Our Team

Fred has 20 years of leadership, strategic and commercial experience as a pharmaceutical executive. Prior to joining Graybug Vision, Fred was Worldwide Business Franchise Head of Ophthalmology, the largest Novartis Pharma business in sales. He led the integration of the global Alcon Pharma and Novartis Retina businesses and was responsible for a number of deals leading to a significant extension of Novartis’ ophthalmology pipeline, including the acquisition of Encore Vision for the topical treatment for presbyopia (2016), the in-licensing of Lubricin® ex-EU for dry eye (2017), the in-licensing of Luxturna® ex-US, a one-time gene therapy to restore functional vision in patients with biallelic mutations of the RPE65 gene from Spark Therapeutics (2018), as well as the preparation of the Xiidra® acquisition for dry eye from Takeda Pharmaceuticals (2019).

During his 20 year tenure at Novartis, he held additional leadership positions, including Global Franchise Head of Pharmaceuticals at Alcon, Country Head of United Kingdom and Ireland, Country Head and President of Australia and New Zealand, Head of Marketing and Sales for Emerging Growth Markets Region, Country Head and President of Egypt, and Cluster Head of North and West Africa. Fred holds a PharmD and a Master of Biological and Medical Sciences from the University of Rouen, France, and a Master of Marketing from the international business school HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales), Paris. He has been a non-executive director at Lenz Therapeutics since 2021.

Robert has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical and drug delivery industries, serving exclusively as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2003. Prior to joining Graybug Vision, he was the CFO of Corium, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, for seven years, taking the company from private to public and then through the sale to a private equity buyer. Prior to that, he was the CFO of Codexis, Inc., a developer of biocatalysts for the pharmaceutical and fine chemical production industries for three and a half years. In 2002, he became the CFO of Aerogen, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on the field of aerosolized drug delivery, which was acquired by Nektar Therapeutics in 2005. Prior to Aerogen, Robert worked at ALZA Corporation, where he held numerous positions including Director of Corporate Planning, Analysis and Controller. In 2001, ALZA was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and Robert stayed on as Controller until joining Aerogen in 2002. Before his industry experience, he served for eight years as a naval officer and aviator. Robert holds a B.S.E.E. from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Parisa is a physician-scientist with deep expertise in biopharmaceutical and small molecule drug discovery and development, drug and device safety and pharmacovigilance, as well as biomarker development across multiple therapeutic areas. She is an ophthalmologist by training with clinical experience in medical retina, immunology and inflammation. Parisa joined Graybug Vision from Novartis Pharmaceutical, where she most recently held the position of Vice President, Global Head of Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area Head for Ophthalmology, leading a group of clinical scientists and ophthalmologists that designs and executes Phase 2b-4 clinical trials in small molecule, biopharmaceuticals, novel biologics, digital therapeutics and gene therapy for ophthalmic indications such as wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), retinitis pigmentosa and dry eye. Prior to this, she was a translational medicine expert, responsible for designing and executing multiple first in human and proof of concept clinical trials for novel medicines in ophthalmology at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before joining Novartis in 2012, Parisa was a Director of Pre-clinical Sciences at Arsenal Medical Inc., an early stage combination medical device company, where she led teams across cardiovascular, ophthalmology and pain programs using innovative drug/device combination technologies. Parisa received her medical degree from the King’s College Hospital, University of London, and did her ophthalmology residency at the North Thames Rotation, London, England. She earned her PhD in ocular immunology for her research on the immune privilege of the subretinal space conducted at the Schepen’s Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard Medical School affiliated institute.

Bettina has more than 20 years of leadership, communications and culture change experience in healthcare. Prior to joining Graybug Vision as Chief People Officer, Bettina has served as a consultant to Graybug since August 2019 and played an integral role in the planning and successful execution of the company’s IPO in September 2020. Prior to that, Bettina held the position of VP, Group Head of Enterprise Communications at Novartis, where she led the development and implementation of the enterprise communications strategy with a focus on driving company-wide culture change in partnership with the executive team and human resources department. Prior to that, Bettina served as VP, Global Head of Communications at Alcon and was President of the Alcon Foundation. During her tenure, she established the Global Communications function, played a key role in the company’s culture and business transformation, as well as defined and executed Alcon’s corporate social responsibility strategy partnering with leading non-profit organizations to enhance access to quality eye care in developing markets as well as local communities. Bettina also served in leadership positions at CIBA Vision, Novartis Pharma and Serono International earlier in her career. She holds a degree in Business Administration from the Business School, Mannheim, Germany.

Ming has over 10 years of experience in the field of biomaterials and drug delivery, including the development of novel polymer-based drug delivery systems for ophthalmic indications. He received a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Dr. Justin Hanes, and he gained ocular drug delivery expertise during his tenure at Genentech. Ming received an MS in Bioengineering from Pennsylvania State University and a BE in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University, China.

Niall Murphy has over 25 years of experience in the drug delivery, biopharmaceutical, and medical device industries, serving in a variety of senior finance roles. Prior to joining Graybug, he served as Director, Financial Planning & Analysis, at Corium, a publicly traded, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of transdermal drug delivery systems. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Finance & Administration, at Fluxion Biosciences, a privately held medical device company specializing in live-cell analysis tools. Earlier in his career, Niall held senior leadership roles in Finance at Invuity (acquired by Stryker in 2018), Codexis (IPO in April 2010), National Reproductive Medical Centers (acquired by Matria Healthcare), Alere Medical (acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations), and Eos Biotechnology (acquired by PDL Biopharma). Before his industry experience, Niall worked for Arthur Andersen in their tax practice and audit practice. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, an MBA from the University of California, Davis, and is a licensed CPA (active status).

Han has more than 20 years of experience in finance and accounting across life science, data science and technology companies. Han joined Graybug in 2018 as the company’s Controller and has been instrumental in preparing and executing Graybug’s IPO in 2019. Prior to Graybug, she served in several finance and accounting leadership roles at global and divisional levels, including Halio, Inc., a global electrochromic technology company, Bio-Techne Corporation, a leading life sciences and diagnostics technology manufacturer, Ocera Therapeutics (acquired by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals), Amyris, Inc., a sustainable products company, and Symyx Technologies. Han earned her B.S. in business with a concentration in accounting from the University of Phoenix, California.

Sara Mary Hall is a scientist by training with over twenty-five years of gene therapy experience in the US, Europe, Japan, and Australia. She has co-founded and led four private and led a fifth public biotech company. Sara is a member of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) Industry Advisory Committee and has served as a gene therapy advisor for many institutions and foundations, particularly for ocular indications.

A member of the Kansas chapter of the International Women’s Forum, Sara has been involved in national and international initiatives for women and girls in the sciences and is a semi-professional violinist performing with the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, Port Townsend Symphony, and Bridges: A String Ensemble. The winner of two R&D 100 awards for scientific innovation while still at the bench, Sara is a creative, experienced, and driven executive with a specialty in and passion for first-in-class products and concepts.