Board of Directors

Cam Gallagher has more than 30 years of experience in the life science and biotech industry with a focus on new company formation, corporate development, marketing, operations, and early-stage investing. Mr. Gallagher has served as a member of the Ocuphire (now Opus) Board since January 2019 and Chair since December 2019. He was previously co-founder and board member of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ZNTL) from December 2014 to November 2024. He also served as President of Zentalis from May 2022 to November 2024. He also currently serves on the board of directors of SelectION and Immuosft. He was previously a founding board member at VelosBio, which was acquired by Merck in 2020. Prior to joining Zentalis as President, he was a Director and Chief Business Officer at RetroSense Therapeutics, which was acquired by Allergan in 2016. Mr. Gallagher was Managing Director of Nerveda, LLC, a life science seed fund he co-founded in June 2007. Prior to these roles, he held management positions at Oncternal, Zavante, Verus Pharma, CV Therapeutics and Dura Pharma. Mr. Gallagher holds an M.B.A. from the University of San Diego and a B.S. in Business Administration from Ohio University.

Sean Ainsworth is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Immusoft, a Seattle-based cell therapy company, and has 25 years of experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Mr. Ainsworth has served as a member of the Ocuphire (now Opus) Board since April 2018 and currently serves as the Lead Independent Director of the Board.He is also a co-founder and Chairman of the Board at Ray Therapeutics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company. Previously, he founded and led RetroSense Therapeutics, a gene therapy company he advanced into human clinical trials and sold to Allergan in 2016 in a deal valued at up to $555 million. Earlier, he was deeply involved in the launch of Compendia Bioscience, Inc., and GeneVivo, LLC. At both, he assisted in developing business models, licensing technologies, building management teams, and securing capital and first customers. Life Technologies acquired Compendia BioScience in 2012. Mr. Ainsworth founded Ainsworth BioConsulting in 2004 to provide licensing, as well as strategic and business planning services to the life science and entrepreneurial community. Prior professional experience also includes research at the Medical Biology Institute (now Avanir Pharmaceuticals, developers of Abreva, the leading cold sore medication), intellectual property at Koyama and Associates in Tokyo, and international corporate development consulting at The Mattson Jack Group. Mr. Ainsworth earned a B.S. in Microbiology from University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. in strategy and finance from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ms. Susan Benton is a strategic business consultant and owner of i2eye Consulting, LLC. Since July 2024, she has been a strategic advisor and consultant to six ophthalmic start-up companies. In addition to consulting, she joined the Ocuphire (now Opus) Board in November 2020, and she also sits on the boards of Tarsier Pharma since March 2019, and Omma Therapeutics since July 2024. Ms. Benton was previously a Member of the Board at Ripple Therapeutics. Ms. Benton has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. For the past five years, Ms. Benton served as the CEO/President of Thea Pharma U.S. from July 2019 to July 2024 and built the business from scratch to a $100M business through the acquisition of products and the successful approval/ launch of the IYUZEH® and IVIZIA® brands. Prior to Thea, Ms. Benton served at the Global Commercial Lead for new ophthalmic products and ran the Innovation team responsible for early-stage research pipeline. Additionally, she was the Head of M&A for Shire where she built the early and mid-stage pipeline prior to the Takeda acquisition. Her ophthalmic career also includes executive leadership roles at B+L and Sirion Therapeutics. Susan holds an MBA from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Muhlenberg College.

James S. Manuso, Ph.D., M.B.A., Chairman and CEO of Talfinium Investments, Inc., and Chairman of TuHura Biosciences Inc (Nasdaq:HURA) has served on the Ocuphire (now Opus) Board since January 2019. Dr. Manuso served as an international biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry CEO and management consultant for over 30 years. He co-founded multiple biotech companies where he held C-level management positions. As chairman and CEO of Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Manuso led the sale of the Company to Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. A former Board Member of the Biotechnology Industry Association, he has served on the boards of several private and public companies in the U.S., UK, France, Canada and Ireland. Dr. Manuso earned a B.A. with honors in Economics and Chemistry from New York University, a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and Genetics from the New School University, and an Executive M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Richard Rodgers has served on our Board since November 2020 and served as our Interim Chief Executive Officer and President from April 2023 through October 2023. Prior to his appointment as Interim Chief Executive Officer and President in April 2023, Mr. Rodgers served as chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Compensation Committee since November 2020. Mr. Rodgers previously served as a member of the board of Rexahn from 2014 until November 2020. Mr. Rodgers currently serves on the board of directors and as the chair of the audit committee and member of the compensation committee of Ardelyx, Inc., and Novavax, Inc. Mr. Rodgers was previously Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of TESARO, Inc., an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company that he co-founded, from March 2010 until August 2013. He served as the Chief Financial Officer from June 2009 to February 2010 of Abraxis BioScience, Inc. which was subsequently acquired by Celgene Corporation. Prior to that, Mr. Rodgers served as Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of MGI PHARMA, INC., from 2004 until its acquisition by Eisai Co., Ltd. in January 2008. He has held finance and accounting positions at several private and public companies, including Arthur Andersen. Mr. Rodgers holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Financial Accounting from St. Cloud State University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business.

Dr. Magrath, MD, currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a Board member of Opus Genetics, which was recently acquired by Ocuphire Pharma during his tenure there as CEO. Dr. Magrath is a board-certified ophthalmologist with extensive clinical, business, and financial experience. Most recently, Dr. Magrath was CEO of Lexitas Pharma Services, a leading contract research organization in ophthalmology. Lexitas experienced a substantial growth in headcount, expanded into multiple additional service offerings, including an image reading center and a significant shift into retinal diseases, and was acquired by a top-tier private equity group during Dr. Magrath’s tenure. Prior to Lexitas, Dr. Magrath served as the medical director at Hovione, where the team he worked with was responsible for the development of proprietary assets in ophthalmology, dermatology, and respiratory. Dr. Magrath began his career as an equity analyst at Edison Investment Research where he covered small and mid-sized pharma and biotechnology companies. Dr. Magrath holds a Master of Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Business Administration from The Citadel, and a Medical Degree from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Yerxa currently serves as Opus Genetics’ President since October, 2024. Dr. Yerxa was Chief Executive Officer and President of Opus from September, 2021. Dr. Yerxa previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (“FFB”) starting in October 2017, a foundation that drives research to provide treatments and cures for people affected by retinal degenerative diseases, where he established the Retinal Degeneration Fund, a venture philanthropy investment fund. Prior to joining FFB, Dr. Yerxa served as President and Co-Founder of Envisia Therapeutics, Inc., a company focused on developing novel ocular sustained delivery therapies for the front and back of the eye. He also has previously held founding and executive positions in several ophthalmology-based research organizations, including Liquidia Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of products in pulmonary hypertension, Clearside Biomedical, Inc. (“Clearside”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the delivery of therapies to the back of the eye through the suprachoroidal space, Parion Sciences, Inc., a company that develops therapies to treat defects of the innate mucosal defense system in respiratory diseases, and Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing ophthalmic products. Dr. Yerxa has also served on the boards of directors of Clearside since March 2022 and Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage leader in innovative treatments for oxidative stress since October 2019. Dr. Yerxa holds 60 U.S. patents. Dr. Yerxa earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and his B.A. in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine and previously served as director of the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to Dr. Bennett’s positions at the University of Pennsylvania, she has been an Investigator at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for more than a decade. She also co-founded life science companies Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), GenSight Biologics and Limelight Bio. Dr. Bennett received her PhD in Zoology and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkley, and obtained an MD from Harvard University. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiobiology and Environmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Human Genetics at Yale School of Medicine and Development Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her BS in Biology from Yale University.

Dr. Magrath, MD, currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a Board member of Opus Genetics, which was recently acquired by Ocuphire Pharma during his tenure there as CEO. Dr. Magrath is a board-certified ophthalmologist with extensive clinical, business, and financial experience. Most recently, Dr. Magrath was CEO of Lexitas Pharma Services, a leading contract research organization in ophthalmology. Lexitas experienced a substantial growth in headcount, expanded into multiple additional service offerings, including an image reading center and a significant shift into retinal diseases, and was acquired by a top-tier private equity group during Dr. Magrath’s tenure. Prior to Lexitas, Dr. Magrath served as the medical director at Hovione, where the team he worked with was responsible for the development of proprietary assets in ophthalmology, dermatology, and respiratory. Dr. Magrath began his career as an equity analyst at Edison Investment Research where he covered small and mid-sized pharma and biotechnology companies. Dr. Magrath holds a Master of Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Business Administration from The Citadel, and a Medical Degree from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine and previously served as director of the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to Dr. Bennett’s positions at the University of Pennsylvania, she has been an Investigator at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for more than a decade. She also co-founded life science companies Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), GenSight Biologics and Limelight Bio. Dr. Bennett received her PhD in Zoology and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkley, and obtained an MD from Harvard University. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiobiology and Environmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Human Genetics at Yale School of Medicine and Development Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her BS in Biology from Yale University.