Executive Leadership
Dr. Ashraf S. Ibrahim
Founder and CEO
A pioneer in infectious disease research with over 35 years of experience, Dr. Ibrahim leads Vitalex with a vision to transform the treatment landscape for invasive fungal infections. His leadership bridging scientific discovery and commercial strategy has been instrumental in advancing our proprietary biotherapeutic pipeline.
Dr. Ibrahim is a senior investigator at The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center and a Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is one of the developers of the Candida albicans NDV-3A vaccine, which showed efficacy in protecting women from recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis in a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. Dr. Ibrahim is a world recognized leader in the pathogenesis of fungal infections, host-pathogen interactions and immunotherapy development. Dr. Ibrahim has participated in the design of several clinical studies, published >200 peer reviewed research articles, reviews and book chapters. Dr. Ibrahim's laboratory has been NIH funded continuously since 2003, is a consultant to several pharmaceutical companies, a regular reviewer of NIH study sections and scientific journals, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Ibrahim has raised >$50 millions in funding from NIH, foundations and industry.
The Minds Behind Vitalex
Miles Brennan
Terrence Cochrane
Shakti Singh
Yiyou Gu
William D Burger, Jr, JD
Chief Scientific Officer
Manufacturing and Project Manager
Principle Scientist
Senior Researcher
Legal and Corporate Development
Miles Brennan, Ph.D., is Chief Science Officer at Vitalex. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Stanford University before beginning his twenty year career in academia and subsequently transitioning into biotechnology. Early in his industry career, Dr. Brennan developed the first fully deleted, helper-independent adenoviral vector for vaccine and gene therapy applications. Over the past decade, his work has focused on the development and regulatory advancement of monoclonal antibody therapeutics targeting pathogens and toxins, including as Regulatory lead for the first antiviral monoclonal antibody therapeutic to enter clinical trials in the United States. In addition to his scientific and development leadership, Dr. Brennan brings expertise in intellectual property strategy and regulatory affairs.
With 25+ years biopharma experience Terrence (Terry) Cochrane has established himself as a biopharmaceutical CMC professional with expertise in critical areas including Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Validation, Manufacturing Operations, Process Development, Analytical Development, and Project Management. Over the years Terry has contributed to the CMC portfolios of more than eight commercial and over fifty clinical biopharmaceutical programs by getting product to the patients that need it most. Prior to President of BrevisRefero (a Vitalex partner), Terry was co-founder & managing director of the Bio-Processing Alliance (2009-2019), Director of Project Operations at QSV Biologics (2002-2009), and Analytical Validation Supervisor at Cangene Corporation (2000-2002). Building upon this experience Terry utilizes his honed CMC and product development skillset in the highly regulated GXP environment to advance biologics and advanced therapy targets from bench, to clinic, and ultimately to market.
Shakti Singh, Ph.D., is an Investigator at The Lundquist Institute and Assistant Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His research focuses on host–pathogen interactions, with an emphasis on fungal infections. Dr. Singh integrates immunology, microbiology, and translational science to elucidate disease mechanisms and advance novel preventive and therapeutic immune-based strategies, anti-infective peptides, and diagnostics. He contributes to the development and evaluation of therapeutic and diagnostic programs at Vitalex Biosciences, including VXV-01 and VX-01, targeting unmet needs in infectious fungal diseases.
Dr. Gu’s research focuses on host–fungal interactions and the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for invasive fungal infections, particularly mucormycosis. At The Lundquist Institute, his work investigates virulence mechanisms of Mucorales fungi and translational approaches to improve diagnosis and treatment. His research contributed to the discovery of mucoricin, a toxin required for mucormycosis pathogenesis, and to studies defining host signaling pathways involved in fungal invasion and epithelial damage. He has also contributed to the development of rapid molecular diagnostics and monoclonal antibody–based immunotherapies targeting fungal pathogens. His work has been published in Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, and Science Translational Medicine and is supported by NIH/NIAID funding.
William Burger is an experienced and talented litigator who enjoys a broad litigation practice. Mr. Burger has >17 years of experience in corporate law development of startup companies. Mr. Burger received his Bachelor of Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2001, and his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004. Prior to joining Burger | Meyer, LLP, Mr. Burger practiced at some of the largest law firms in the world, including Morrison & Foerster, and Troutman Sanders.
Our Expertise
With decades of collective experience in infectious disease research, regulatory collaboration, and manufacturing, our team brings a unique blend of clinical precision and innovation to every project. We have successfully navigated complex regulatory landscapes and developed proprietary pipelines that redefine the boundaries of precision medicine.
Our scientific background is rooted in cutting-edge research based out of the Lundquist institute, formerly known as Harbor-UCLA Medical Research Center. By integrating advanced computational models with rigorous laboratory validation, we ensure that our solutions are not only innovative but clinically viable and scalable for global markets.