About us

Dr. Michele Garufi has extensive experience in business development, licensing and international marketing in the European pharmaceutical industry. Prior to co-founding Nicox, he served as Vice President of the International Division and Director of Licensing at Recordati Italy and as Managing Director of the Spanish subsidiary of Recordati. Prior to those position, he was Director of the  International Division of Italfarmaco (1988-1992), Assistant to the General Manager of Poli Chimica (1984-1988), Assistant to the President of Medea Research (1983) and Technical Director of the Italian subsidiaries of the French Lipha Group (1978-1982). Dr. Garufi is a co-founder and member of the Board of of LaMed Pharma, a private Italian company providing services to the pharmaceutical industry and co-founder and board member of NanoRetinal Inc, an R&D company focused on ocular rare diseases. He has previously served on the boards of directors of Novuspharma Srl, Novexel SA, Lica SA, Scharper SpA, Delife Srl,Relivia Srl, VISUfarma and OncoBioTek SA. Dr. Garufi graduated in 1977 with full marks and honors in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Milan and earned a pharmacist’s degree in 1989. In his youth, Dr. Garufi was an athlete member of the National Italian Swimming Team for several years.

Adrienne L. Graves, Ph.D. has served as a member of Nicox’ board of directors since August 2014. Dr. Graves served as president and chief executive officer of Santen Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., from 1995 to 2010, where she successfully established a strong global presence, brought multiple ophthalmic products through development to approval and commercialization and led global teams through successful acquisitions and partnerships. Prior to her fifteen years at Santen, she spent nine years at Alcon Laboratories, Inc., where she joined as Sr. Scientist to establish Alcon’s first Visual Function Laboratory and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility in R&D, including directing clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas and serving as Director of International Ophthalmology. Dr. Graves currently is  Chairman of IVERIC bio, an American corporation, and serves as an independent director on the boards of Oxurion NV, a Belgian corporation, Greenbook TMS, a Canadian corporation, Qlaris Bio, TherOptix and Surface Pharmaceuticals (U.S private companies). She previously served on the board of directors of Encore Vision (2011 to 2017; acquired by Novartis), Envisia Therapeutics (2014 to 2017; assets acquired by Aerie Pharmaceuticals), TearLab Corporation (2005 to 2018), Akorn (2012 to 2020) and Aerpio Therapeutics (2012 to 2017). Dr. Graves also serves on the boards of directors of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation, the Glaucoma Research Foundation, Retina Global, the Himalayan Cataract Project and Foundation Fighting Blindness and as a director emeritus of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Foundation. She co-founded OWL (Ophthalmic World Leaders) and Glaucoma 360. Dr. Graves received her AB with honors in psychology from Brown University a Ph.D. in psychobiology and neuroscience from the University of Michigan and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in visual neuroscience at the University of Paris, France.

Les Kaplan, PhD, has served on Nicox’ board of directors since October 2014. He was the executive chairman of Aciex Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical development company in ophthalmology acquired by Nicox in October 2014. Dr. Kaplan began his career at Allergan Inc., where he served as president, research and development and led approvals of over 20 major pharmaceutical products and indications. Prior to joining Allergan, Dr. Kaplan held research positions at the Upjohn Company and at the University of California, Los Angeles, and instructed in chemistry at both Temple University, Philadelphia, and University of California, Los Angeles. He previously served as a member of the board of directors of Allergan, Altheos, Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Neurotech Inc. Dr. Kaplan received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Luzi A. von Bidder joined Nicox’ board of directors in August 2014. M. Von Bidder was the chairman of Acino Holding AG until 2013. Prior to joining Acino, M. von Bidder served as chairman and chief executive officer of Novartis Ophthalmics AG. He has also served as a member of the Novartis Pharma Executive Committee and served in various positions at Ciba Geigy Corp. M. von Bidder is a member of the board of directors of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Ixodes AG,Oculocare, Orasis and EyeSense GmbH, where is also the chairman of the board of directors. M. von Bidder received a A.B. in economics and an M.B.A. from HSG University of St. Gallen (Switzerland).

Jean-François Labbé has served as a member of Nicox’ board of directors since 2010 and has been the chairman of the audit committee of Nicox since 2013. M. Labbé is the founder and chief executive officer of SpePharm Holding BV, a pan-European specialty pharma company. He is currently board member of Deinove SA, France. Prior to founding SpePharm, M. Labbé served as chief executive officer of OTL Pharma SA from 2001 to 2004 and as chief operating officer of ProStrakan UK from 2004 to 2005. He began his career at Roussel Uclaf in 1974, then Hoechst Roussel and HMR, where he served in various positions in Europe, the United States and was a member of the HMR’s executive committee before its merger with Aventis in 1999. M. Labbé received an MBA from the Ecole des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC), Paris (France).

Mrs. Silvernail has been a member of Nicox’ board of directors since 2017. Ms. Silvernail is Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development of Evolus, Inc. Before joining Evolus, Ms. Silvernail was Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Revance Therapeutics Inc. Before joining Revance, Ms. Silvernail was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Corporate Development of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2003 to 2012. Between 1995 and 2003, Ms. Silvernail served in different operational and corporate development roles for Allergan Inc., including Vice President of Business Development. From 1990 to 1994, she was a general partner of Glenwood Ventures and a member of the boards of directors of several Glenwood portfolio companies. Ms. Silvernail began her career at Varian and Bio Rad Laboratories. Ms. Silvernail received a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Fechtner, MD, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Fechtner is a graduate of the Accelerate Premedical-Medical Program at University of Michigan. He completed research fellowships in glaucoma at Tufts New England Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, an ophthalmology residency at Montefiore Medical Center in New York and a glaucoma fellowship at University of California, San Diego funded by the National Institutes of Health. He was Professor and Director of the Glaucoma Division at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School before he relocated to Syracuse in 2016. Dr. Fechtner is a glaucoma clinician, surgeon and educator with a particular interest in glaucoma pharmacology and diagnostic technologies. He is the associate editor of the Textbook of Ocular Pharmacology and has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and monographs. Dr. Fechtner is a member of numerous national scientific and medical organizations including the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Dr. Fechtner served as the Executive Vice President of the World Glaucoma Association from 2012 to 2017.

Dr. Sanjay G. Asrani is Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., and Director of the Duke Eye Center of Cary and the Duke Glaucoma OCT Reading Center. Dr. Asrani is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Career Development Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, the Helen Keller Scientist Award from the American Glaucoma Society, the Senior Achievement and the Secretariat Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Asrani has over 90 peer reviewed publications and serves on the editorial board of Journal of Glaucoma, Advances in Therapy, and Ophthalmology and Therapeutics. He has developed a new glaucoma implant and a new software for OCT for glaucoma diagnosis.

Dr. Budenz, MD, is the Kittner Family Distinguished Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine, North Carolina, U.S. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania, received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with concentrations in Epidemiology and International Health. He completed an ophthalmology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, Scheie Eye Institute and a Heed Foundation Fellowship in glaucoma at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine. He returned to Scheie to serve as fifth year Chief Resident and was on the glaucoma faculty for a while before returning to Bascom Palmer where he was on the glaucoma faculty for 17 years before moving to UNC to become Chair. He has received the Golden Apple award for teaching from the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania, the Best Course Award from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami School of Medicine, and Humanitarian Awards from the American Glaucoma Society (AGS) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) for his work in Ghana, West Africa. He gave the AGS Clinician Scientist lecture in March 2018, is involved in advocacy on the state and national level and serves as Councilor to the AAO from the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), and is on the Board of Trustees of AUPO. He has authored 230 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters, and a single-authored textbook entitled Atlas of Visual Fields. His areas of research include clinical trials in glaucoma, imaging in glaucoma, and glaucoma epidemiology.

Dr. Walters, MD, is a leader in developing new advancements in ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and technology. He has served as principal investigator for over 330 FDA-approved research clinical trials and has authored and published research articles in every major ophthalmic journal, where he also performs peer-review for publications. Dr. Walters has been a featured and keynote speaker to ophthalmologists across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and South America, and was a 2016 recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Lifetime Achievement Award, which symbolizes his commitment to advancing the ophthalmological profession and positively impacting patients’ eye health. Dr. Walters has been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for innovations in ophthalmology, and has been selected by Premier Ophthalmic Surgeon publication as a leading innovator in the field of cataract and intraocular lens implant surgery. At the 2016 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Annual Meeting, his paper on Bimatoprost Sustained-release Implants was awarded “The Best Paper of Session”. Dr. Walters is the president of Texan Eye P.A. and Medical Director of Eye LASIK Austin, Advanced Ophthalmic P.A., Keystone Clinical Research and is a fellow of the American Board of Ophthalmology, American Academy of Ophthalmology and member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, among others.