Leadership

Mr. Heck holds nearly three decades of commercial and leadership experience in the biopharma industry, with a history of standing up successful startups. Prior to founding Sentynl Therapeutics, Mr. Heck co-founded Victory Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served as CEO and Board of Directors member. Before Victory, he was on the founding team of specialty pharmaceutical company DJ Pharma and served as its VP of Sales, with success that resulted in acquisition by Biovail Corporation, Inc. Mr. Heck also held roles in sales management, marketing and managed care at Dura Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Elan. Before entering the biopharma industry, Mr. Heck held commercial roles at Dial Corporation. Mr. Heck earned his Bachelor of Arts in marketing from the University of South Carolina.

Michael brings over 25 years of experience in legal, regulatory, compliance, and risk management to Sentynl Therapeutics. In his role as SVP, Michael oversees our Legal, Compliance, Regulatory Affairs & Quality, and Human Resources departments. Prior to joining our team, Michael was Vice President of Law and Chief Compliance Officer of Victory Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the company’s corporate compliance program and served as a member of the executive team. He also served as a Managing Director in the Enterprise Risk Services Group for Deloitte & Touche, where he advised Fortune 500 life sciences management teams on leading industry practices. Before joining the biopharmaceutical industry, Michael practiced law at the global law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP and at Hooper, Lundy & Bookman Inc., where he counseled life science industry clients on a broad range of legal and regulatory issues. Michael earned his BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and his JD from the University of Southern California.

Jennifer has nearly 25 years of medical affairs and product strategy experience with proven launch success across more than 20 hospital and outpatient products. Prior to joining Sentynl Therapeutics, Jennifer was SVP and Head of Medical Affairs at Spero Therapeutics where she optimized value across the enterprise through launch and commercialization planning, clinical development, external partnerships, product lifecycle management and business development. Her background spans several therapeutic areas including neuroscience, infectious and rare disease. Jennifer received her BS in Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her PharmD from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Darren is a highly experienced business development professional with a strong track record of successfully completed transactions. Prior to joining Sentynl, Darren was Executive Director of Corporate and Business Development at Pacira Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for in-licensing, international out-licensing, and pipeline initiatives. Darren was also VP of Corporate Development for EKR Therapeutics. Darren earned his BS in finance from The Pennsylvania State University.

Grant has over a decade of strategy, finance, and commercial operations experience in the biopharma and medical device industry. Prior to joining our team in 2015, Grant led marketing operations for Amedra Pharmaceuticals and Lineage Therapeutics, which was successfully sold to Impax Laboratories in 2015. Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry Grant held numerous commercial roles in the Medical Device sector; most notably as the head of US operations and global marketing for an Israel-based organization, where they successfully commercialized a novel orthopedic device in over 30 countries. He holds his BS in International Business from Johnson & Wales University.

Eileen has over 25 years of experience in GMP compliance, quality, and regulatory affairs in the biopharmaceutical industry, integrating quality principles and regulatory strategy into drug development and commercial programs. Prior to joining Sentynl in 2016, Eileen was the Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at AREVA Med (now known as Orano Med) where she played a key role in initiating AREVA Med’s first-in-human lead-212 clinical trial and specialized in CMC, quality, and regulatory aspects of oncology radioimmunotherapy drug development. She started her career as a CA licensed clinical laboratory scientist, working as a toxicologist before transitioning into the biopharma industry. Eileen earned her BS in Medical Technology from St. Louis University (Philippines) and MS in Regulatory Affairs from San Diego State University, and holds a Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS).