Michael F. Hoffman, B.S., RRT, Director, President and CEO
Mr. Hoffman has 40 years of diverse, successful experience in all aspects of the healthcare industry directly related to OBT’s business mission, marketing model, products, services, and client relations. His experience is exemplified by his success and ability as both a healthcare professional and entrepreneur. His healthcare industry career began with a decade of work as a hospital-based Registered Respiratory Therapist. He worked his way up from staff, supervisory, and teaching positions in clinical and intensive care settings, then into hospital administration in major medical centers including Case Western Reserve University Hospitals (1971), The Cleve-land Clinic (1973), Shands (University of Florida) Teaching Hospital of Jacksonville (1975), and Mt. Sinai Medical Center (1979).
Mr. Hoffman gained valuable experience collaborating with biomedical instrument manufacturers in the development and clinical trials of innovative therapeutic and life-support-related medical instruments. Throughout his career, he has participated in entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups in healthcare services and durable medical equipment companies (1971-1985), the startup and expansion of a chain of for-profit post-secondary degree-granting healthcare career schools throughout Florida (1979-1990) which were later acquired by a larger entity, and several other successful ventures including serving as Chief Operating Officer of AMTL Corporation marketing the ALCAT test. He left AMTL in 1996 to take a position as OBT’s Business Development Director. He was subsequently promoted to Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (1999) and was again promoted to President and CEO in 2004. He led OBT out of R&D and into the market, reaching profitable operations in 2011.
Fred H. Williams, MD, Gastroenterologist, Medical Director
Dr. Williams is a practicing Board Certified Gastroenterologist and co-owner of Gateway Gastroenterology in St. Louis. He has served as a Medical Advisor to OBT for 10 years. Post-funding Dr. Williams and OBT will expand his role to Medical Director. Dr. Williams is a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has been awarded and served numerous appointments in his career including Asst. Professor of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda; Asstistant Professor of Medicine, University of Texas, San Antonio; Asst. Professor of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston; and Asst. Chairman, Dept. of Gastroenterology, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland AFB, Texas.
Dr. Williams combines integrative medicine and specific alternative therapies with traditional medicine in his progressive practice of gastroenterology, emphasizing an overall wellness approach in addressing medical problems seeking prevention where possible rather than the traditional role of most medical specialists in reacting to disease. He believes sound nutrition and healthy lifestyle therapy are keys to improving all medical conditions. For this reason, he has been a user and advocate of OBT’s work since he first tested LEAP in his own practice in 2004. He has assisted OBT in developing lifestyle-based solutions for patients with chronic conditions and symptomology linked to food and chemical-induced inflammation.
Dr. Williams is deeply committed to making LEAP a new evidence-based standard of care for mainstream medicine and is working with OBT to identify and appoint a dynamic group of mainstream specialist physicians to serve as a guiding Medical Advisory Board in conjunction with OBT’s efforts to create a new, broadly representative Advisory Board in Medical Nutrition Therapy.
Michael A. McLean, Ph.D., HCLD(ABB), Senior V.P. of Operations and Clinical Lab Director
Dr. Michael A. McLean has conferred a B.Sc. in Biology and Chemistry and both an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Dietetics and Nutrition from the College of Public Health and Social Work from Florida International University (FIU). He is an Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at Palm Beach State College, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and, City College, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Dr. McLean has more than 34 years of broad experience in laboratory medicine and technology, with experience in the laboratory specialties of clinical chemistry, immuno-hematology, hematology, microbiology, and serology. In addition to laboratory supervision and management responsibilities, he also has experience in the laboratory accreditation process under the guidelines of COLA, Inc., a premier clinical laboratory accreditation organization.
Dr. McLean has amassed several years of experience in organizing, developing, designing, and conducting scientific research and has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed scientific journal publications and abstracts. Dr. McLean was selected as an Abstract Reviewer for ASN’s Scientific Sessions at EB2017 and a manuscript reviewer for publication in PLOS journal. He is certified as a High-Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (HCLD) by examination, academic achievements, and professional experience by the American Board of Bioanalysis and currently serves as the Laboratory Director of Oxford Biomedical Technologies.
Mark H. Mirkin, Esq., Chief Legal Officer
Since his graduation from Duke University with a degree in Economics in 1981 and then from Duke Law School in 1984, Mr. Mirkin has spent his entire career practicing corporate and securities law for startups and emerging companies, mostly in technology. A large portion of his projects for clients involves venture capital financing. After launching his law career in South Florida in 1984, he returned to the Research Triangle in 2002, which by then had become the east coast hub of entrepreneurship.
Over the course of the next seven years, he spent the bulk of his time representing companies in venture capital financings. In 2009 Mark returned to South Florida for family matters, and soon after was engaged by OBT as outside counsel. Presently, he splits his time between South Florida and the Research Triangle and now serves as OBT’s Chief Legal Officer on a part-time basis, representing other companies as time allows.
Donna Darrow, Finance Manager
Ms. Darrow has been employed by OBT in the Finance Department since September 2012. She was hired as an assistant to the prior CFO, Robert Souza, handling the daily duties of the finance department in positions of progressive responsibility anticipating his retirement in 2015 after 15 years as OBT’s CFO. She was promoted to Finance Manager in July 2015. Ms. Darrow’s career spans over 25 years of experience in bookkeeping, accounting, and human resources in positions of progressive responsibility.
Ethan DeMitchell, BBA, Vice President of Client Services
Mr. DeMitchell has enjoyed over 25 years of success in the laboratory industry sector of food and chemical sensitivity generating sales and managing marketing to physician accounts and other market channels for esoteric testing, allergy testing, and practice needs assessment. He began his laboratory sales and marketing career as Director of Professional Accounts for AMTL Corp. in 1992, marketing the ALCAT test. In 1995 he was recruited by OBT to develop sales, marketing, and customer service programs in anticipation of the development of a new and improved whole blood assay.
Since then he has coordinated all test products, services, and proposed services through the development, and market testing of the final products and services models that were selected and brought to market. He is now preparing for a rapid post-funding expansion of OBT’s sales systems, and a diversified division of duties with which the planned augmented management team will create additional infrastructure in sales, marketing, and recruitment and training programs for a growing, diversified sales force.
Gustavo Zarini, Ph.D., RD, Director of Clinical and Scientific Research
Dr. Gustavo Zarini is the Director of Clinical & Scientific Research for Oxford Biomedical Technologies. Dr. Zarini holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Dietetics and Nutrition from the College of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University (FIU). He has been a registered dietitian since 2009 and a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Dr. Zarini is currently the Principal Investigator in the clinical trial “Effectiveness of the Lifestyle Eating and Performance (LEAP) program for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).”
Dr. Zarini has over 16 years of experience coordinating, managing, and conducting research studies at Florida International University as a Research Specialist/Scientist. Additionally, he was a co-investigator in multiple National Institute of Health (NIH) funded grants. The focus of the research he has been involved in includes nutrition and chronic diseases. Dr. Zarini has published more than 40 scientific peer-reviewed articles and 80 abstracts. His publications have been cited widely in various prestigious journals, and he is a reviewer for numerous national and international high-impact journals. He devotes his professional life to conducting cutting-edge research to facilitate the translation of nutrition science into practice.
Piotr Zielinski, MS, Vice President of Information Services & Technologies
Mr. Zielinski graduated from Jagiellonian University with a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. Mr. Zielinski has over 25 years of experience in managing a wide range of Information Technology projects. He has worked as both a programmer and as a project manager for software development and has also managed IT operations in various capacities. Piotr has spent the last 10 years leading the development of Oxford’s Laboratory Information System; transforming, and modernizing the IT infrastructure, and ensuring uninterrupted operations and security of all Oxford IT systems.