About Us

Dr. Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD is a Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Deputy. Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Badylak has practiced both veterinary and human medicine and for the past 20 years has been fully engaged in research. Dr. Badylak began his academic career at Purdue University in 1983, and subsequently held a variety of positions including service as the Director of the Hillenbrand Biomedical Engineering Center from 1995-1998.

Dr. Badylak holds over 60 U.S. patents, 300 patents worldwide, has authored more than 350 scientific publications and 40 book chapters, and has recently edited a textbook entitled “Host Response to Biomaterials”. He has served as the Chair of several study sections at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is currently a member of the College of Scientific Reviewers for NIH. Dr. Badylak has either chaired or been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to several major medical device companies. More than eight million patients have been treated with bioscaffolds developed in Dr. Badylak’s laboratory.

Dr. Badylak is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a member of the Society for Biomaterials, a charter member of the Tissue Engineering Society International, a past president of the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and a Founding International Fellow of TERMIS.

Paul commenced serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ECM Therapeutics since April, 2018. Prior to ECM Therapeutics, in 2000 Paul co-founded and served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, LLC (“3RP”) as well as being a member of its Board of Directors. The initial purpose of 3RP was to bring a generic form of the drug ribavirin to the market in 2001 once the brand drug market exclusivity period expired. 3RP was acquired by Kadmon Pharmaceuticals in October 2010. Between 3RP’s founding in 2000 and the date of its acquisition 2010, it added two brand drug products and several additional generic drug products to its overall product portfolio. At the time of its acquisition, 3RP operated in the United States and 48 countries world-wide.

Prior to 3RP, Paul was a shareholder in the law firm of Tucker Arensberg, P.C. from 1994 through November 2000 and an associate with that same firm from 1990 to 1994. Prior to that, Paul was a tax professional with the international accounting firm of Ernst and Young, LLP.

Paul holds his law degree from the Duquesne University School of Law, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS Degree in Accounting, with honors, from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Paul is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Paul’s other activities included being a member of the Board of Directors of Iron and Glass Bancorp, Inc., a Pittsburgh area financial institution, from June 1994 to August 2008 (Iron and Glass Bancorp, Inc. was acquired by FNB Corporation in August 2008). Paul served as chairman of Iron and Glass Bancorp, Inc.’s audit committee and as a member of its executive and loan committees.

Paul was a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2006 for the Upstate New York & Western Pennsylvania Region.

Prior to co-founding ECM Therapeutics, Katie founded and remains President of KLC Connections, a business development and marketing firm that specializes in biotechnology and medical industries. Prior to starting her own firm, she was recruited by Dr. Craig Venter, who is known for sequencing the human genome, to lead the fundraising efforts of the J. Craig Venter Institute from 2012-2016. In that timeframe, the institute raised over 13M in philanthropic support. Before working for JCVI, she worked at The Scripps Research Institute for 10 years where she held various leadership roles within Human Resources and the Philanthropy departments. In that time, Katie developed an extensive network of biotech industry leaders, scientific leaders and high-net worth investors. She was awarded a swimming scholarship from Penn State University, where she graduated with a business degree in Health Policy and Administration.

Dr. Dziki has served as VP of Product Development for ECM Therapeutics since April of 2018. Prior to joining ECM Therapeutics, Jenna served as a Research Assistant Professor within the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Department of Surgery where her primary role was acting as industry liaison and project manager for collaborations between the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and companies including CR Bard, Becton Dickinson, and Asana Medical, among others. Jenna graduated with a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017 with her dissertation work focused on the development of ECM-based biomaterials for soft tissue and gastrointestinal repair as well a mechanistic analysis of the host response to ECM-based biomaterials. Jenna also served as a biomedical engineer within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Artificial Heart Program.

Jenna was the recipient of the George M Bevier Scholarship in 2014, the National Science Foundation research fellowship in 2015, and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society Outstanding Student Award in 2016. She is the author of over 25 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Regenerative Medicine, Nature Materials, and Biomaterials. Jenna also served as a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, and the Ingenium Journal editorial board as well as a volunteer for the First Tee of Pittsburgh. Jenna graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014.

Dr. Saldin joined ECM Therapeutics in October 2018, and is currently the VP of Product Engineering. Her role is in the design and development of ECM Therapeutics’ platform technologies. She has been studying the basic science and application of extracellular matrix (ECM) for over a decade. Dr. Saldin completed her doctoral and postdoctoral studies in Dr. Stephen Badylak’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focused on the use of ECM hydrogels as a therapy for esophageal cancer, for which she received an NIH F31 fellowship, NIH T32 fellowship, George M. Bevier scholarship, and the Bioengineering Graduate Student Award. She also received 5 patents, over $150k in funding, and 1st place in 2 entrepreneurial competitions (Michael G. Wells and Pitt Innovation Challenge) to translate EsophaGel from benchtop to therapy. Dr. Saldin has authored 14 publications on ECM-based biomaterials, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Dr. Saldin has a track record of leading multi-disciplinary teams and managing industry projects. She has held various leadership roles including serving on the Pitt Biomedical Engineering Society leadership board 2013-2015 and as president of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE), UC Berkeley Chapter. Dr. Saldin earned a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Hussey is the Vice President of Research and Development at ECM Therapeutics In addition to the innovation and development of therapeutic extracellular matrix biomaterials, he is focused on the development of the Company's novel matrix bound nanovesicle technology and its applications in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Hussey's research interests include an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of matrix-induced constructive remodeling and immune modulation, with the broad goal of identifying and characterizing molecular targets to bias these response. Dr. Hussey conducted his doctoral research in the Department of Cancer Biology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Cleveland State University in 2012, and his postdoctoral training in the Department of Biochemistry at the Medical University of South Carolina and in Dr. Stephen Badylak's laboratory at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Christine is a pharmaceutical business leader with over 25 years of experience in designing and executing operational, financial and organizational infrastructure. Most recently, Christine serves as SVP, Global Integration, MeiraGTx. Prior to the gene therapy field, she was SVP of Operations for Kadmon Pharmaceuticals leading the global supply chain, distribution, and IT organizations. Christine was a founding participant of start-up pharmaceutical company, Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Kadmon in 2010. During that time, she launched branded and generic products in the U.S. leading the operational business. Globally, she executed international supply and distribution partnerships in Europe and Asia. Prior to Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, Christine was in a business consulting/finance role for Schneider Downs, specializing in finance and technology in various industries. She also held various finance management roles for Ametek, Inc. Christine was on the board of directors of GPhA from 2006-2008 and also served on various Oracle organizations, Oracle Leaders’ circle- 2010 and 2014, Oracle Women’s Leadership (OWL) program – 2014 and the Oracle Customer Advisory Board.