Management Team
Philip J. Young - CEO & Director
Philip Young is an accomplished CEO and innovative professional with 25 years of expertise in senior executive management and board roles, with significant mergers and acquisitions and equity financing experience. He has a proven track record in the biotech, medtech and pharmaceutical industries with expertise in dealing with FDA/regulatory frameworks as well as new device and therapeutics development. From 2015 until 2019, Mr. Young was the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Exactus Inc. (“Exactus”), an OTCQB listed company he successfully transitioned from a medical technology company to a farming focused hemp-derived CBD company. Prior to Exactus, Mr. Young was the president, CEO, and Director of AmpliPhi Biosciences Corp. (now Armata Pharmaceuticals Inc.), a global biopharmaceutical company. He was also previously the President, CEO and director of Osteologix Inc., where he was responsible for directing and managing all facets of the global pharmaceutical development company. He is the former Chief Business Officer and Executive Vice President of Insmed Inc., where he directed all financing, corporate and commercial communications activities. Prior thereto, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Neurex Corp., where he was involved with the negotiations for its US$700 million acquisition by Elan Corporation. Mr. Young holds a Bachelor’s of Science from James Madison University.
Brian Zasitko - CFO
For over 13 years, Brian Zasikto has worked in a number of private and public companies in sectors such as cannabis, agriculture, manufacturing, and utility industries. Mr. Zasitko is well versed in financial reporting and corporate governance and the capital markets.
Dr. Maghsoud Dariani - Chief Science Officer
Dr. Dariani has extensive experience working with a wide range of life science companies. He is the current president and CEO of Semorex Inc., a privately held company focused on novel therapeutics for cancer. Mr. Dariani was previously the president of Focus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he managed the development and approval of drug products and notched an FDA approval for another clinical evaluation stage.
Jonathan Gilbert - Executive Director
Jonathan Gilbert was the founder and CEO at Tassili Life Sciences Corp., a biotech firm conducting research with psilocybin. Gilbert is also the founding CEO of Eleusian Biosciences, which Lobe Sciences acquired in June 2020, and will play an integral role in the company’s growth strategy moving forward.
Dr. Mark A. Geyer Ph.D - Scientific Advisor
Dr. Geyer is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences Emeritus at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and directs the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit of the VISN 22 Veterans Administration Mental Illness Research, Clinical, and Education Center. He is respected internationally for his research on the psychophysiology, neurobiology, and pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Dr. Geyer's broad experience as a researcher, grant reviewer, journal editor, and teacher lends invaluable scientific and professional expertise to several organizations, as he provides leadership to develop strong programs in the behavioral psychopharmacology and clinical applications of psychedelic agents.
Charles S. Grob, MD - Scientific Advisor
Charles S. Grob, M.D. is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. He previously held faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of California at Irvine. He has conducted approved clinical research with psychedelics since the early 1990s. From 2004-2008 he was the Principal Investigator of the first study in several decades to examine the use of a psilocybin treatment model for patients with advanced-cancer anxiety. He has also conducted research into the range of effects of MDMA, in both normal volunteers and in a selected subject population of adult autistics with severe social anxiety. And, he has conducted a series of ayahuasca research studies in Brazil. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Grob has published numerous articles on psychedelics in the medical and psychiatric literature and he is the editor of Hallucinogens: A Reader (Putnam/Tarcher, 2002), co-editor (with Roger Walsh) of Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (SUNY Press, 2005) and co-editor (with James Grigsby) of the recently published Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens (Guilford Press, 2021). He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute.
Benjamin Kelmendi, MD - Scientific Advisor
Benjamin is a psychiatrist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. His primary clinical expertise is in PTSD, Depression, OCD, and the endocannabinoid system. He is the co-founder of the Yale Psychedelic Science Group. He leads a research program focused on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicines, across a range of psychiatric diagnoses. He is currently investigating the effects of psilocybin on the neurocircuitry implicated in the development, maintenance, and treatment of patients with OCD. He is also exploring the effects of MDMA on brain activation and neural network organization in PTSD to understand the relationship between MDMA-induced neural changes and the acute cognitive and behavioral effects of the drug.
Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D - Scientific Advisor
Albert “Skip” Rizzo is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical VR at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology. Over the last 25 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other clinical conditions. He has also driven an extensive research program on the use of intelligent virtual human agents for clinical training, healthcare information support, and clinical assessment. In spite of the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how Virtual Reality simulations can be usefully applied to human healthcare beyond what’s possible with traditional 20th Century methods.
Ilan Hayman - Advisor
Ilan has played a pivotal role in the General Management of healthcare businesses including a private cosmetic surgery chain and the commercialisation of a breakthrough skincare range. He successfully led the development of these products from concept through to production commercialization. Most recently Ilan oversaw a group of national medical centers. His career in operations management was triggered by his valuable experience as part of the Risk and Controls Solutions practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Specifically, Ilan’s passion is assisting the medical fraternity in their practice management and business administration functions. Ilan’s ambition is to work in a role that utilizes his analysis expertise enriched by his exposure to the commercial side of business. Ilan has a passion for assisting community organizations and sits on several boards of not for profit organizations. He also holds Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards and brings along a unique set of community and industry related experience.
Bart Oates - Advisor
Bart Oates Esq. is a three-time Superbowl Champion, who graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall during his off season. Prior to his NFL career, he earned a BS in Accounting from the Marriott School of Business at BYU and was inducted into their athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. Bart was selected to five Pro Bowls during his NFL career and to the UPI All-NFC team three times. Bart is now the President of the NFL Alumni Association which offers former players a diverse package of medical, business, and legal services to help keep them and their families healthy, productive, and connected to their former teammates.
Gilberto Jesús Mendoza - Advisor
Gilberto Jesús Mendoza is currently the President of the World Boxing Association. Mr. Mendoza began his career as a lawyer and an engineer and has been working with the WBA since 2015. His priority has always been to give opportunities to the most vulnerable regions of the world. He has spent time in close contact with athletes since he was a child and has actively participated in the intention to rescue amateur boxing. Mr. Mendoza is the proud creator of “Un Solo Boxeo” (Only One Boxing), a program that promotes the integration of professional boxing. He also created the Future WBA Champion, a project that has given space to thousands of boxers in their preparation stage for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Mr. Mendoza’s goal is the growth and development of boxing, as well as its adaptation to change.
Krysalis System Development Advisory Team
Alex McDowell - Advisor
Award-winning designer, storyteller, and founder and creative director of Experimental Design where McDowell and his team design immersive story worlds for industries and institutions. He is simultaneously a professor of practice at USC School of Cinema, where he directs the World Building Media Lab and World Building Institute and teaches world building as a media and platform-agnostic narrative design practice. Alex is also known as one of the top Hollywood production designers, having worked on some of the biggest visionary Hollywood blockbusters such as Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report".
Jon 9 - Advisor
Jon 9 is a Creative Technologist who handles large-scale digital display projects, streaming immersive spaces, content creation and post-production management for complex systems. He's realized massive projects including Cirque du Soleil: Beatles LOVE at The Mirage Las Vegas, installations with Disney, and many others with icons and mega-brands from Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin to Audi and The Emmy Awards. His expertise is rooted in developing experiential media spaces that require new techniques and technologies.
Austin Blaisdell - Advisor
Austin Blaisdell is a design strategist and art director who uses 3D printing, Virtual Reality, and the entire digital universe to project visions spanning all arts-related genres. His spatial design, visual direction, and design solutions may be experienced internationally, at exhibitions from Los Angeles to New York to Paris. Kent Noonan is an Electronic Engineer whose expertise spans all areas of design and manufacturing, lasers and optics, high performance electronics and tough industrial devices, alternative healing with light and electromagnetic frequencies, free energy devices and alternate fuels, plasma, cymatics, and structured water research.
Erik Larson - Advisor
Erik Lasrson is an inventor, design engineer, musician, instrument builder, and entrepreneur. His professional specialties include business development, business management, patent and IP development, product development, technology integration, systems design, and team building.
Casey Atteberry is a mathematician striving to translate material in an approachable way to people of all ages and levels of interest. He has been an independent math and acoustical physics research scientist for nearly two decades, studying concepts from quantum computation to cymatics and fluid dynamics.
Casey Atteberry - Advisor
Casey Attebery is a mathematician striving to translate material in an approachable way to people of all ages and levels of interest. He has been an independent math and acoustical physics research scientist for nearly two decades, studying concepts from quantum computation to cymatics and fluid dynamics.