Leadership Team

Dr. Paul Shami

Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Shami is a Professor in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies and member of the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. Dr. Shami has 25 years of experience in the treatment of cancer with a particular emphasis on hematologic malignancies. He also has 25 years of experience in cancer drug development, ranging from drug discovery to all phases of clinical trials. Dr. Shami served on the Developmental Therapeutics Study Section at the NCI and serves on the AML and myelodysplastic syndromes panels of the National Cancer Center Network.

Dr. Shami was the first investigator to observe that O2-aryl diazeniumdiolate NO donors are potent treatments for cancer. He is also the inventor of the micellar formulation of JS-K.

Thomas P. Kennedy, M.D., M.P.H.

Co-Founder

​​Dr. Kennedy earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and his occupational medicine residency and Masters in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians.

Dr. Kennedy is a Research Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. He was on the faculty of the University of Utah at the time of the founding of JSK Therapeutics™. He has held faculty appointments at the University of North Carolina, Duke, and Tulane University. Dr. Kennedy is a serial entrepreneur. His basic research interest centers on the anti-inflammatory pharmacology of sulfated polysaccharides. Dr. Kennedy has invented the non-anticoagulant heparin CX-01 (ODSH/DSTAT), currently in development for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Dr. Kennedy has developed the combination of thiocarbamates with metals for the treatment of different malignant diseases. Dr. Kennedy also founded GlycoMira, a start-up biotechnology company developing hyaluronic acid derivatives for anti-inflammatory use in skin diseases.

Michael Sneddon

Chief Executive Officer

Michael Sneddon is a seasoned entrepreneur with a wealth of global expertise that spans over three decades. Mr. Sneddon obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with a cluster in programming and software development from the University of Nebraska. He further honed his skills by studying Law and Business Management at Brigham Young University, where he earned a J.D./MBA degree.

After his studies, Mr. Sneddon co-founded MultiLing Corporation, an international language services provider specializing in IP translations. As CEO at MultiLing and over two decades of continuous improvement, he built the company to 250 employees and eight offices, seven of which were overseas. Under his leadership, the company developed and implemented world-class technology in terminology management, translation automation, and global workflow technology. This, plus consistent double-digit organic growth, enabled MultiLing to become the world's most profitable translation company with the highest EBITDA, measured as a percentage of revenue.

Mr. Sneddon's extensive international experience allowed him to become fluent in German, as well as conversationally fluent in Spanish and Swedish. He gained a deep understanding of Asian and European business cultures and norms. Michael Sneddon is one of the few founders to conceive a business concept, start a global enterprise from scratch, grow it organically, and years later execute a sale at high P/E ratio.

Outside of his business endeavors, Mr. Sneddon is an avid reader, traveler, skier, scuba diver, cyclist, mountain runner, and traveler. He has completed several triathlons, including the Florida Ironman and is passionate about fitness and personal growth.

Joseph Nowoslawski, MD

Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Nowoslawski earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Wayne State University and a Medical Degree from Michigan State University. He trained at one of the first residencies in Emergency Medicine in the country at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Nowoslawski has over 40 years of experience as a medical doctor and healthcare executive. He founded American Hospital Services Group (AHSG), a national health care delivery and staffing company. He served as AHSG’s Medical Director reviewing aspects of healthcare delivery systems under healthcare reform initiatives, as well as directing the company to successfully obtain awards from the United States Air Force exceeding $1 billion dollars. Dr. Nowoslawski has orchestrated the first strategic sourcing contract for his company in the state of Pennsylvania for all the state operated healthcare services provided in the state. He has founded companies in other sectors, including a Property and Casualty insurance company, American Clinical Surety, Inc.

His organizational memberships include: International Society for Computer Biology, Licensing Executives Society, National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, Nashville Healthcare Council, International Factoring Association, Turnaround Management Association, AUTM, Professional Service Council, Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society, ICML, AMA, ACEP, and other medical and science organizations.

After selling his healthcare companies Dr. Nowoslawski has become actively involved as a startup mentor and angel investor with extensive involvement in the Pennsylvania and Utah communities, investing primarily in biotech startup companies. He serves on several BOD’s and advisory boards in the biotech sector.

As principal investigator of a National Cancer Institute grant in the amount of $2,000,000 he has directed the clinical development of JS-K for the treatment of cancer. As cofounder of the nonprofit Utah Healthcare Entrepreneurs, he has sponsored many educational events supporting the biotech community in Utah. He is one of the founding members of the International Chemical and Biological Society and has recently developed a university curriculum offering a master’s degree course to train a new generation of chief executive officers for the Utah biotech workforce. He is an active member of the Salt Lake City Angels screening committees and investment group, the Purpose Investor Network and is an active member of national Bio and Bio Utah.

He has taught funding approaches for startups at colleges in the region and works with philanthropic fund-raising projects in Salt Lake City. He has obtained a commercial pilots license including SEL SES, MEL, MES, Instrument and several type ratings and endorsements

Prior to founding AHSG, Dr. Nowoslawski practiced clinically for several years in the SE Pennsylvania region, including maintaining the directorships of large Emergency Departments. Additionally, Dr. Nowoslawski is a past president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness and obtained certification by the American Board of Managed Care and the American Board of Forensic Examiners and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Venkata Yellepeddi, PhD

​​Chief Science Officer

Dr. Yellepeddi is a translational sciences researcher with experience in both industry and academia in the fields of cancer and other diseases. Dr. Yellepeddi completed his pharmacy degree from Kakatiya University, India and PhD from Texas A&M University, College Station Texas. His PhD dissertation involved development of nanotechnology-based formulations of anti-cancer drug cisplatin to treat ovarian cancer. After his PhD, Dr. Yellepeddi, completed a Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. He is American Clinical Pharmacology Board Certified Clinical Pharmacologist and completed Health Sciences Leadership Certificate program, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

His professional affiliations include Associate Professor, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, and Adjunct Faculty, College of Pharmacy University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Yellepeddi’s industry experience includes working with companies such as Sanofi, and Nektar Therapeutics in the field for drug formulations and clinical pharmacology. Dr. Yellepeddi’s research accomplishments include 42 publications in peer reviewed journals with 1453 citations and one United States Patent. Dr. Yellepeddi is also recipient of three NIH funded grants and 5 industry sponsored grants in the field of translation sciences research.

Dr. Yellepeddi’s future research interests with JSK Therapeutics™ include clinical translation of potential therapeutic candidates of JS-K to treat various forms of cancer. Dr. Yellepeddi’s is also interested in applying the principles of new drug formulations and clinical pharmacology to explore novel therapeutic advantages of JS-K’s existing drugs in the pipeline.

Kevin S Warner, PhD

​​Scientific Advisor

Kevin Warner, Ph.D., has 15 years’ experience in drug delivery platform development, small molecule formulation development, and manufacturing process development. He is an expert in formulation and process development and has played integral roles in obtaining FDA approval of several products. He is a USP, General Chapters Dosage Form Expert Committee member.  He is currently VP Pharmaceutical Development at Alucent Biomedical.  He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Utah.