Board of Directors

Joshua N. Silverman is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Member of Parkfield Funding LLC and is a former Principal and Managing Partner of Iroquois Capital Management, LLC.  Mr. Silverman served as Co-Chief Investment Officer of Iroquois from 2003 until July 2016.  From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Silverman served as Co-Chief Investment Officer of Vertical Ventures, LLC, a merchant bank.  Prior to forming Iroquois, Mr. Silverman was a Director of Joele Frank, a boutique consulting firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions.  Previously, Mr. Silverman served as Assistant Press Secretary to The President of The United States.  Mr. Silverman currently serves on the boards of directors of Ayro Inc., MYMD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Petros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Synaptogenix, Inc.  Mr. Silverman received his B.A. from Lehigh University.

Michael M. Abecassis, MD is currently the Dean of the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine – Tucson and a Tenured Professor of Surgery and Immunobiology.  Prior to this, Dr. Abecassis was the J. Roscoe Distinguished Tenured Professor of Surgery and Microbiology-Immunology, Chief of the Division of Transplantation and Founding Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. 

Dr. Abecassis received both undergraduate and medical degrees as well as surgical training at the University of Toronto, where he also completed fellowships in hepato-pancreatic-biliary surgery and liver transplantation.  During his surgical residency, he completed a two-year research fellowship obtaining a Master’s Degree in viral immunology.  He then received further training in renal and pancreatic transplantation at the University of Iowa.  He later completed a master’s degree in business administration at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University.  He is Board Certified in Surgery in both Canada and the United States, and a fellow in good standing of the Canadian Royal College of Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Physician Executives.

Dr. Abecassis is a member of the prestigious national and international professional societies in the U.S., has served on the editorial boards of the journals in the fields of transplantation and surgery, as well as on numerous advisory boards, both scientific and otherwise, including professional societies, industry, and federal agencies.  He served as President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the largest of its type worldwide.

Jonathan L. Schechter is an experienced public company director with expertise in capital allocation and mergers and acquisitions having worked with public companies for over two decades, including ten years of legal experience and fourteen years of investment banking experience.  He is currently a partner of The Special Equities Group, a division of Dawson James Securities, Inc., a full-service investment bank specializing in healthcare, biotechnology, technology and clean-tech sectors.  Mr. Schechter is one of the founding partners of The Special Equities Opportunity Fund, a long-only fund that makes direct investments in micro-cap companies.  He currently serves on the board of directors of Synaptogenix, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.  Mr. Schechter earned his B.A. in Public Policy/Political Science from Duke University and his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.