Dr. Plotnikoff has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, with over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, working in Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Clinical Research. Dr. Plotnikoff was a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Plotnikoff played a pioneering role in investigations of the immunological effects of MENK. He also successfully managed the project teams that developed the NDAs on Traxene (Valium-like tranquilizer) and Cylert (non-amphetamine psychostimulant).

In basic research he was the first to identify the central nervous system effects of hypothalamic releasing factors (brain hormones), resulting in their clinical development for treatment of depression and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Plotnikoff co-authored 25 publications with Dr. Andrew Schally covering basic research in the field of depression and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Plotnikoff held a number of international patents for the use of MENK in HIV/AIDS and cancer. TNI BioTech, Inc. acquired these patents in 2012.

Dr. Eugene Youkilis, has a Ph.D. in Toxicology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and former President and Founder of Clinical Bio-Tox Laboratories, Director of Toxicology and Immunobiology at Baxter International, Laboratory Section Chief and Director at Stroger Hospital (formerly Cook County Hospital) and was a Senior Research Investigator with G. D. Searle and Company. He currently is a Principal Associate with Toxicology Resource Associates. Dr. Youkilis in these capacities provided consulting services to industry, research facilities, and the legal profession in the areas of forensic, clinical, and industrial/occupational toxicology. Dr. Youkilis has over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, working in toxicology, pharmacology and clinical research, and is the author or co-author of over 25 presentations and publications. Dr. Youkilis, from 1983 to present, has worked with Dr. Nicholas Plotnikoff involving therapy with MENK for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and cancer patients.

Noreen Griffin is one of the founders and is the Chief Executive Officer of TNI BioTech, Inc. Ms. Griffin was a vital part of the acquisition of the patents and therapies involving MENK and LDN and was involved with the inventors and patent holders for over 5 years before deciding to join the team that formed TNI BioTech, Inc.

Ms. Griffin has over 25 years of industry experience, having founded and led a number of startup companies. She has played an integral role in raising multiple rounds of private and venture capital funds on behalf of clients. Ms. Griffin has owned and operated a small consulting firm located in Washington, D.C. and Florida. She has served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of a number of small public companies over the last 10 years. In addition, Ms. Griffin has significant experience acting as a debtor-in-possession.

Mr. Pearce agreed to accept a position with TNI in late 2011, due to his understanding and involvement with the company. Mr. Pearce is one of the founding principals of pH Pharmaceutical, Inc. (a pharmaceutical company focused on the commercial application and licensing of a patented technology) and its affiliated company, pH Solutions, since its inception in December 2007. Mr. Pearce has over 30 years experience as director and chief operating officer of a New York stock exchange-listed company with more than 5,000 employees worldwide and $500 million revenue per annum. His responsibilities included running large operations that required sourcing products and services, contract negotiation, marketing and advertising, scheduling, warehousing and inventory management and employee oversight.

Mr. Pearce was born in the United Kingdom and was educated at Lord Wandsworth College and London University, where he received his LLB (Bachelor of Law). He immigrated to the United States in 1965 where he immediately began his career in the film industry.

Dr. Ronald Herberman joined TNI BioTech, Inc. in September 2012 from Intrexon Corporation, where he was Chief Medical Officer for three years. There he was responsible for scientists and clinicians in discovery, clinical research and development, regulatory affairs, and medical affairs.

Before his roles in the biotech industry, Dr. Herberman served as the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the UPMC Cancer Centers. He was also the Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research for the University of Pittsburgh Schools off the Health Sciences. Other appointments during his career included chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and the Hillman Professor of Oncology, and Professor of Medicine and Pathology. He is now Founding Director Emeritus of the UPCI and is Professor Emeritus of Medicine. During his time as UPCI Director and Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research, he was responsible for enhancing and facilitating the basic and clinical research activities of the six schools of the health sciences and of the cancer programs of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Dr. Herberman remains personally involved as a scientific advisor for several cancer research programs both in the US and abroad. During his tenure at the University of Pittsburgh, he was the principal investigator on many peer-reviewed grants from the NIH, including a $5 million grant supporting the UPCI.

Dr. Herberman received his MD degree in 1964, trained in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and then in clinical oncology and immunology at the National Cancer Institute. In 1968 Dr. Herberman was appointed as a senior investigator in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute, where he organized a research program related to tumor and cellular immunology. In 1971, he became head of a newly established Cellular and Tumor Immunology section in the Laboratory of Cell Biology of the National Cancer Institute. During this period, he had responsibility for a research program of several investigators related to studies in animal model systems and in patients with cancer, studying the cell mediated immune responses to tumors. As a result of this research, a new category of lymphocytes was discovered in Dr. Herberman's laboratory and termed natural killer (NK) cells. Since then, much of Dr. Herberman's research has been focused on the characterization of these natural effector cells and on their role in resistance to cancer growth.

In 1975, the National Cancer Institute organized an intramural and extramural research program focused on immunodiagnosis of cancer. Dr. Herberman was selected as the Chief of the new Laboratory of Immunodiagnosis and also assumed responsibility for the national contract program on immunodiagnosis of cancer. In 1983, he was appointed Interim Director of the Biological Response Modifiers Program of the NCI. Dr. Herberman left the National Cancer Institute in 1985 to establish the UPCI, and under his leadership, it became within less than three years a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, specializing in innovative approaches to cancer treatment.

In 1988, he was appointed as chairman of the Biological Response Modifiers Committee of the NIAID AIDS Clinical Trials Group and also served as a member of the NIAID AIDS Clinical Drug Development Committee.

Dr. Herberman has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. He has been given the Award for Excellence in the Sciences by the governor of Pennsylvania and the Lifetime Science Award by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Immunology and Aging. He has also served as interim chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) from 1994 to 1995. He also served as President of the American Association of Cancer Institutes, President of the Society for Biological Therapy and President of the Society for Natural Immunity. He was also the first recipient of an endowed chair in oncology from the Hillman Foundation.

Dr. Herberman has served on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals. He has published over 700 peer-reviewed articles, many reviews in books, and edited several books. He was recognized as one of the 100 most cited authors in the world during the 1980s, mainly for his contributions in the field of immunology, particularly as it relates to cancer and immunotherapy. 

Dr. Fengping Shan has a Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology. Dr. Shan is the Professor of Immunology and Vice Director of the Institute of Immunology, China Medical University, Shenyang, China. Dr. Shan was the Senior Scientist for Penta Biotech and Chief Scientist for the Institute of Microbiological Science and Studies at the National Cancer Research Center in Paris, France. Dr. Shan is the author of 50 Publications, 11 patents, and unique inventor for a thrombolytic enzyme from the earthworm. From 2000 he has worked with Dr. Nicholas Plotnikoff involving new therapy with MENK for the treatment of cancer. Patents were filed in 2010 and were approved in 2011.