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10 SOLID YEARS OF
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
About Us
Cornea Biosciences™ was founded with the express objective of furthering development of the bioengineered cornea, and providing this cornea to the millions of people unilaterally or bilaterally blind from corneal disease or injury and unable to obtain a corneal transplant due to a severe shortage of human donor corneas. The company’s cornea is the result of ten years of research and development conducted at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Linkoping University in Sweden.
Cornea Biosciences™ has established the Corneal Transplant Foundation (www.corneal-transplant-foundation.org) whose mission is to provide information on corneal transplantation, support corneal transplant research and assist economically disadvantaged patients in obtaining corneal transplants.
Leadership
James F. Socks, OD, MS (BioEng), MBA – CEO and Founder
Dr. James Socks serves as the CEO of Cornea Biosciences™, a biotech company developing a bioengineered cornea to address the worldwide shortage of human corneas for corneal transplants. Prior to CorneaBio™, Jim held several senior positions at AcuFocus, a corneal inlay company.
Dr. Socks has over 40 years in the ophthalmic field where he has held clinical, research, marketing, and senior management positions. Prior to Cornea Biosciences™, he was a Corporate Officer of AcuFocus, Inc. an early stage ophthalmic company developing and commercializing a corneal inlay for presbyopia where he held the positions of Chief Regulatory Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs. His ophthalmic career includes Alcon Laboratories (acquired by Novartis) where he held several management positions including Director of International Marketing. His executive management experience also includes that of founder and CEO of Rainbow Eyecare Centers, an ophthalmic healthcare venture in China which included an eye hospital and chain of optical shops. Jim lived in China for four years through the company’s development. Following, his return to the US from China, Dr. Socks was Vice President of Clinical Operations at Valley Forge Pharmaceuticals before joining AcuFocus.
Jim holds a Doctor of Optometry degree from Southern California College of Optometry, a Master of Science in Bioengineering from the University of California at San Diego, and an MBA from the University of New Haven.
Jake Requard, III – Vice President
Mr. Requard has been involved in developing eye banks and donor eye tissue distribution networks since 1974. He started his career in eye banking as a recovery and processing technician. Positions he has held include Senior Vice President – Operations and Research at Tissue Banks International; Executive Director of the St. Louis Eye Bank at the Washington University Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Vice President at Mid‐America Transplant Services; and President/CEO of Vision Share. Mr. Requard has been an eye bank consultant for Orbis International and a number of tissue‐engineering and medical technology companies. He has served on committees of the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), written several textbook chapters on eye banking, and has traveled extensively internationally to provide donor corneas from US eye banks and support the development of eye banks in other countries. Mr. Requard is also a Vice President at LinCor Biosciences™.
Mr. Requard has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Loyola University of Maryland.
James F. Socks, OD, MS (BioEng), MBA – CEO
Brian Chandler, MS
Brian Chandler is the former CEO of Accutome, Inc., a manufacturer and worldwide ophthalmic distribution company of surgical devices, office medications, and handheld instruments. While CEO, Mr. Chandler built the company from start up to a multi-product, vertically integrated company with a customer data base of over 38,000 with 1,200 SKUs. Prior to founding Accutome, Brian was the Operations/General Manager of Smith Collins Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Chandler had a distinguished military career in the US Navy where he had increasing responsibility for major supply chain, financial and logistical functions. Assignments included direct management responsibility for various ship, naval air station and systems command support functions including budgets exceeding $1.5 billion for major aircraft overhaul and repair. Mr. Chandler retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of Commander.
Brian holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Rhode Island, a Masters of Science (M.S.) in Public Administration from Golden Gate University, and is a graduate of the United States Naval War College.
Michael Knudsen, MBA
Mr. Knudsen’s 40 year business career included executive assignments at large technology companies (Juniper Networks, Sun Microsystems, and Toshiba), as well as medium sized companies (QLogic and Digi International), and a venture funded startup, Xambala. As the CEO of Xambala, he completed development of and introduced the world’s first semantic processor. At Juniper, he held the position of VP Business Operations, chartered to grow its newly launched switch business to $1 billion. At Sun, he was Vice President of the OEM Systems Group where he managed the company’s $1 billion OEM business. At Toshiba, as Network Products VP/GM, he led an internal startup to market share leadership in 27 months, against an entrenched competitor, and at QLogic, as Senior Vice President in charge of all of the company’s business units, he improved operational excellence in quality, cost and customer service, while establishing dependable delivery of new products that met function, cost and time-to-market goals.
Mike has an engineering degree and an MBA from the University Of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, where he was elected President of the business school’s Graduate Student Advisory Council.
Timothy M. Fischer, BS, MHA
Timothy Fischer has been the President and CEO of the Indiana Lions Eye Bank for the past 13 years. He has led the organization to be recognized as one of the leading eye banks, having increased the number of donor corneas recovered annually for transplant from 800 to over 1800.
Tim began his career in eye and tissue banking in 1992 as an eye bank technician at the Lions Eye Bank in Dayton, OH. He then went on to work with eye and tissue banks in Orange County, CA and Charlotte, NC before he moved to Indiana.
He received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in biology from Wake Forest University and has completed course work toward a Masters in Health Administration (MHA) from Long Beach State University. Tim serves on the Accreditation Committee of the Eye Bank Association of America, acts as the Treasurer of Vision Share, and is President of the Carmel, Indiana Lions Club.
Choun-ki Joo, MD PhD – Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Korea
Bo Liedberg, PhD – Professor , Head, Division of Materials Technology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Jod Mehta, MD – Associate Professor, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore
Ramon Naranjo, MD – Professor, Conde de Valencia Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico
Claudio Orlich, MD – Medical Director, 20/20 Clinica, San Jose, Costa Rica
Donald Tan, MD – Professor, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore
Get in touch
30211 Avenida de las Banderas, Suite 200
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688-2159
USA +1 949 264-3331
For general inquiries: info@corneabio.com