Dr. Bassam Damaj PhD
Dr. Damaj is a biotechnology entrepreneur and operator with over 25 years founding, scaling, and leading life-science companies — from start-up through NASDAQ public-company scale. Across his career he has founded, co-founded, or led more than a dozen companies and completed over $1 billion in commercial partnerships with companies including Takeda, Abbott, and Novartis-Sandoz.
He served as Chairman, President & CEO of Innovus Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Aytu BioPharma (Nasdaq: AYTU), where he subsequently led the Consumer Healthcare Division. He was previously President & CEO of Apricus Biosciences (Nasdaq: APRI), where he led the approval of Vitaros®, and co-founder and CEO of Bio-Quant. Earlier roles include research and drug development at Pfizer, Genentech, Pharmacopeia, and Tanabe (now Mitsubishi-Tanabe), and advisory roles to the Ministries of Health of Egypt and the UAE.
He holds approximately 76 issued and pending patents worldwide and has contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed publications, patents, and book chapters. He authored one of the earliest peer-reviewed studies on hydroxytyrosol bioactivity in humans (J. Nutr., 2005), which led to the commercial launch of Olivenol™ with FDA GRAS status, received a U.S. Congressional award in 2003 for the Anthrax Multiplex Diagnostic Test, and was named a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal CEO of the Year Award in 2019.
Samira Wifak MA, CB
Co-founder of Veos Pharmaceuticals, Samira leads finance, governance, and corporate operations across the company's three platforms. She also serves as President of R&D Healthcare and as a General Partner of Veos Ventures, the group's early-stage incubation and acceleration arm.
She brings deep operating experience across cross-border commerce, financial planning, M&A, and venture investment spanning European and North American markets. Earlier she served as Head of Operations at Bio-Quant, a San Diego contract research organization, and founded the U.S. skincare brand Eslor. Her work combines hands-on operational management with formal training in business and accounting.
Dr. Mona Damaj PhD
Dr. Mona Damaj leads scientific research for Veos's Agricultural Biotechnology platform, directing the development and field validation of crop-performance and soil-health technologies including BioPropello™.
She brings more than 15 years as a Research Scientist and Sugarcane Biotechnology Manager at Texas A&M AgriLife Research, spanning plant biotechnology, assay development, and applied crop science. She completed postdoctoral research at McGill University and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Canada, and oversees protocol design, field-trial methodology, and collaborations with European research institutions.
Ysabella Fernando RAC
Ysabella directs regulatory strategy across Veos's product portfolio, with responsibility for EU, FDA, and Health Canada filings, product registrations, GRAS submissions, quality assurance, and ongoing regulatory compliance.
She brings nearly two decades in regulatory affairs, quality assurance, and clinical operations across the pharmaceutical, medical-device, and consumer-health sectors — spanning IND and NDA submissions and large Phase III programs, with regulatory and project-management roles at Apricus Biosciences, Transdel Pharmaceuticals, Vet-Stem Biopharma, and Innovus / Aytu Consumer Health across North America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Max Sasanchyn Eng.
Max leads Veos's e-commerce operations across European and North American markets, with responsibility for direct-to-consumer channel performance, marketplace strategy, and digital commerce infrastructure.
His engineering background underpins a data-driven approach to product launch, listing optimization, supply chain coordination, and post-launch performance management.