotrophics, Inc. and  Prescient Neuropharma, Inc.  Throughout his distinguished career , Dr. Commissiong has been focused on the discovery of novel neurotrophic factors for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases as well as understanding the fundamental underlying biology of protoplasmic type-1 astrocytes that secrete neurotrophic factors. He was Chief of the Neural Transplantation Unit, NINDS-NIH, from 1989-94 where his research focused on identifying therapeutic approaches to spinal cord injury. Dr. Commissiong was Head of the Neurotrophic Factors Group, NINDS-NIH, from 1994-97 where he focused on developing technologies to systematically identify novel neurotrophic factors with applications for specific Central Nervous System disorders. He co-founded Prescient Neuropharma in 1999, and discovered MANF in 2003. MANF is currently in preclinical development for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The work pioneered by Dr. Commissiong has led to significant advancements in the field of astrocyte-neuron biology. Dr. Commissiong believes that a fundamental understanding of astrocyte-neuron interactions in the Central Nervous System will lead to a new generation of therapies to treat brain-related disorders.

Dr. Commissiong did his Postdoctoral work in the Lab Preclin Pharmac, NIMH-NIH, concentrating on the application of quadrupole mass spectrometry in the analysis of neurotransmitters. He holds a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from the University of Southampton, an M.Sc. in Biochemical Pharmacology from the University of Southampton, and a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of the West Indies.

Marc E. Faerber

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Faerber has over thirty years of experience with over nineteen of those in life sciences. His experience has spanned Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, and everything in between. During the past ten years Mr. Faerber has been providing financial, business and advisory services to a broad base of start-up companies primarily in the fields of cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, diagnostics and biotechnology.

Mr. Faerber has extensive experience managing transactions including the establishment of international organizations throughout Europe and parts of Asia, international technology licensing and distribution, mergers and acquisitions , and numerous funding transactions including an initial public offering as well as other international business structural issues. During Mr. Faerber’s career he has held various positions in finance and corporate management including CFO, CEO and Director. Mr. Faerber started his career at KPMG as a certified public accountant , and he has a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Business Administration from Providence College.