Board of Directors, Team and Advisors

The Honorable Richard A. Gephardt
Chairman, Board of Directors

Mr. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives (from 1977 to 2005), representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, home to his birthplace St. Louis. In his first year in Congress, he was appointed to both the House Ways and Means and Budget Committees.

He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. In his role as Leader, Mr. Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms in healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence and trade policy.

Mr. Gephardt began his career in public service in 1968 as a precinct captain for St. Louis’ 14th Ward, and from 1971 to 1976, served as its Alderman. In 1976, he was elected to the Congress, succeeding 24-year incumbent Leonor Sullivan. Mr. Gephardt earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in 1962 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965.

Cris Arnou, MSE, MBA,
Board of Directors Member, Co-Founder and CEO

Cris Arnou is AgoneX Biopharmaceuticals Inc. Co-Founder and CEO. As a migraine sufferer for more than 35 years he is determined and committed to implementing the migraine treatment and prevention throughout the U.S. via existing medical offices.
In the past, Mr. Arnou has worked for two start-up companies and knows what it takes to build a successful, prosperous business. Additionally, Cris spent 10 years working at Ford Motor Company covering different aspects of product development, marketing and product launch.
Cris holds Bachelor and Master Degrees in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA from Wayne State University in Detroit. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Robert P. Cowan, MD, FAAN
Board of Directors Member, Co-Founder

Robert Cowan, MD, FAAN is Professor of Neurology and Founding Director of the Headache Program at Stanford University. He is currently Director of Research in the Division of Headache and Facial Pain. Prior to coming to Stanford, he was the founding medical director of the Keeler Center for the Study of Headache (Ojai, CA) and senior clinical research scientist in molecular neurobiology at Huntington Medical Research Institutes (Pasadena, CA). Dr. Cowan attended University of Southern California, Keck Medical School, completed a residency program at USC Department of Neurology and served on faculty there until 2000. He is Board Certified in the areas of: Psychiatry and Neurology and Pain Medicine. He also holds subspecialty certification in Headache Medicine.  Dr. Cowan is widely published in various scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association Cephalalgia, and Headache as well as authoring books, book chapters and scientific presentations. Dr. Cowan lectures both nationally and internationally on a variety of headache topics, and has appeared on NBC, CBS and has been featured in articles ranging from the San Francisco Chronicle to Vogue Magazine.

Dr. Cowan has held several nationally elected positions, including chair of the section on Chronic Daily Headache for the American Headache Society. He is a past-President of the Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society. He has sat on the boards of the Alliance for Headache Diseases Advocacy, the Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, the American Headache and Migraine Association, and the American Council for Headache Education. He has been an editor of Headache Currents, and is reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, including Headache, Cephalalgia, and the Western Journal of Medicine. Dr. Cowan is the author of The Keeler Migraine Method (Penguin/Avery, 2008).

Along with Dr. Alan Rapoport, Professor of Neurology at UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Cowan co-founded Bon Triage, LLC that develops computer-based tools to aid in the diagnosis, education, and care of people with chronic medical conditions. Before medical school Dr. Cowan founded and subsequently sold Continuing Health Education Systems, one of the first computer-based CME programs.

Dr. Cowan’s primary interest is in improvement of headache care, utilizing novel resources to provide more accurate diagnosis, more effective treatment options while reducing delays in service and decreasing costs. He has been the recipient of NIH, foundation, industry and individual grants and gifts for his research, in excess of 6M dollars. His current research focuses on chronic daily headache, including resting state imaging with fMRI, CSF and whole blood analysis, deep phenotyping, TMS, and electrophysiologic measures.

Robert W. Cook
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Cook is an international banking and finance specialist with over 40 years’ experience in executive management as a chief financial officer of publicly-held small cap companies, primarily in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and has provided consultant services to managements and boards of public and private companies with respect to corporate finance issues, particularly pre- and post-IPO financing opportunities.  In addition to his financial consulting practice, Mr. Cook is currently serving as Chief Financial Officer of Cheetah Net Supply Chain Service Inc. after assisting the company in successfully completing its initial public offering in August 2023.  He previously served as Chief Financial Officer of RenovaCare, Inc. from June 2020 to April 2021, CorMedix Inc. from February 2017 through January 2020, BioBlast Pharma Ltd. from January 2016 through July 2016, and Strata Skin Sciences, Inc. from April 2014 to January 2016.  Mr. Cook was Chief Financial Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors of Immune Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from August 2013 to March 2014, and Chief Financial Officer of its predecessor EpiCept Corporation from April 2004 to August 2013, including one year as CEO and Member of the Board in which he completed the reverse merger of EpiCept into Immune. Previously, he served as Executive VP and CFO of publicly-held Pharmos Corporation from December 1997 to March 2004.  Mr. Cook also spent 18 years at The Chase Manhattan Bank, including a seven-year tour of Asia during which he was managing director of the bank’s Hong Kong-based investment banking unit.  Mr. Cook graduated magna cum laude from The American University, Washington, DC, with a B.S. in Finance.

J. Christopher Lynch, JD
Acting General Counsel

Chris has spent most of his career as a strategic legal advisor to company founders, board members, executives, and investors, primarily for companies in the information technology, life sciences, and medical device industries. His deep experience with companies in those industries helps him bring a practical, efficient business perspective to his legal work. Chris often serves as outside general counsel for these companies, and his practice includes a high volume of seed and venture capital financings, private placements, and mergers & acquisitions for his clients. He is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law where he teaches a course on venture finance law. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Chris practiced at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the largest law firm in Silicon Valley, where he worked with various technology-based companies.

He graduated from the University of Virginia, receiving his B.A., with honors, and from Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D., cum laude.

Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP: https://www.wyrick.com/people/j-christopher-lynch

Dr. Stephen Silberstein, MD
Advisory Board Member

Stephen D. Silberstein, MD, is Professor of Neurology and Director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Headache Society. He has served the American Headache Society as President, Treasurer, and Board of Directors member. He has served on the Publications, Scientific, and Education Committees of the American Headache Society and was Co-chairman of the Annual Scientific Meeting. Dr. Silberstein is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology and is Co-director of the national and international Headache Guideline Project, in cooperation with the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. He was the Chairman of the International Headache Society meeting in Philadelphia in 2009. He is Chairman of the headache research group of the World Federation of Neurology.
Dr. Silberstein received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a fellowship in neurology at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London, Dr. Silberstein served as a Pharmacology Research Associate in the Toxicology Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institutes of Mental Health, and completed a neurology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Silberstein is the Senior Editor of the 8th edition of Wolff’s Headache and Other Head Pain, Associate Editor of Cephalalgia and CNS Drugs, and a present or prior member of the Editorial Board of Headache; Cephalalgia; ActaNeurologicaScandinavica; Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry; and Topics in Pain Management. He is an ad hoc reviewer for many publications, including The New England Journal of Medicine; Brain, The Lancet, JAMA, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Annals of Neurology, and Neurology.
Dr. Silberstein has more than 300 publications to his credit. He lectures extensively on the pathogenesis, neurobiology, diagnosis, and treatment of headache.

Dr. Frederick Freitag, DO
Advisory Board Member

Dr. Freitag is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Headache Foundation, position he held since 1993. Dr. Freitag is also the director of the Headache Medicine program and UCNS Headache Medicine Fellowship at Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology.
He previously held the same positions at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas Texas where he led the development of the comprehensive headache treatment program between 2010 and 2013.
For 27 years he was affiliated with the Diamond Headache Clinic and inpatient treatment program where he was co-director at the time of his leaving. He was responsible for clinical and basic science research there for 24 years. Among the studies, he led a study of genetics of histamine in cluster headache and clinical outcome studies of its use in cluster headache. He was instrumental in the development of the headache medicine fellowship in conjunction with Loyola University of Chicago. He held clinical teaching appointments over the years at Midwestern University, University of Chicago and Rosalind Franklin University.
He received his bachelor of science in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and his DO degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979. His residency in Family Medicine was coupled with additional training in headache medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1981. He is certified in Family Medicine and holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Headache Management from the National Board for Certification in Headache Management. He is one of only 290 physicians who have subspecialty certification for Headache Medicine from United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. He is a Fellow of the American Headache Society. He has been a member of the American Headache Society since his 3rd year of medical school.
He has held numerous posts in professional organization including chairing committees of the American Headache Society, American Osteopathic Association, and the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
He has conducted clinical and basic science research on a variety of topics and has published over a 180 articles in the peer reviewed literature as well as having contributed to over 20 textbooks on headache and its treatment and has been primary investigator on over 200 clinical trials. He has presented his findings at numerous meetings worldwide and lectured on several occasions at the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Milton Grannatt, PhD
Advisory Board Member

Dr. Grannatt retired September 2012 after 25 years in the global pharmaceuticals industry. He was Vice President of Global Business Development and Licensing at Novartis. Prior to Novartis, he held senior positions at Sterling Winthrop and Lex Service, an acquisitive, diversified UK-based company. Additionally, Dr. Grannatt has an extensive deal sheet experience.

Dr. Grannatt currently serves as an outside Director of SymBio Pharmaceuticals Limited, a publicly-traded Japanese pharmaceutical company; a member of the advisory boards of VOX Telehealth and AgoneX Biopharmaceuticals Inc.; and an advisor to selected other biotech companies. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Governors for Certified Licensing Professionals, and is a lecturer in economics at Princeton’s Evergreen Forum. Dr. Grannatt received his undergraduate degree and PhD in economics from Lehigh University.