Leadership

Dr. Marbán is our Chief Executive Officer, and has served in that capacity and on the Board since November 2013. Dr. Marbán is a co-founder of Capricor, Inc. (wholly-owned subsidiary of Capricor Therapeutics, Inc.) and has been with the Company since 2005 and became its Chief Executive Officer in 2010. Dr. Marbán has been in the biotechnology field for more than 20 years and brings extensive experience across research, product development and business development to the Company. From 2003-2009, Dr. Marbán held various senior roles at Excigen, Inc., a gene therapy biotechnology company, where she was responsible for operations and business development and where she oversaw the development of a biologic pacemaker for the heart. Prior to Excigen, Dr. Marbán worked in academic science, first at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation working on the development of contractile dysfunction in heart failure due to myocarditis, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. While at Johns Hopkins, she advanced to the rank of Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, specializing in the mechanism of the biophysical properties of cardiac muscle. Her tenure at Johns Hopkins ran from 2000 to 2003. Dr. Marbán earned a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in cardiac physiology and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Micheal Binks joined Capricor in 2025 and currently serves as our Chief Medical Officer.  Dr. Binks, a distinguished leader in the industry, is a board-certified rheumatologist (UK) and internationally recognized expert in immunology and rare disease. Prior to Capricor, Dr. Binks held senior leadership roles at both Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, where he was instrumental in advancing multiple first-in-class therapies, including Benlysta, Hympavzi, Paxlovid and Beqvez, as well as multiple gene therapy, small molecule and biologics programs currently in early and late-stage development. Most recently, Dr. Binks served as Vice President and Head of Rare Disease Clinical and Translational Research, Worldwide Research Development and Medical at Pfizer, based in Cambridge, MA, where he led global efforts overseeing more than a dozen clinical studies, including several in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). His experience spans a broad range of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, cardiology, nephrology and hematology. In addition to his pharmaceutical leadership roles, Dr. Binks is the founder of PathfindRx LLC, a translational medicine consultancy, and has held honorary academic and clinical appointments at institutions including Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and University College London. He received his medical degree, postgraduate, and specialist training from University College London Medical School.

Dr. Elliott joined Capricor in 2021 and currently serves as Chief Operating and Science Officer. In this dual role, she leads product development across Capricor’s therapeutic pipeline, overseeing CMC operations, manufacturing, quality, and analytical and process development. With over 15 years of experience in biotechnology, Dr. Elliott is a recognized innovator in primary cell, stem cell, and exosome-based therapeutics. She has driven the conception, development, scale-up, and tech transfer of multiple products and assays, advancing both clinical and preclinical programs.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Elliott was Capricor’s Vice President of Research and Development. Before joining the company, she advised joint ventures between Harvest Capital Strategies and Intrexon Corp. and held several leadership roles at Intrexon, including Senior Director of Stem Cell and Exosome Development. There, she led cross-functional teams and programs spanning product development, process optimization, and regulatory advancement—including an FDA-approved autologous cell therapy. Dr. Elliott began her career at the University of California, Irvine and has held various roles at early-stage biotech companies focused on cell and gene therapy. She holds a B.A. in Biology and an M.S. in Molecular Biology from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Mr. Bergmann has served as our Chief Financial Officer since 2018 and has been involved in the biotechnology industry for over a decade. Mr. Bergmann joined Capricor in 2011 and has held various roles of increasing responsibility throughout his tenure. Prior to joining Capricor., Mr. Bergmann had experience in accounting, finance and operations management of companies ranging in size from start-ups to mid-size companies. Prior to Capricor., he was with the business management firm, Gettleson, Witzer and O’Connor headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, where he managed accounting and finance for several production studios generating motion pictures with worldwide revenue exceeding $1.0 billion. The firm’s clients included actors, musicians, producers, directors and international foundations across the entertainment and music industries. During his time at Capricor, Mr. Bergmann oversaw the Company’s reverse merger and uplisting to the Nasdaq Capital Market, completed equity financings yielding over $250 million and oversaw business development leading to multiple strategic partnerships for total deal value exceeding $1.5 billion. Mr. Bergmann earned his Bachelor of Science from Providence College and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He is actively involved in various venture capital and entrepreneurial associations throughout the Southern California area.

Ms. Krasney has served as our Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel since 2012. Ms. Krasney’s career spans over 40 years serving as general counsel for numerous corporations and private companies engaged in a wide variety of industries. Her extensive background and vast experience has been focused on domestic and international corporate and business law, as well as litigation. Ms. Krasney has been involved in the medical technology arena since the mid-1990s, representing several medical technology companies developing products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Commencing in 2002, Ms. Krasney served as legal counsel for Biosensors International Group Ltd., a multinational medical device company that developed, manufactured and sold medical devices for cardiology applications. In 2006, she accepted the position of General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Biosensors and served in that capacity until 2010. During her tenure at Biosensors Ms. Krasney, among other things, headed the legal team that facilitated the company’s successful initial public offering in Singapore and was responsible for negotiating and documenting all agreements for the company worldwide, including licensing agreements with major medical device companies and agreements required for the company’s international clinical trials. During her tenure at Capricor, Ms. Krasney has been responsible for overseeing all legal matters involving the Company including, business transactions, corporate governance, and intellectual property and has played an integral role in all transactional matters involving the Company. Ms. Krasney also serves as a director on the board of Cardiovascular Research Foundation, a non-profit research and education entity, and as a director for a private non-profit charitable foundation. Ms. Krasney received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Awadalla joined Capricor in 2023 and currently serves as our Chief Development Officer overseeing Capricor’s commercial and clinical activities for our pipeline programs. Mr. Awadalla comes to Capricor with 25 years of experience in product  development across the entire drug lifecycle. Mr. Awadalla has worked across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation, degenerative, rare diseases and specializes in the development of cell and gene therapies.

Prior to joining Capricor, Mr. Awadalla served as Vice President of Research and Development and Head of Clinical Operations for Celularity Inc. where he oversaw the company’s clinical portfolio by designing and executing multiple clinical trials. Prior to that, Mr. Awadalla was the Executive Director of Clinical Operations at Mustang Bio where led the clinical operations team in successfully clearing INDs and initiating their first clinical trial with their autologous cell therapy product. Mr. Awadalla also held positions of increasing responsibility in global clinical operations at Celgene. At Celgene, Mr. Awadalla played an integral role in the execution of global clinical trials which led the NDA approval of Otezla^®, a drug for the treatment of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Bechet’s disease. The worldwide rights to Otezla^® were eventually acquired by Amgen for approximately $11.2 billion. Mr. Awadalla also serves as a board advisor for AdhereTech where he assists the company with commercial and product development strategies.

Mr. Awadalla received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from the Richard Stockton University of New Jersey.

Dr. Sun joined Capricor in 2021 and currently serves as Senior Vice President of Quality Control, Research, and Product Development. In this role, he leads the company’s quality control, ensuring GMP and regulatory compliance, including FDA and EMA standards. He also oversees Capricor’s exosome platform and pipeline development, including process and analytical development for deramiocel.

With over 15 years of experience in biotechnology, Dr. Sun brings extensive expertise in molecular biology, virology, and exosome research. He is a leader in exosome engineering, driving innovation in design and scalable production.<br>Prior to joining Capricor, Dr. Sun served as Head of In Vitro Pharmacology at WuXi AppTec, where he led strategic, operational, and business development initiatives to drive revenue growth. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Stem Cell Research at TransOva Genetics and held several leadership roles at Intrexon Corporation, including oversight of antibody discovery, stem cell programs, and exosome-related initiatives. He also served as General Manager of Intrexon’s San Diego site.

Dr. Sun holds a B.A. in Virology and an M.S. in Medical Virology from Wuhan University in China. He earned his Ph.D. in Pathobiology from Penn State University and completed postdoctoral training in oncology under Dr. Peter Vogt at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California.