Jack Kavanaugh

Dr Kavanaugh’s background as a physician and a business executive has led to the development of an unusual skill set. That, coupled with a talent for discerning what’s truly innovative and an ability to accurately gauge the commercial potential of a given research project, start-up or company, has resulted in an impressive array of business accomplishments.

He has developed and managed companies at every stage – from inception to successful sale – creating industry-leading products and investor profits. Although his work spans a number of industries, he has focused on the health and science technology sector, capitalizing on his background in medicine and business to lead mergers, acquisitions, turnarounds, and corporate strategic development and initiatives. Dr. Kavanaugh is especially proud that the companies he has led have made a significant positive impact on society and the welfare of people everywhere.

Dr. Kavanaugh holds D.D.S., M.B.A. and B.A. degrees from UCLA, and an M.D. from U.S.C. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at UCLA’s Jules Stein Institute, where he later taught surgery as a part-time visiting professor. Besides his chairmanship at Orbsen, Kavanaugh is also Chairman and co-founder of Nanotech Energy – which is moving the world’s leading edge research on graphene supercapacitors from the laboratory to the marketplace: Novonco Therapeutics, a company developing three first-in-class highly targeted platforms with potent anti-cancer properties; and SuperMetalix, Inc., which is developing a cost-efficient product that is more than twice as hard as carbide.

Among Dr Kavanaugh’s business accomplishments: As CEO and Chairman of ZetaRx Biosciences, Inc, he successfully combined the intellectual property from three globally-recognized health care and research institutions, assembled a highly respected management team, and lead the development of the FDA clinical trial strategy. In late 2013, ZetaRx was sold, becoming the core of Juno Therapeutics, which went on to have the largest biotech IPO of 2014, attaining a market cap of approximately $6 billion. Recently, Juno reported 91% clinical trial complete remission of terminal cancer patients treated with their immunotherapy.

Prior to that, he served as Chairman of Calhoun, a biotech firm that developed the world’s only light adjustable intraocular lens for cataract surgery. Its industry-leading product has already completed FDA Stage III clinical trials. In 1996, Dr. Kavanaugh founded Amerident, a health care service provider, serving as Chairman and CEO. Under his tenure, the company organically grew its employee-ranks to over 600 by 1999, when it was sold to a public company. Amerident received over 30 community service awards and a state congressional medal of honor for its work with infants. As founder, Chairman and CEO of Team Global, Dr. Kavanaugh was responsible for taking the company public, helping guide and create value as the public share price rose from an initial investor cost of 11 cents per share to approximately $27 per share. He was until recently a member of the board of Materia, a company that holds more than 300 patents and is instrumental in the production of over 100 pharmaceutical products.