Scientific Team
The caliber of our Scientific Board continues to enhance our goal of becoming the leader in the field of insulin resistance research leading to new pharmaceutical treatments.
Emmanuel C. Opara, PhD. (Chairman)
Wake Forest University Medical Center
Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
University of London (UK)
Mayo Clinic – Rochester MN (4 years)
National Institutes of Health – Bethesda, MD (4 years)
Duke University Medical School – Durham NC (14 years),
Pritzker Institute Biomedical Engineering, Chicago IL – 2004 to 2009
Wake Forest University, Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC – 2009 to Present
Dr. Opara is the co-inventor of the RSI-INS2 technology. Dr. Opara’s broad area of research interest can be summarized as Diabetes, nutrition and metabolism. Specifically, Dr. Opara’s research interest is antioxidant biology and disease, with a clear focus on the role played by oxygen free radicals in the pathogenesis of Diabetes and digestive disorders.
In addition to his work with our company, Dr. Opara’s research is also focused on the development of a bioartificial pancreas as a treatment/cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Tremendous effort is devoted to developing cell encapsulation and cryopreservation procedures, as well as other procedures, devices, and biomaterials to enhance the clinical realization of this research objective.
Michael S. Tempesta, PhD
Managing Partner & Founder
Phenolics, LLC
El Granada, California
University of Minnesota 1978 B.A. (Chemistry)
University of Arizona 1981 M.S., PhD (Organic Chemistry)
PhD Thesis: “Structural Elucidation of Antitumor Agents from Plants”
Professional Societies
American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Society of Pharmacognosy, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Phytochemical Society of Europe, Sigma Xi, Phytochemical Society of North America.
Professional Service
American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) Awards and Funds Committee Member: 1989 to 1994
American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) Regional Executive Committee Member: 1998 to 2006
Associate Editor: International Journal of Pharmacognosy (Formerly Int. J. Crude Drug Research), 1988 to 1995
Editorial Board Member: Phytomedicine 1995-97
Grant Proposal Reviewer: National Science Foundation, National Cancer Institute (ad hoc panel member; special panel member), American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund, PSC-CUNY Research Award Program, International Foundation for Science.
Journal Referee: Canadian Journal of Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, International Journal of Pharmacognosy, Journal of Natural Products, Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Ishwarlal Jialal, MD, PhD, DABCC, FACB
Director, Atherosclerosis & Metabolic Research Laboratory
Professor of Pathology & Internal Medicine
Davis Medical Center
University of California
Ishwarlal Jialal, MD, PhD, DABCC, FACB, is the Robert E. Stowell Endowed Chair in Experimental Pathology, director of the laboratory for atherosclerosis and metabolic research, and professor of pathology and internal medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. He is internationally recognized for his research, which has focused on free radical biology and antioxidants in disease, lipid biochemistry and atherosclerosis, diabetic macrovascular disease, and inflammation.
Dr. Jialal’s scientific expertise has been recognized through appointments to several editorial boards, including Clinical Chemistry, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, and Atherosclerosis. He has published more than 285 original papers and invited reviews in the areas of clinical biochemistry, atherosclerosis, metabolism, and free radical biology.
Samuel E. Dagogo-Jack, MD, FRCP
Professor of Medicine
Associate Director, General Clinical Research Center
University of Tennessee College of Medicine
The Royal Victoria Infirmary, University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)
Registrar in Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism)
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Professor of Medicine – Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Co-Director, General Clinical Research Center, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
Dr. Dagogo-Jack has been elected to fellowships of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the American College of Physicians.
Chapter president American Diabetes Association – St Louis Chapter, 1998-2000
Chair – Endocrinology Section – Central Society for Clinical Research 1999-2001
Michael T. Watkins, MD, FACS
Director, Vascular Surgery Research Laboratory
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Professor of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
M.D. – Harvard Medical School
Residency – Johns Hopkins Hospital 1980-1982
Johns Hopkins Hospital 1980-1984
After completing his postdoctoral training, Dr. Watkins started his own laboratory at the Boston VA Medical Center, where he secured extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, VA Merit Review, and the American Heart Association.
Dr. Watkins obtained his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School in 1980. His surgical residency was completed at the Johns Hopkins and Strong Memorial Hospitals. He completed his clinical vascular fellowship at MGH in 1987. From 1987 through 1991, Dr Watkins completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the Mallory Institute of Pathology at Boston University.
After completing this postdoctoral training, Dr. Watkins started his own laboratory at the Boston VA Medical Center, where he secured extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, VA Merit Review, and the American Heart Association.
He served as Chief of Vascular Surgery at the Boston VA Medical Center from 1998 through 2002, where he was also program director of an independent vascular surgery fellowship. In 2002, Dr. Watkins returned to the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to direct the vascular surgery research laboratory. He is a member of the Society of University Surgeons, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and the Society of Vascular Surgery. He is a current member of the Surgery and Bioengineering Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.
M. K. “Ram” Ramasubramanian, PhD
Director – Mechatronics Program
North Carolina State University
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Professor Biomedical Engineering
M.S., Applied Science, Miami University, 1983
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Syracuse University, 1987
Dr. Ramasubramanian, working in cooperation with RSI Vice President and scientific team leader Dr. Emmanuel C. Opara, are together responsible for our unique engineering design and patented manufacturing technique. This first of its kind medical manufacturing device is utilized for the manufacturing of RSI’s patent (application) drug delivery method for INS2. This engineering design may enable us to manufacture certain products for other pharmaceutical companies seeking a more efficient and potent drug delivery system.
Dr. M. K. Ramasubramanian’s research interests are in Bio-Mechatronics, Bio-MEMS, Biomimetics, Tissue Engineering, and Bio-Manufacturing.
Dr. Ramasubramanian, working in cooperation with RSI Vice President Dr. Emmanuel C. Opara, our scientific team leader, is responsible for our unique engineering design and patented manufacturing technique. This, first of its kind instrumentation, is utilized for the manufacturing of RSI’s patented drug delivery method. The engineering design may enable us to manufacture certain products for other pharmaceutical companies seeking a more efficient and potent drug delivery system.