Board of Directors

Gil Evans, BA, Director and Chairman of the Board: Mr. Evans comes to VLP with extensive experience in the finance and banking industries, providing capital solutions to growing, small-to-middle market companies. His expertise also includes business expansions, acquisitions and debt restructuring.

David Milich, Ph.D., Director and CEO: Dr. Milich is a leading expert in the immune response to HBV, spending his career of 25+ years in this field of study. His work has been validated both by the NIH and industry, receiving in excess of $25 million in NIH grant support as well as support for various vaccine programs from companies such as MedImmune/AstraZeneca. These studies have resulted in 150+ peer reviewed publications in top tier journals as well as 12 US patents. In 2000, Dr. Milich left his position as Associate Professor at The Scripps Research Institute, to found the non-profit, The Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego (VRISD) as well as the for-profit, VLP Biotech. Dr. Milich holds the positions of Professor and Chairman of the Board at VRISD and is the CEO of VLP Biotech. Drawing from his vast experience and insights in vaccinology and immunology, Dr. Milich directs the vaccine pipeline at VLP Biotech.

Yemi Onakunle Ph.D., MBA, Director and President: Dr. Onakunle brings to VLP Biotech extensive industry experience drawing from both his technical and business expertise. He has held positions at several leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing organizations including Lonza Custom Manufacturing (Associate Director of Business Development), Diosynth RTP Inc., (Director of Commercial Development) and Bachem Americas Inc., (Head of Sales and Marketing). Currently he holds the position of Vice President, US West Coast Licensing and Business Development for Selexis SA. Dr. Onakulne was educated in the UK, receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kent at Canterbury and his MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Imperial College Management School.

Florian Schodel, M.D., Ph.D., Director: Dr. Schodel brings to VLP Biotech 20+ years of large pharma executive experience (VP of Vaccine Clinical Research-Merck Research Laboratories) with a track record in strategic planning, forming international partnerships and all aspects of pre-clinical and clinical development in the US and Europe. Dr. Schodel is the owner of the LLC, Philimmune, which provides expertise in medicine, clinical regulatory development and analytical sciences.

Robert Blatt, MBA, CMA, Director: For over two decades Mr. Blatt served as CFO/Controller of Chicken of the Sea, a company with annual gross sales in excess of $400 million. He currently consults in the food industry for companies such as Joe Pucci & Sons, Inc. He also holds part-time faculty appointments at the University of Phoenix and the University of California San Diego Extension.

Images courtesy of Princeton University & National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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