RepliCel's Team

RepliCel’s has a global management team and board of directors with longstanding commitment to RepliCel and its technologies. RepliCel’s co-founders, Kevin McElwee and Rolf Hoffmann, continue to contribute to the Company’s science and strategy complemented now by an outstanding panel of nationally and globally renowned clinical advisors in Europe, North America, and Asia.

The company also has established relationships with a network of third-party collaborators and a growing roster of international partners committed to co-development and commercialization of certain products in particular geographic markets.

Management

Andrew Schutte

President & CEO

Andrew Schutte

President & CEO

Mr. Schutte is the Chief Technology Officer with MainPointe Pharmaceuticals in Louisville Kentucky. Additionally, he is president and sole proprietor of two oil industry related companies, Nolan Olbohrung LLC and Valence Oil LLC. Investment-minded and accomplished, his current CV also includes the management of several private investment accounts. 

Mr. Schutte began his career in pharmaceuticals with US based, Gerimed Inc. as a VBA Programmer. Gerimed Inc. serviced independent pharmacies serving long-term care and home care patients.  He has been a shareholder of RepliCel since early 2017 and served as an advisor to the Company prior to being elected to the RepliCel Board of Directors in late 2018.

Ben Austring

Chief Operating Officer

Ben Austring

Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Kevin McElwee, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Kevin McElwee, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. McElwee, co-discoverer of the Company's technology and co-founder of RepliCel, is Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bradford’s School of Chemistry and Biosciences. Previously, he as an Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology and Skin Health at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the Hair Research Laboratory in the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). His research has been funded by competitive grants awarded by multiple organizations including the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (the equivalent of the National Institutes for Health in the USA). 

Dr. McElwee is one of only a small group of research scientists worldwide who studies hair biology and associated diseases. He has worked as a hair research scientist for 12 years and has published over 70 medical journal articles, research abstracts and academic book chapters on hair loss research. Dr. McElwee received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and his PhD from the University of Dundee, Scotland. Postdoctoral training included three years at the Jackson Laboratory in Maine and four years at the University of Marburg, Germany, studying various hair loss diseases.

Dr. McElwee serves as RepliCel’s Chief Scientific Officer.

David Kwok, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

David Kwok, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Kwok is a Chartered Professional Accountant and has extensive experience with private and public companies. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2008. 

 

Board of Directors

Gary Boddington

Director

Gary Boddington

Director

Gary Boddington is currently the CEO of PlayWize Technology Inc. He is experienced in founding and leading global companies, exploring new markets, launching new products, and raising capital. Gary has worked with founders, shareholders, and boards of directors in public and private entities. He founded a business intelligence company which was acquired by a FTSE 100 company, was an early team member of Canada’s first listed blockchain company which did pioneering pilot projects with major brands globally, and most recently was an independent director Vancouver fintech company which had a $100million+ exit. Gary brings to RepliCel’s Board his passion for global business development and digital transformation, with his enthusiasm and experience in SportsTech, Fintech, Blockchain, Business Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence and entrepreneurship to discussions.

David Hall

Chairman of the Board

David Hall

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Hall served as CEO and President of RepliCel Life Sciences from 2012 through 2015. He helped diversify RepliCel’s cell therapy programs from a single program to three current clinical programs, as well as the development the RCI-02 dermal injector device. Previously, Mr. Hall consulted to government, pharma industry, biotech, eHealth and NGO’s for two years. For the prior 15 years, Mr. Hall served in multiple roles including as the CFO, CCO, Treasurer and Secretary of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Mr. Hall is a Past Chair and board member of Life Sciences BC and current director of Providence Health Care Research Institute and VANC Pharmaceuticals. He is the author of Life Sciences BC’s position papers for the Premier’s Competition Council Report and Conversation on Health. Mr. Hall was also a member of the BC Task Force on PharmaCare and serves on the board of directors of the Advantage BC. Mr. Hall holds an Honours degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Manitoba.

Mr. Hall serves as the Chairman of RepliCel’s Board of Directors.

Peter Lewis, CA

Director

Peter Lewis, CA

Director

Mr. Lewis is a chartered accountant and partner with Lewis and Company, a firm specializing in taxation law since 1993. His areas of expertise include tax planning, acquisitions and divestitures, reorganizations and estate planning. Mr. Lewis is a sought-after educator, having taught and presented taxation courses at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia and the Canadian Tax Foundation. 

He served on the Taxation Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for three years and as President and Secretary-Treasurer at the Jericho Tennis Club for a combined ten years. Mr. Lewis is currently a member of the University Endowment Lands Community Advisory Committee.

Mr. Lewis is a shareholder in RepliCel and serves as a member of the Board of Directors.

Andrew Schutte

President & CEO

Andrew Schutte

President & CEO

Mr. Schutte is the Chief Technology Officer with MainPointe Pharmaceuticals in Louisville Kentucky. Additionally, he is president and sole proprietor of two oil industry related companies, Nolan Olbohrung LLC and Valence Oil LLC. Investment-minded and accomplished, his current CV also includes the management of several private investment accounts. 

Mr. Schutte began his career in pharmaceuticals with US based, Gerimed Inc. as a VBA Programmer. Gerimed Inc. serviced independent pharmacies serving long-term care and home care patients.  He has been a shareholder of RepliCel since early 2017 and served as an advisor to the Company prior to being elected to the RepliCel Board of Directors in late 2018.

Jamie Mackay

Director

Jamie Mackay

Director

Jamie Mackay is currently the CEO of Mackay Developments, Founder of Wheelhaus, Fireside Resorts and Vurtical. Jamie has extensive experience in large commercial, residential, and mixed-use real estate developments across the United States. Jamie, as a seasoned entrepreneur, has successfully managed numerous private startups. Having engaged with numerous entities across many different sectors as both an investor and as a member of management, Jamie brings a unique perspective.

R. Lee Buckler, B. Ed, LLB

Director

R. Lee Buckler, B. Ed, LLB

Director


Mr. Buckler has been an executive in the cell therapy sector since 2000 beginning with Malachite Management in the Stem Cell Technologies group of companies. He served just over two years as Director of Business Development for Progenitor Cell Therapy prior to its acquisition by NeoStem and then Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions. Most recently he was the Managing Director of Cell Therapy Group, a consulting firm he formed in 2008.  

Mr. Buckler holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Law Degree. After law school, he did a one year judicial clerkship with the B.C. Supreme Court and was a practicing attorney for three years at Edwards, Kenny & Bray. Mr. Buckler served six years as the Executive Director of the International Society for Cellular Therapy, was the inaugural chair of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's Communications and Education Committee, co-founded Cell Therapy News, founded Cell Therapy Blog, founded and continues to manage the LinkedIn Cell Therapy Industry Group, serves on the editorial advisory boards for the journals Regenerative Medicine and Cell and Gene Therapy Insights, and the advisory boards for Phacilitate:Exchange and RoosterBio. He is a frequent commentator, analyst, author and speaker in cell therapy.

 

Executive Committee

 

Advisors

Dr. Ross G. Davidson, MBChB

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinical Advisor (Focus: North America)

Dr. Ross G. Davidson, MBChB

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinical Advisor (Focus: North America)

Dr. Davidson has facilitated the recovery of numerous high profile professional athletes during his 30+ year career in sports medicine. He is the former Director, Post Grad Programmes Sports Medicine at the University of Auckland and is currently a member of the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association and the Canadian Orthopaedic Association. He is the past president of the National Hockey League Physicians Society, past head physician and orthopaedic consultant for the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Club (NHL), past orthopaedic consultant to the Vancouver Grizzlies Basketball Team (NBA), past orthopaedic consultant to Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, and past orthopaedic consultant to the Canadian Football League Players Association. Dr. Davidson held the position of clinical professor, department of orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia until 2000. Dr. Davidson currently has appointments to the Auckland Surgical Centre and Southern Cross Hospital in New Zealand and is the Director of the Post-Graduate Programme in Sports Medicine at the University of Auckland. Dr. Davidson is a highly regarded and sought-after lecturer having presented more than 60 lectures and presentations and is published in 17 scientific publications on sports-related injuries and treatments.

Dr. med Rolf Hoffmann, MD

Co-Founder & Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Global, Germany)

Dr. med Rolf Hoffmann, MD

Co-Founder & Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Global, Germany)

Dr. Hoffmann is a European-based practicing dermatologist and clinical researcher who has spent decades researching the fields of pattern hair loss, alopecia areata, endocrinology of the hair follicle and hair follicle morphogenesis. Together with Dr. McElwee, he is the applicant of a landmark patent on the use of hair follicle cup cells and their use in hair diseases. He is the co-discoverer of the Company's technology and co-founder of RepliCel. He works in his private dermatology clinical practice, as a teaching professor in the Department of Dermatology for Marburg University, and as a researcher on the histopathology of hair diseases on which he has published many articles and text book chapters. 

Dr. Hoffmann has participated in dozens of clinical hair studies and consulted for a variety of large companies on hair matters. He is the inventor of TrichoScan®, a computerized technique to measure hair growth, which is part of a privately owned company which markets the device and related services for dermatologists and clinical trial researchers.

Prof. Akimichi Morita, MD, PhD

Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Japan)

Prof. Akimichi Morita, MD, PhD

Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Japan)

Prof. Akimichi Morita is the Vice Director of Nagoya City University Hospital and, since 2003 he has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Geriatric and Environmental Dermatology at Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Nagoya Japan.

He held the position of Program Officer for the Research Center of Science Systems at the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (2016-2020). His areas of interest are phototherapy, cutaneous immunology, and skin aging. Dr. Morita was the President of the Japanese Society of Investigative Dermatology (2017-2020) and has been involved in many other societies. In 2004, Prof. Morita was an international honorary member of Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft. He has been a key member in many medicals publications especially the Journal of Dermatological Sciences (JDS) of which he was the Editor in Chief from 2008 to 2013.

Professor Akimichi Morita graduated from Nagoya City University and received his MD degree in 1989. He received his PhD in basic immunology at Aichi Cancer Center. He studied photobiology and photoimmunology under the supervision of Professor Jean Krutmann at Duesseldorf University as a Humboldt Foundation fellow where he discovered UVA1-mediated human T helper cell apoptosis as a fundamental mechanism of UVA1 phototherapy. He also trained under the supervision of Professor Akira Takashima at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and developed a Langerhans cell-targeted vaccination. He has introduced numerous standard phototherapies to Japan. 

In 2015, Professor Morita was the President of the 30th Annual Meeting of the JSPR 2015, Nagoya, JAPAN. In 2018 he was the President of the 5th Eastern Asia Dermatology Congress (EADC) held in Kumming, CHINA. He is the Director of the Japanese Society for Psoriasis Research and a member of the Japanese Society of Dermatology, Japanese Society for Photomedicine and Photobiology, and American Society for Photobiology.


Prof. Tsukasa Kumai, MD, PhD

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinical Advisor (Focus: Japan)

Prof. Tsukasa Kumai, MD, PhD

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinical Advisor (Focus: Japan)

Professor Tsukasa Kumai is a Professor of Orthopedics in the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University in the heart of Tokyo Japan.

Since 2017 and after serving as a professor at the Department of Sports Medicine at Nara Medical University, Dr. Kumai has been involved in education and research in sports medicine and in the functional anatomy of motor organs at the School of Sport Sciences at Waseda University. Based on his basic research at the Musculoskeletal Biology and Sports Medicine Research Lab at the University of Wales, UK, and the Department of Anatomy at the University of Munich, Germany, he has been elucidating and applying functional anatomy to the treatment of tendon and ligament overuse disorders in athletes. In clinical practice, he specializes in minimally invasive treatment of foot disorders in athletes, including arthroscopic surgery and extracorporeal shock wave therapy, for which he is a pioneer in Japan. He still performs more than 200 arthroscopic surgeries per year.

Other roles:

  • Sports Doctor, JSPO
  • Chairman of the Medical Faculty, Japan Cycling Federation
  • Team Doctor, National Cycling Track Team
  • Medical and Scientific Staff, Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) (cycling, volleyball)
  • Team Doctor, Shimano Racing Team (UCI Pro Cycling Team)
  • Team Doctor, Nagoya Wolfdogs (V league)
  • Medical Advisor, Kashiwa Reysol (J league)
  • Specialist, Japanese Orthopaedic Association
  • Executive Board, Japanese Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot, and Japanese Society for Arthroscopy, Knee and Sports Orthopedics
  • Board, Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine,  Japanese Society of Clinical Biomechanics, Japanese Society for Minimally Invasive Orthopaedic Surgery, and Japanese Society of Orthopaedic Ultrasonics
  • President, Japanese Orthopaedic Society of Shockwave Therapy

Kunihiko Suzuki, MBA

Senior Strategic Advisor to Directors (Focus: Japan)

Kunihiko Suzuki, MBA

Senior Strategic Advisor to Directors (Focus: Japan)

Kunihiko Suzuki is one of the business leaders in Regenerative Medicine/Cell & Gene Therapy space in Japan.  

While Kuni started his business career at US oil company in Tokyo/Kyoto and spent circa. 20 years at one of Japanese financial institutions in the areas of investment banking in Tokyo, commercial banking in London and trust banking in Luxembourg, Kuni moved into the space of RM/CGT sector in 2006 as one of management team (Member of the Board, CBO, CEO and other positions) of MEDINET Co., Ltd., one of the earliest companies focused on immune-cell therapies and contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services. 

Additionally, Kuni was one of the establishing committee members of Japan’s industry associate, FIRM (Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine) which acts as the nation’s industrial advocacy group, similar to the US-based ARM, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.  He was a Member of the Board and Vice Chair of FIRM since 2014 and, in April 2021, was invited be a leader of FIRM’s Specific Cell-based Products Working Group.  

In April 2020, Kuni became a Member of the Bio-Industry Subcommittee of the Commerce, Distribution and Information Committee for the Industrial Structure Council of Japan’s METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) to issue the report, “Fifth Industrial Revolution” cultivated with Biotechnology.  Recently Kuni was also a Co-Chair of Organising Committee for the ISCT Melbourne 2019 Annual Meeting as well as the ISCT Regional Treasurer, Asia for the 2020-2023 term. 

In December 2020, Kuni became an Advisor to Cyfuse Biomedical K.K., a company producing regenerative medical products with its own unique 3D bio-printing technology (the KENZAN method), and was appointed to Cyfuse’s Board of Directors in March 2021.   In May 2021, Kuni became an associate member of the advisory firm Cell One Partners, based in New York, charged with advising clients related to their RM/CGT activities in Japan/Asia markets.

Kuni holds an M.A. in Economics from Waseda University and an MBA from Keio University. 

Prof. Dr. med Jean Krutmann, MD

Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Global, Europe, China)

Prof. Dr. med Jean Krutmann, MD

Dermatology Clinical Advisor (Focus: Global, Europe, China)

Prof Dr. med Jean Krutmann is Professor of Dermatology and Environmental Medicine and Director of the IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. He is also a Visiting/Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio, USA), Nagoya City University (Nagoya, Japan), and at Fudan University (Shanghai, China). He is a member of the National Academy of Science of Germany.

Professor Krutmann’s research is in the field of derma-toxicology and immune-dermatology with special emphasis on environmentally-induced skin diseases and skin aging. His scientific contributions include the development of UVA1 phototherapy, the discovery that infrared A radiation and air pollution contribute to skin aging, and that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor is involved in skin stress responses including photocarcinogenesis. Prof. Krutmann is author or co-author of more than 400 papers. 

Prof. Krutmann is the recipient of the International Arnold-Rikli-Award, the Albert Fleckenstein Award, the Paul Gerson Unna Award, the Oscar Gans Award, the C.E.R.I.E.S. Research Support Award, the Dermopharmacy Innovation Award and the Xu Guang Qi Lecturer Award. 

Since 2010, he is a member of the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Science. Since 2012, he has been the coordinator of the Leibniz Research Alliance “Healthy Ageing” (a strategic alliance of 23 Leibniz institutes). 

Jean Krutmann obtained his MD from the University of Münster in 1986. After several stays abroad (postdoc at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA and DFG stipend at the University Hospital for Dermatology in Vienna, Austria) he became Resident/ Assistant/Associate Professor at the University Hospital for Dermatology in Freiburg, Germany. From 1994 until 2001 he was full Professor/Deputy Director of the University Hospital for Dermatology Düsseldorf, Germany. In 2001 he was appointed Chair of Environmental Medicine at the Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and thereby also Director of IUF. Under his directorship in 2011 the institute became a member of the Leibniz Association and was renamed IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine.

His research focuses on dermatotoxicology, immunodermatology and photodermatology with an emphasis on environmentally-induced skin diseases and aging. In addition to being a clinical advisor to RepliCel, Professor Kturmann has been a consultant to, or IUF has received funding from Amway, Allergan/Skinceuticals, Beiersdorf, bitop, Blue Lagoon, Estee Lauder, Evonik, Galderma, Henkel, Horphag, ISDIN, Kiessling, Lancaster-Coty, LaRoche-Posay, L’Oreal, Lycored, Mary Kay, Procter & Gamble, Repairogen, Stada, Symrise, Unilever, Vichy, Walgreen-Boots-Alliance.