Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Alex is an urologist, scientist, and serial entrepreneur, bringing over 15 years of experience in healthcare and biotechnology to Paterna. He received his BS from Yale University and his MD and PhD from the University of California, San Francisco. Alex completed his residency and fellowship training in urology and male reproductive medicine and surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and started his career as an academic physician-scientist, transitioning more heavily into startups and growth companies over the last decade. Alex’s clinical and NIH-funded basic research focus as faculty at the University of Utah is in men’s sexual and reproductive health, and his entrepreneurial work has encompassed healthcare technology, diagnostics, medical devices, clinical research, and medical innovation. Alex has had founding and executive operational roles at multiple companies, with several exits to date, most recently at Vault Health, where he served as Chief Medical & Scientific Officer. In his spare time, he enjoys endurance cycling, skiing, good wine, and spending time with his wife and two boys.

Chief Operating Officer
Meredith Vadis is a transformative leader with a history of building high-performing organizations. She provides fractional executive, operational, and administrative leadership to small and mid-sized companies, including Paterna Bio. Previously, Meredith was President of Vault Workforce Screening, a nationwide employment screening solutions provider, where she successfully modernized and sold the company in less than two years. During the first year of the pandemic, she created, built, and ran Minnesota’s COVID-19 statewide public testing system. Later, at Vault Health, she led the governmental COVID testing and vaccination partnerships with more than a dozen states. Meredith was also Regional Administrator (Chief Executive Officer) for one of the largest U.S. regional governing bodies, which oversees mass transit, wastewater utilities, regional economic development and urban land planning.

Meredith holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science from Marquette University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She began her career leading communications on electoral campaigns and running federal offices for a Member of Congress.

With a proven track record in both the public and private sectors, she leverages her multi-sector experience, clear communication, accountability, and collaborative leadership to help organizations minimize risk and maximize operational capacity and efficiency. Meredith turns the unknown and uncertainty into tangible action, empowering companies to achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Co-founder and Chief of Scientific Advisors
Brad received his BS in Chemistry from Lewis and Clark College, his PhD in Cell Biology from Stanford University, and conducted his postdoctoral training in genetics at Harvard Medical School. He is the Chief Academic Officer at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and also Professor and Chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences – both at University of Utah School of Medicine – where he holds the Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. His scientific work focuses on understanding how chromatin structure and remodeling regulates gene expression, and his lab has provided multiple insights into how chromatin structure is established and remodeled to control gene expression and development in the germline and early embryos, including in the setting of spermatogenesis. Brad is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and is a co-founder of Paterna Biosciences Inc., where he serves as Chair of Scientific Advisors. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017 and to the Royal Society in 2023.

Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
Jim is a urologist, serial entrepreneur, scientist and Director of Men’s Health at the University of Utah. He received his BA from Dartmouth, his MD from Duke and his MS in clinical epidemiology from the University of Washington. Jim completed a fellowship in male infertility at The University of Illinois at Chicago and joined the faculty at University of Utah. He built the reproductive urology program at RMANJ, which was acquired by IVIRMA, the largest IVF clinic in the world. Jim has founded five companies, exited two, holds 8 patents, has over 250 publications in the men’s health and male infertility space and has served as the president of the Society for Male Reproductive Urology. He has worked with Drs Guo, Cairns, Nie and Pastuszak for over a decade and developed the idea for Paterna after having to tell many patients that they could not have biological children. In his spare time he enjoys road and mountain biking, ski mountaineering, climbing and time with his wife and two boys.

Co-founder and Scientific Advisor
Kyle received his BS in Biology and BA in Chemistry from Whitworth College and his PhD in Biochemistry & Biophysics and Animal Sciences from Oregon State University. His postdoctoral training was at Kansas University Medical Center and then University of Pennsylvania where he started his life’s work on stem cells, gametogenesis and fertility. He is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh where his lab has pioneered methods for testicular stem cell and testicular tissue transplantation to treat male infertility. He is the founding director of the UPMC Fertility Preservation Program and the UPMC Magee Center for Reproduction and Transplantation (CRT) that is committed to translating lab bench discoveries into clinical practice. CRT provides fertility preservation and fertility restoration services to patients in Western Pennsylvania and through a coordinated network of more than 40 sites around the US. His team is committed to improving access to fertility care for all people and working toward a future where every person who wants to have a biologically related child can do so.

Recognized for her adept problem-solving ability, she navigates ambiguous circumstances with ease, consistently delivering tangible results. Residing in Gulf Breeze, Florida, she enjoys tennis, beach outings, boating, and spending quality time with her husband and three boys.

Scientific Manager
Xichen holds a BS in life sciences from Sun Yat-sen University in China and a PhD in oncological sciences from the University of Utah. Her graduate work, under the mentorship of Drs. Bradley Cairns and Jingtao Guo, focused on human male reproductive biology. She specializes in single-cell genomics, germline stem cell biology, and testicular development. Currently serving as Scientific Manager at Paterna, Xichen leads a team dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies for human in vitro spermatogenesis. In her spare time, she enjoys fitness, gardening, and spending time with her family.

Product Development Manager/Senior Scientist
Joey holds a BA/BS from The Evergreen State College in Washington and PhD in biochemistry from the University of Utah. Prior to graduate school, Joey spent 6 years in biotech working on drug discovery and clinical device development at Presage Biosciences, a startup in Seattle, WA where his work directly contributed to the development and clinical advancement of anti-cancer drugs, the launching of multiple clinical trials with a novel device and 5 publications. Joey’s PhD work focused on novel macrophage-tumor cell interactions, demonstrating that pro-tumorigenic macrophages directly transfer dysfunctional mitochondria to breast cancer cells, which induce proliferative signaling cascades, promoting tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. As a Senior Scientist at Paterna, Joey is developing methodology to promote in vitro spermatogenesis. In his spare time Joey loves to cook, play music and thumb through his record collection.

Bioinformatician
Graham earned his BS in Biology from Guilford College and a PhD in Oncological Sciences from the University of Utah, under the mentorship of Dr. Bradley Cairns. During his PhD studies, Graham applied genomics and bioinformatics approaches to uncover how key developmental genes are regulated in embryos. Currently Graham serves as Bioinformatician for Paterna Biosciences. In this capacity, Graham applies his breadth of bioinformatic and molecular biology experience to produce and analyze single-cell RNA-seq datasets. Outside of work, Graham enjoys spending time with his wife, mountain and road biking, snowboarding, and exploring all of the outdoors that Utah has to offer.

Research Associate
Varshinee graduated with a B.Tech in Biotechnology from PSG College of Technology, India. During her undergraduate work she focused on projects in molecular biology and genetic engineering. Varshinee has also worked with the CRISPR/Cas9 system to induce beneficial mutations in genes involved in Beta-thalassemia. She completed her MS in Biotechnology at Northeastern University, Boston. During her graduate studies she interned with ThermoFisher and worked on data collection from bioreactors with varying conditions to validate and compare different Raman spectroscopy-based instruments. As a Lab Associate at Paterna, she works under Bingqian to test and optimize various conditions to promote growth of spermatogonial stem cells in vitro. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing Indian Classical dance and reading books.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Alex is an urologist, scientist, and serial entrepreneur, bringing over 15 years of experience in healthcare and biotechnology to Paterna. He received his BS from Yale University and his MD and PhD from the University of California, San Francisco. Alex completed his residency and fellowship training in urology and male reproductive medicine and surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and started his career as an academic physician-scientist, transitioning more heavily into startups and growth companies over the last decade. Alex’s clinical and NIH-funded basic research focus as faculty at the University of Utah is in men’s sexual and reproductive health, and his entrepreneurial work has encompassed healthcare technology, diagnostics, medical devices, clinical research, and medical innovation. Alex has had founding and executive operational roles at multiple companies, with several exits to date, most recently at Vault Health, where he served as Chief Medical & Scientific Officer. In his spare time, he enjoys endurance cycling, skiing, good wine, and spending time with his wife and two boys.

Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
Jim is a urologist, serial entrepreneur, scientist and Director of Men’s Health at the University of Utah. He received his BA from Dartmouth, his MD from Duke and his MS in clinical epidemiology from the University of Washington. Jim completed a fellowship in male infertility at The University of Illinois at Chicago and joined the faculty at University of Utah. He built the reproductive urology program at RMANJ, which was acquired by IVIRMA, the largest IVF clinic in the world. Jim has founded five companies, exited two, holds 8 patents, has over 250 publications in the men’s health and male infertility space and has served as the president of the Society for Male Reproductive Urology. He has worked with Drs Guo, Cairns, Nie and Pastuszak for over a decade and developed the idea for Paterna after having to tell many patients that they could not have biological children. In his spare time he enjoys road and mountain biking, ski mountaineering, climbing and time with his wife and two boys.

Board Director
Ryan is a partner at SpringTide with experience driving innovation within health systems and in startup environments. Prior to SpringTide, Ryan helped pioneer population health models within the University of Utah Health delivery and payer arms. Ryan was the CFO of a digital health platform, TruClinic, and led its acquisition by InTouch Health, which was subsequently acquired by Teladoc. Ryan also served as the National Deputy Finance Director for Senator Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Ryan earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Wharton School.
He is also a board director at OpenLoop, Troomi, and IgniteData. He is a board observer at Aegle Health Partners and Okadoc.

Independent Board Member
Cynthia Tsai has more than 30 years of experience in global biotechnology and medical technology. She spent 16 years on Wall Street as a Vice President with Merrill Lynch and Kidder Peabody (1982-1995). Since 2016, she has been the CEO of Tana Systems, a global software and IT company based in the U.S. and India, leading a team of 50 engineers in the U.S. and 500 engineers in India. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Healthquest, a global biotechnology and medical technologies advisory firm. Past roles include CEO of HealthExpo and General Partner in MassTech Ventures, an equity fund focused on technology development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She currently serves on the Board of Selectors for the Jefferson Foundation Awards, the Prix Galien Foundation, Certus Critical Care Inc., Vita Nav TitinKM and Ethan Allen. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Missouri.

He started his career as consultant in PwC, and worked in different companies across industries – such as Uralita, Levantina and Planasa – mainly as CFSO, until he joined Igenomix, in early 2020, where he served as CFO & Strategy Director. He actively participated in the successful exit of EQT, in summer 2022, when the company was acquired by Vitrolife, where he joined the Executive Team of the combined company as SVP Strategy and Corporate Development. Since summer 2022, he has been working in different roles of the new IVF-clinics group formed by KKR. He currently leads the integration of acquisitions as well as the transformation initiatives.

Francisco education includes an MSc in Industrial Engineering double degree from Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) and Cranfield University, an MBA from Instituto de Empresa, and a Senior Executive Programme from London Business School.

Board Observer

Co-founder and Bioinformatics Consultant
Jingtao is a professor and investigator at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He received his BS from Peking University, and his PhD from University of Utah under the mentorship of Dr. Brad Cairns. He completed his postdoctoral training with Drs Brad Cairns and Doug Carrell, and was subsequently appointed as an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Jingtao has worked with Brad, Jim, and Xichen on human germline stem cells and testis development for a decade. In late 2021, after living in Utah for almost 10 years, Jingtao and his family moved back to Beijing, where he leads a ~20 member research group and continues his research on human reproduction and testis biology. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books, listening to music, hiking and traveling with his family.