Ronald J. Amen, Ph.D.

Dr. Amen is a consultant to the Avicena Group providing regulatory and clinical guidance to the company since 2000. In doing so, he relies on his more than 25 years of management and consulting experience in the food, nutrition and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Amen's prior management positions within the pharmaceutical industry include department head of nutritional sciences for Syntex Laboratories and director of clinical and pharmaceutical research for McGaw Laboratories. In these positions, Dr. Amen was responsible for all new drug and nutritional research, as well as product development. While at McGaw Laboratories he also served as a member of the company's international licensing and acquisitions group.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Amen has provided various consulting services to the pharmaceutical, nutritional, and medical device industries. This work has included the position of principal at ABIC International Consultants and later president of Techenterprises, LLC. During this period, Dr. Amen contributed business development, marketing strategy, licensing and acquisition support, new product development, clinical and regulatory services to both domestic and foreign multinational companies, as well as start-up ventures.

A founder or co-founder of five pharmaceutical companies, and a machine vision system company, Dr. Amen presently serves on the board of directors of five start-up technology-based companies.

Dr. Amen received his Ph.D. in nutritional physiology from Rutgers University and did graduate work in business administration at Santa Clara University.