Leadership
Emmaus Medical, Inc. Officers
Yutaka Niihara, M.D., M.P.H., CEO, President & Chairman
Dr. Niihara was the principal inventor of the patented L-glutamine therapy, and is a co-founder of Emmaus Medical, Inc. Dr. Niihara has been involved in patient care and research for sickle cell disease during most of his career. Dr. Niihara is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Internal Medicine/Medical Oncology and the American Board of Internal Medicine/Hematology. He is licensed to practice medicine in both the U.S. and Japan. Dr. Niihara is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology/Hemotology at UCLA School of Medicine.Dr. Niihara is the recipient of numerous grants, including a completed NIH grant study for "L-glutamine Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease", and a FDA Orphan Drug Grant that supported an ongoing Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Dr. Niihara is a widely published author in the area of sickle cell disease.
Daniel R. Kimbell, Esq., COO & Secretary
Mr. Kimbell is a co-founder of Emmaus Medical, Inc. He is an AV rated attorney and an experienced intellectual property attorney who has written and negotiated numerous intellectual property license agreements. Mr. Kimbell has prosecuted hundreds of trademark and patent applications, including the patent application that issued as U.S. patent no. 5,693,671 for the licensed L-glutamine therapy. He co-founded United Voicemail before starting Emmaus Medical, Inc. United Voicemail (www.reachme.com) offers a suite of voice mail services to businesses and individuals. Mr. Kimbell has been an active member of the Executive Committee of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum since 1999.
Thomas Hart, CPA, CFO
Mr. Hart is a principal of HighPoint Partners, LLP, and is a specialist in matters of taxation and accounting. His background includes representation of companies and highly compensated individuals in the following industries: Medicine, High Tech Industries, Computer Software Distributors, Computer Programming, Manufacturing, Construction, Real Estate, Food Production, Food Distribution, Restaurants, Entertainment, Personal Service Corporations, Television Production, Law, and Mortgage Brokerage. As a consultant in accounting and management systems, he has been involved in a number of start-up operations including Fish House Foods, Inc., a large food manufacturing operation in Vista, California, and Photobit, Inc., a spin-off of Cal Tech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena, California. Photobit, Inc. was acquired by Micron Technologies, Inc. in 1992.
Jack Marinelli, Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Jack Marinelli has been in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industry since 1991 with Abbott Laboratories, Merck and Company and EMD Serono. His various positions began at the primary care level and gradually moved to therapeutic specialty levels that focused on Respiratory, Gastroenterology and Endocrinology. He was a Health Science Liaison with Respiratory and Gastroenterology research projects. In the corporate setting, he worked on instructional design, training and development of new and tenured Specialty Representatives. Mr. Marinelli, at the corporate level and in the field, has launched billion dollar pharmaceutical products in the US market place. Those product launches include 8 new products and/or indications in the following therapeutic groups: Respiratory, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Cardiovascular, Orthopedics/Pain Management, Oncology, and Organ Transplant.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Marinelli served in the US Army as a Legal Specialist in the JAG Corps, working on medical and tort recovery cases. He is a graduate of Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. Berea College is known for its Christian values and ethics. The phrase "God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth" shapes the College's culture and is an outlook Mr. Marinelli shares in his own approach to life.
Emmaus Medical, Inc. Directors
Douglas W. Wilmore, M.D., Director
Dr. Wilmore was born in Newton, Kansas and received all his initial education in the state. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Kansas he worked at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania between 1964-1971 where he received his training in general surgery. While at Penn, Dr. Wilmore worked with the team of investigators who developed total parenteral nutrition, a method of intravenous feeding that is used to support patients throughout the world today.

Dr. Wilmore served in the US Army working at the Institute for Surgical Research in San Antonio, Texas from 1971-79. There he described many of the metabolic derangements associated with major injury and provided methods for resolving the severe catabolic responses that occur following trauma.

In 1979 Dr. Wilmore moved to the Harvard Medical School and served as the Frank Sawyer Professor of Surgery and senior staff surgeon at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital. During this time his laboratory developed modern techniques to measure the amino acid glutamine, described the response of this amino acid in acute illness and evaluated the effects of administering glutamine to seriously ill individuals. This group was the first to demonstrate that glutamine was associated with reduced infection rates in critically ill patients, that glutamine administration improved gut absorption and that this amino acid could restore muscle mass following wasting diseases. The use of glutamine to enhance gut absorption is now approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States.
Lucius Allen, Director

Mr. Allen has been with the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Company since 1996, and has moved through the ranks very rapidly. He is currently a Cardiovascular Risk Specialist (CRS), and is now ranked #8 nationally out of 150 CMRS. Lucius Allen is also a Sales Trainer for Territory Business Managers (TBMs), and pioneered the “Hospitalist Initiative” for BMS which has developed into a National Program impacting Hospital Formularies to include BMS products. Prior to being promoted to a Cardiovascular Risk Specialist, he was ranked nationally #3 out of 550 TBMs. Among his numerous awards, Lucius Allen is a three time BMS Excellence Award Winner.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Lucius Allen had an illustrious professional basketball career with the NBA for 10 years. Before joining the pros, he excelled at UCLA under legendary Coach John Wooden (Won 88 Lost 2), where Lucius Allen won two NCAA Basketball Championships. He was College Coaches “All-American” in 1967 and 1968. The 1968 UCLA Basketball team has been ranked by ESPN as the #1 college basketball team of all time. Lucius Allen was a three time All Pac 10 performer, and is a member of the UCLA Hall of Fame. Going into professional ball, he was a 1st round draft pick.
(#3 Player picked in the NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics.) Lucius Allen played with Seattle, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and closed his NBA career with Kansas City. Lucius Allen was on the NBA Championship team the Milwaukee Bucks 1970 – 1971.

Mr. Allen is the President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Basketball Retired Player’s Association, where he continues to apply his strong leadership skills in representing the interests of retired NBA players and promoting good sportsmanship in youth. Lucius Allen is an “A” level tennis player and is truly is a champion in everything he does.

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