Why We Exist

Despite historic advances in science and medicine, access to innovation remains profoundly unequal.

Populations that bear the highest burden of disease are too often underrepresented in research, clinical development, and investment. The result: lifesaving therapies reach some communities decades late — or not at all.

Syridex Bio exists to change that. We build companies that intentionally address inequities in discovery, development, and delivery — ensuring that the next generation of health innovation works for everyone.

Mission

To create and launch life sciences companies that develop innovative, accessible solutions for diseases disproportionately impacting underserved communities – advancing health equity on a global scale.

Vision

A world where every community, regardless of geography or income, benefits equitably from the promise of biomedical and technological innovation.

Background

Syridex Bio was established to translate bold scientific and digital innovations into sustainable ventures capable of driving real-world health impact. Rather than operating as a traditional investor, Syridex builds companies from the ground up — shaping strategy, assembling teams, and providing the early capital and infrastructure needed to accelerate progress. This venture-creation model allows us to take on high-impact opportunities that others often overlook, advancing our mission to make innovation more equitable and accessible across the health ecosystem.

girl sitting on grass field holding binoculars

Our Team

At the end of the day, going forward, a new normal that has evolved from generation is on the runway heading towards a solution.

Squire Servance

Managing Partner

Squire is the Founder & Managing Partner of Syridex Bio. Prior to founding Syridex Bio, he served as SVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Repligen Corporation, a bioprocessing-focused life sciences company. At Repligen, Squire led the legal, corporate secretary, compliance and enterprise risk functions as well as counseled the company’s Board of Directors and senior management. He also served on Repligen’s environmental, social, and corporate governance committee. Squire joined Repligen from Baxter International, Inc. where he led the global legal team supporting their multi-billion-dollar global pharmaceuticals business. Prior to joining Baxter, Squire worked in a variety of settings including as a Director providing legal support to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories business development team and as a life sciences attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
Squire received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law and M.B.A. with a concentration in corporate finance and a Certificate in Health Sector Management from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. He received his B.S., with honors, with a double major in biomedical engineering and cell biology and neuroscience from Rutgers University, School of Engineering.

Veleka Peeples-Dyer

Partner

Veleka is an accomplished life sciences executive who has spent her career dedicated to the industry, advising pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and other companies on FDA regulatory, legal, and global compliance matters, as a strategic business and legal advisor, including serving as Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary advising the Board of Directors and senior management. Additionally, Veleka has extensive experience as outside counsel to major life sciences companies, including as the Chair of the North America Food and Drug Practice for Baker McKenzie. She has spent the majority of her career serving as legal and compliance in-house counsel to life sciences companies. Veleka received a J.D. from University of South Carolina School of Law and a B.A. in political science from Hampton University.

Joshua Adeoye, MD

Dr. Adeoye is a physician-scientist with 10-plus years of healthcare experience as a maxillofacial surgeon and public health practitioner and serves as Principal at Syridex Bio. Immediately prior to joining Syridex Bio, he was Senior Associate at Adjuvant Capital – a $300M Life Sciences fund backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation investing in life science companies targeting health access and equity. Before joining Adjuvant, Dr. Adeoye was a Clinical Attending and Professor at the University Teaching Hospital in Kano, Nigeria.Dr. Adeoye obtained his Medical & Dental degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, after which he completed advanced residency training in Maxillofacial Surgery & Public Health at the Bayero University Teaching Hospital, Kano. He also obtained a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business (with a concentration in Finance & Healthcare as well as a Certificate in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship).

Christopher Whitfield

Advisory Partner

Christopher Whitfield has worked globally in senior and executive leadership positions at leading biopharmaceutical companies for the past 30+ years.

Most recently Christopher worked at Gilead Sciences as Executive Director and Regional General Manager of Africa focused on global commercialization and global health equity. Prior to Gilead, Christopher founded several Healthcare related companies over a 13-year period. His entrepreneurial focus was dedicated to the global expansion of the African market using innovative patient centered technologies and integrating global solutions for use on the continent. Past partners include Eli Lilly and Company, Amgen, General Electric, Hitachi, SOBI, and Thermo Fisher to name a few.

Prior to his entrepreneurial focus, Mr Whitfield was CEO and General Manager of Eli Lilly South Africa and held various leadership roles at the parent company of Eli Lilly and Company over his 17-year Eli Lilly and Company career.

Christopher has developed a powerful understanding effective product commercialization and access of global products and brands supported by focused, actionable and strategic plans executed with an essential mandate that positive patient outcomes is the ultimate objective.

Christopher is also an experienced management consultant with major venture capital and private equity firms, including the Carlyle Group, on global healthcare transactions. Christopher received his BA from Wabash College and holds an MBA from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business.

Board Of Advisors

Charles Corpening

Mr. Corpening is an accomplished private equity investor with decades of Wall Street and private equity experience. He has demonstrated skill in sourcing, financing, and executing M&A transactions and managing complex corporate relationships successfully at a board level.

Most recently, Mr. Corpening served as Sr. Managing Director and Head of Investments Team for Ariel Alternatives and Project Black. Ariel Alternatives is a private equity firm formed in 2021 to create Minority Business Enterprises of scale with revenues from a minimum of $100 million to +$1 Billion in partnership with the Fortune 500 focused upon dramatically increasing their spend with diverse Tier 1 vendors. Prior to joining Ariel Alternatives, Mr. Corpening founded Joshua Partners to focus upon lower middle-market private equity opportunities. Before Joshua, he was a longtime partner with Citigroup Venture Capital (CVC) and led the Industrials effort for Court Square Capital Partners. Prior to joining CVC, Mr. Corpening was a private equity executive with The Rockefeller Group and Roundtree Capital, after beginning his career as an investment banker with PaineWebber in the M&A and Merchant Banking groups.

Mr. Corpening is a graduate of Princeton and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently serves as on the board of directors of Action Resources. Mr. Corpening previously served on the board of directors of public companies such as Chase Industries, Kemet Corporation and DAVCO Restaurants (the largest Wendy’s franchisee); and, private companies with public indebtedness such as Sorenson Communications, FastenTech, Inc and Royster-Clark, Inc. In addition, Mr. Corpening recently served as Chairman of the Trustee Board of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens.

Anindya Roychowdhury

Anindya is a former Partner and Head of Deal Advisory at KPMG. He has over 30 years of global experience in complex, international transactions across sectors, with over 17 years in multiple geographies in leadership roles with KPMG. He currently is a Program Partner at The Hashgraph Association, the innovation program of Hedera Hashgraph, a $5B technology foundation established by global majors like Google, IBM, Boeing, Deutsche Bank etc. Anindya is a demonstrated leader in starting up profit centers, building cross-functional teams, and growing them into market leaders in different geographies and has extensive startup and early-stage company experience, mentoring and helping them scale.
Anindya has multiple professional qualifications in accounting and management including being designated a CGMA from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK) and AICPA (USA) and CMA from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK). He also has a bachelor’s degree with first-class honors in Economics from Presidency College, Calcutta University, India.

Owen May

Owen is the Founder and CEO of May Davis Partners, an investment bank and advisory practice and has more than 30 years of experience providing financial and management resources to small-cap and middle-market companies. He has facilitated numerous mergers and acquisitions throughout his career, and has extensive experience in business turnaround and restructuring, corporate finance, IPOs, and business development. Owen additional has led many cross-border transactions and maintains investment interests in Israel, Europe, and China. Owen received an M.B.A. from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. in biology from University of Miami.

Stephanie D. Taylor, PhD

Dr. Stephanie D. Taylor

Dr. Stephanie D. Taylor is a highly strategic executive and subject matter expert in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) and market access, with extensive experience across the entire product development life cycle. Dr. Taylor possesses a wealth of experience in the U.S. and international healthcare markets, demonstrating progressive, dedicated leadership with a focus on maximizing product value, securing reimbursement, and optimizing portfolios across the product development life cycle. She currently drives portfolio optimization strategies for J&J MedTech and possesses deep expertise in due diligence and product evaluation, bridging the gap between clinical innovation and commercial readiness.

Most recently, she served as Executive Director at Eli Lilly, where she led evidence generation for Lilly’s gene therapies and rare neurodegenerative diseases portfolio, directly informing clinical trial design and commercial strategy. Before joining Eli Lilly, Dr. Taylor held key leadership roles at global companies, including Merck & Co., Becton Dickinson, and Horizon Therapeutics, following her academic tenure as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Taylor obtained her BS in Pharmacy from Auburn University, completed a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital, and holds a Master of Science and a PhD in Pharmacy from The Ohio State University. She is currently pursuing a Global Executive MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Kamil Ali-Jackson

Kamil has over 35 years-experience as a serial entrepreneur and attorney for emerging, mid-size and global life sciences companies. She has co-founded multiple specialty pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies that have raised over a billion dollars in financing and successfully transitioned those companies through multi-million-dollar acquisitions by global pharmaceutical companies. Kamil is a C-suite leader and business partner with extensive legal, corporate secretarial/board governance, compliance, mergers and acquisitions, business development, product licensing, and human resources experience.

Kamil currently serves on the board of directors of two NASDAQ-listed biotechnology companies. Kamil received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in politics from Princeton University.

Dr. Ted W. Love

Dr. Ted W. Love, former President & CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO). Prior to GBT, Dr. Love served as executive vice president, research and development and technical operations at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where he played an instrumental role in initiating and completing several of Onyx’s first Phase 3 clinical trials. Prior to Onyx, he served as president, chief executive officer and chairman of Nuvelo, where he led growth of the company to a market capitalization of $1 billion. Prior to that, Dr. Love served as senior vice president, development, at Theravance.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Love held a number of senior management positions in medical affairs and product development at Genentech, where he served as chairman of Genentech’s Product Development Committee. As vice president, product development, Dr. Love oversaw the development strategy and execution leading to approvals of Rituxan®, Herceptin®, Xolair®, TNKase®, Raptiva® and Avastin®. Dr. Love served as a consultant in medicine in the Department of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Love is a distinguished industry leader with more than two decades of management experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, along with nearly a decade of prior experience as a practicing physician. He has spent much of his career focused on addressing the ongoing healthcare disparities facing the sickle cell disease community and leading the development of therapies for this underserved patient population.

Dr. Love currently serves on the boards of directors of Royalty Pharma and Seagen. Dr. Love holds a B.A. in molecular biology from Haverford College and an M.D. from Yale Medical School. He completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ben Duster

Ben Duster is the founder and CEO of Cormorant IV Corporation LLC, a consulting firm specializing in operational turnarounds and organizational transformations. He is a 30-year veteran of Wall Street with extensive experience in M&A and strategic advisory services in both developed and emerging markets. Mr. Duster currently serves on the board of directors of Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., Weatherford, and Republic First Bancorp, Inc. Mr. Duster previously served on the board of directors of Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc.

Mr. Duster is a graduate of Yale University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School.