Dr. Assad Kazeminy
Assad J. Kazeminy, Ph.D., is the founder and former CEO of Irvine Pharmaceutical Services Inc. and Avrio Biopharmaceutical LLC. He founded those companies in 1988 and 2008. In October 2016 the companies were acquired by Nitto Denko, a Japanese firm.
In January 2014, Dr. Kazeminy became a member of the Chapman University School of Pharmacy (CUSP) Dean’s Professional Advisory Group. Since January 2017, he has been serving as the Executive Industry Liaison and Adjunct Professor at CUSP.
Dr. Kazeminy has also served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Kazeminy is Chairman and Chief Executive officer of AJK Biopharmaceutical, a drug development company which he started in 2018 with three different preclinical drug products including Anti-Microbial Resistant (AMR), Long-Acting HIV drug and siRNA delivery platform. He is also the CEO of Aingeal Therapeutics, a pre-clinical drug development company specializing in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Kazeminy has served as a member of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Console of Experts 2000-2020 where he has been a member of the USP Convention and the USP advisory panels on Metal Impurity and Residual Solvents.
Dr. Kazeminy has been awarded by United State Pharmacopeia a Winner for Innovative Responses to a Public Health Challenge related to his outstanding work on a new general chapter of USP on elemental impurities in parenteral products and the creation of science-based daily exposure risk approach to Patient Safety 2010- 2015.
Dr. Kazeminy has also been a member of the University of California, Irvine, Chief Executive Roundtable since 2005. He has served as a board member of UCI Applied Innovation since 2014. He is a Board Member of the Physical Science Dean’s Leadership Council at UCI, and a board member of the Dean's Leadership Council at UCI School of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Dr. Kazeminy is founder and board member of TheraVida, Inc., a drug development company he started in 2005. He is Chief Scientific Officer of Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc.
Dr. Kazeminy served as board member of Avicanna Inc. as well as board member of the Orange County Pacific Symphony. Dr. Kazeminy held various leadership roles in national and local organizations, including as the Chairperson of the FDA Grass Roots, Pacific Region Importing Community Steering Committee; the President of AOAC, International Southern California Section; the Executive Chairperson of the Southern California Pharmaceutical Discussion Group; the President of American Chemical Society, Southern California Section; the Chairperson of the Pharmaceutical section of American Council of Independent Laboratories; the President of Association of Iranian Pharmaceutical Scientists; and a Board Member of AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Programs.
Dr. Kazeminy received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science and Biochemistry from Isfahan University in Isfahan, Iran and continued his graduate studies in Biochemistry at Colorado State University. He completed a Post Doctorate course of study at the University of, Southern California Medical School Department of Pharmacology.