Akari Therapeutics, Plc announced the appointment of Samir R. Patel, M.D. to the Akari Board of Directors. Dr. Patel currently serves as founder and principal of PranaBio Investments, LLC, a firm providing consulting, strategic advisory, and investment services for small cap biotechnology companies. He is also a consultant to GE Global Research, GE?s innovation engine that is creating novel products and solutions across several sectors including biomanufacturing and biotechnology.

He has more than 20 years of experience in life sciences including co-founding Digital Therapeutics, LLC, a startup advancing a therapy for scleroderma and other rheumatic diseases, and SPEC Pharma, LLC, a company that develops and manufactures injectables used in rheumatology applications. Previously, Dr. Patel held multiple roles in Medical Affairs with Centocor Inc. (now Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, part of Johnson & Johnson). He holds multiple patents, has been an author on several publications and has been an investigator in numerous clinical research studies.

Dr. Patel received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio (University of Toledo) in Toledo, Ohio, and completed his internal medicine internship and residency, as well as a rheumatology fellowship, at University of New Mexico School of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals.