Trivia Frazier PhD, MBA

Co-founder, President, & CEO

Dr. Frazier has over 15 years of training and research experience in the isolation, culture, expansion, and characterization of adherent stromal/stem cells from adipose tissue and bone marrow. She has been in various management positions for the past 7 years. Dr. Frazier completed her undergraduate training in physics and biomedical engineering through a dual degree program between Tulane University and Dillard University, a historically black private university in New Orleans, and her graduate training in the Biomedical Science Program at Tulane University School of Medicine. In 2013, Dr. Frazier began working as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Jeffrey Gimble on an NIH R21 project entitled ‘Distinguishing adipose stromal vs. stem cells by serial transplantation’. During this work, she combined murine SVF cells with a silk scaffold to create a tissue engineered fat pad for in vitro and in vivo studies. She held a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Dillard University until 2016 and served as the department Chair. Dr. Frazier then served as the NSF Project Director for proof of concept and commercialization of work supported by an NSF Phase I SBIR, entitled: ‘Tissue Engineered Human “Fat on a Chip”: A Novel Tool for Metabolic Drug Discovery’. Dr. Frazier obtained her MBA from the executive program in the Tulane University Freeman School of Business, class of 2018, and finished in the top 10% of her class.

Publications

To review Dr. Frazier’s published work, click here.

Jeffrey Gimble, MD, PhD

Co-Founder, Board Member, & Consultant

Dr. Gimble received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale University, where he began his 30+ year research career. During this time, he has held several full-time and adjunct faculty positions, and has biotechnology industry experience on staff at Zen-Bio and as a co-founder of Artecel Sciences. Dr. Gimble’s professional career has focused on the isolation, characterization, and clinical translation of stromal/stem cells from adipose tissue, bone, and bone marrow, resulting in more than 200 published manuscripts. Together with Dr. Wu, he co-founded LaCell LLC and Obatala Sciences to provide this expertise to the broader academic and biotech research communities.

Publications

To review Dr. Gimble’s published work, click here.

Xiying Wu, MD

Co-Founder & Consultant

Dr. Wu obtained her Medical Degree from the Medical School of Jilin University in Changchun, China, before embarking on an illustrious career in biomedical research. Following eight years of biomedical research in China, Dr. Wu transitioned to the United States to pursue advanced biomedical studies. Joining Dr. Gimble's lab at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in 1991 marked the beginning of a longstanding collaboration.

Since then, Dr. Wu has made significant contributions to stromal/stem cell research both within academia and beyond, co-authoring over 50 manuscripts with Dr. Gimble. In 2012, she assumed the role of Vice President of Research & Development at LaCell, LLC on a full-time basis. Dr. Wu's leadership is pivotal in shaping the commercial and scientific trajectory of Obatala Sciences.

Publications

To review Dr. Wu’s published work, click here.

Cecilia Sanchez, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer & VP of R&D

Dr. Sanchez has over 25 years of research experience in genetics and cellular and molecular biology. Before joining Obatala, Dr. Sanchez worked for three years as team lead scientist for Innovation at bioMerieux Inc, in Salt Lake City. At bioMerieux, Dr. Sanchez obtained significant experience in broad aspects of new product development and trained in strategies for Drugs and Medical Device development at MIT.

Dr. Sanchez completed her undergraduate training in Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine in Colombia. She obtained her master’s in biology-Health in Montpellier, France. She earned her PhD in Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology at Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France, working under the world-renowned Dr. Pierre Chambon, founder of the Institute for Genetics and Cellular and Molecular Biology in France. Dr. Sanchez came to New Orleans in 2002 to take a post-doctoral position at Tulane University. She completed post-doctoral trainings at Tulane in epigenetics, mesenchymal stem cells, and pulmonary and aging biology. Dr. Sanchez held a tenure-track appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Tulane University until 2017, directing her laboratory, she obtained funding support from NIH and foundation grants, she actively published manuscripts and book chapters, mentored graduate students and served in a various internal and external academic and research committees and established productive collaborations with academic teams and industry, before relocating to Salt Lake. She recently returned to New Orleans to join Obatala Sciences.

Publications

To review Dr. Sanchez’s published work, click here.

Cian Robinson, MPH

Fractional Chief Administrative Officer

With 30+ years of experience in management, strategy, investment, innovation, and leadership within both large, complex corporations as well as small, entrepreneurial companies, I am a decades long entrepreneur in the healthcare and higher education spaces, and at times the confluence of each. I am the Founder and President of Robinson Ventures, LLC, a management consulting, and venture capital firm. Prior to becoming a recovering senior hospital executive, I was the Executive Vice President of Innovation at McLeod Health, as well as the Chief Administrative Officer of McLeod Health Innovation Corporation. Prior to McLeod, I was the Executive Director of Innovation, Research and Real Estate Investments for Lafayette General Health, which is now part of the Ochsner Health System

Taeden Kitchens

Data Scientist I

Taeden Kitchens received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Southeastern Louisiana University. With a concentration in Data Science, he mainly focused on reviewing and analyzing different types of datasets as well as research into website development and artificial intelligence. Here at Obatala, Taeden mainly manages the company’s website and marketing strategies, as well as helping with inventory tracking.

Jordan Robinson, MS

Tissue Engineering Scientist

Jordan Robinson received his bachelor's of science in engineering, and master's of science in engineering from Tulane University. His master's thesis focused on using Agent-based modeling to make predictions on patellar tendon healing in mice of different ages. At Obatala sciences, Jordan performs daily laboratory work and client project work.

Ken Eilertsen, PhD

Advisory Board

Shafin Khan, JD

Advisory Board

Elizabeth Floyd, PhD

Advisory Board

Frank Greenway III, MD

Advisory Board

Jennifer Kuan, PhD

Advisory Board