Salwa Elgebaly, PhD, Founder and CEO of Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Elgebaly is a Cardio Pharmacologist who founded Nour Heart, Inc. in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. and she is the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Company’s mission is to develop and commercialize diagnostic and therapeutic products for the early detection, prevention, and treatment of myocardial ischemia in patients with ischemic heart disease. She is a former Associate Professor and Director of Surgical Research at the Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, U.S. Currently Dr. Elgebaly holds an adjunct faculty position at the Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Dr. Elgebaly is an inventor of eleven (11) Patents Issued by the U.S. Patent Office and two pending applications. Patents are owned by Nour Heart, Inc. Dr. Elgebaly is the first to identify and patent the novel molecular biomarker, Nourin®to early diagnose myocardial ischemia in patients suspected of having coronary artery disease and, also the cardioprotective bioenergetic drug, Cyclocreatine Phosphate (CCrP) (Nourexal™) to protect against ischemic injury and restore cardiac function with clinical applications in heart transplantation, high-risk cardiac surgery and high-risk intervention cardiology. Recently, the FDA awarded CCrP the Orphan Drug Designation for the heart transplantation indication and the Company is currently conducting CCrP safety assessment for Phase I/Phase II clinical trial. Dr. Elgebaly has extensive experience in conducting FDA-regulated drug testing in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials and functioned as a Director of Clinical Affairs in a Maryland-based pharmaceutical company. In recognition of her unique work on the novel biomarker Nourin®, Dr. Elgebaly was invited by two Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine, Professor Sir John Vane, London, UK, and Professor R. Levi Montalcini, Rome, Italy.
Robert Poston, MD, Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Poston is an actively practicing cardiothoracic surgeon and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mountain View Hospital in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Dr. Poston has clinical experience in cardiac transplantation and research experience as the Principal Investigator of federally funded clinical trials.
Charles Van Buren, MD, Senior Medical Advisor to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Van Buren is Nour Heart’s Senior Medical Advisor and head of the heart transplant program. Dr. Van Buren is an Emeritus Professor at McGovern Medical School in Houston, TX, where he performed the first liver transplant in Houston in 1985. He served as a tenured professor of surgery at both McGovern Medical School and Baylor College of Medicine performing kidney transplants for over 36 years. He served for 21 years as the Medical Director of the Lifegift Organ Bank in Houston, as well as a chair of their Medical Review Board.
Michael A. Azrin, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, FAHA, Intervention Cardiology Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Azrin is a tenured Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut. Director, Cardiac Catheterization and Interventional Cardiology. Program Director, Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Core Faculty, UConn Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship. Associate Director, Clinical Program and Research Development Director, UConn Chronic Coronary Total Occlusion (CTO) Revascularization Program.
Hussien Rizk, MD, Cardiology Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Rizk is an Emeritus Professor of cardiology at Cairo University Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt and former Head, Department of cardiology. Dr. Rizk has extensive experience as a clinical non-invasive cardiologist in cardiovascular research in fields of hypertension, heart failure, rhythm disturbance and infective endocarditis. Dr. Rizk was awarded a Research fellow at Cardiology Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. Dr. Rizk has been recognized by Cairo University for international publications for the years 2013-2016. In 2016 Dr. Rizk was awarded the recognition for the publication of highest impact in medicine.
Robert Christenson, PhD, Cardiac Biomarker and Regulatory Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Christenson is a tenured professor of pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Medical Director of the Core Laboratory. Dr. Christenson is an expert on cardiac biomarkers and he will conduct our proposed Nourin clinical studies. His laboratory has been the Core Laboratory for numerous clinical trials sponsored by NIH, the Foundation of NIH, the Veterans Administration, AHA, and many manufacturers. Many of these trials involve biomarker characterization, as well as safety and effectiveness studies that have led to FDA clearance of in vitro diagnostic devices.
Nashwa El-Khazragy, MD, Molecular Biomarker Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. El-Khazragy is a Professor of Clinical Pathology-Hematology and head of Proteomics & Metabolomics research unit in the Faculty of Medicine Ain Shams Research Institute (MASRI), Ain Shams University. She has been the managing director of Global Research Labs since 2017. Dr. El-Khazragy obtained her doctorate degree in Laboratory Hematology from Ain Shams University in 2010. She has nearly ten years of experience in the research of Hematology, Oncology, Molecular biology, Genetics, Cell Biology, Medical Biochemistry and Immunology. Dr. El-Khazragy has authored over 55 research articles and served as an editor and reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals. She has supervised over 60 Ph.D., M.D., and Master theses from 5 Egyptian Universities.
Tamer Elbayoumi, PhD, Drug Safety Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Elbayoumi is the Founder and CEO of NanoMedSolution LLC, which is a formulation and pre/IND-phase pharmaceutical consulting firm. He is also a tenured Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy-Glendale, AZ campus, Midwestern University. He has >18 years of academic and pharmaceutical industry research experience in product formulation/nanocarriers, targeting of drugs and diagnostic agents, animal modeling, bio-imaging and DMPK/PD analyses of nano-pharmaceutical delivery systems..
Joseph Fortunak, PhD, Drug Development and Regulatory Consultant to Nour Heart, Inc.
Dr. Fortunak is a tenured Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science at Howard University in Washington DC. Among other positions, Dr. Fortunak is the former Head of Global Chemical Development at Abbott Labs. Prior to joining Abbott Laboratories, Dr. Fortunak was Executive Director at DuPont Pharmaceuticals. His specialties are process chemistry and formulation, drug development and manufacturing. Dr. Fortunak has extensive experience in CGMP, API and finished product manufacturing, validation, and Quality Assurance, as well as IND and NDA filings to the USFDA.