About Us

Scientific Advisory Board

Xhale is building a world-class Scientific Advisory Board. The Board is led by Dr. Donn Dennis, Xhale co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Dennis serves as CSO at Xhale. He is a board certified anesthesiologist, and previously served as VP of Pharmacology at ARYx Therapeutics in Fremont, CA.. In addition to his work with Xhale, Dr. Dennis is a professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida (U.F.), where he also holds the Joachim S. Gravenstein M.D. Endowed Chair in Anesthesiology. He is also the Director of Nanomedicine at the University of Florida.

Dr. Dennis’ research interests focus on translating fundamental science findings in the areas of cardiovascular biology and nanotechnology into medically useful, commercially viable products (e.g., new chemical entities, nano-based drug delivery systems and sensors). He has a long track record of R&D experience, including co-developing drugs and consulting with several small, medium and large pharmaceutical companies and large biotech and health care venture capital funds. Dr. Dennis has been the recipient or co-recipient of several federal grants in the areas of bionanotechnology and cardiovascular pharmacology, and is a co-inventor on several drug- and bio-nano patent applications. Dr. Dennis has published over 110 full length manuscripts and abstracts in peer reviewed journals and has edited two textbooks. He is also a regular member of NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) site visit teams. Dr. Dennis was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education & Research FAER). He received his medical degree during 1986 from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Derendorf is Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutics at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in Gainesville. He received his B.S. (1976) and Ph.D. (1979, summa cum laude) in Pharmacy from the University of Germany and then joined the University of Florida, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow(1981/82) and later (1983) as a faculty member. He has been teaching Biopharmaceutics, Pharmacokinetics and Clinical Pharmacokinetics. In 1995, he received the Teaching Improvement Award of the University of Florida. In 2002, he was awarded the University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship and in 2004 the International Educator of the Year Award. Prof. Derendorf has published over 240 scientific publications and given over 500 presentations at national or international meetings. He has published six textbooks in English and German, such as H. Derendorf / G. Hochhaus, Handbook of Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Correlations (1995). He is one of the editors of the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Die Pharmazie and Associate Editor for J. Clin. Pharmacol. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Pharm. Res., Eur. J. Pharm. Sci., J. Pharm. Sci., Res. Comm Pharmacol. Toxicol., Clin. Pharmacokin., J. Pharmacokin. Pharmacodyn. and Anti-infective Agents and Chemotherapy. His research interests include the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of corticosteroids, analgesics, antibiotics as well as drug interactions.

In 1983, Prof. Derendorf won the Rottendorf-Award for Pharmaceutical Sciences and in 1994 the McKeen-Cattell Award for the best publication in J. Clin. Pharmacology. In 2003, he was awarded the Nathaniel T. Kwit Distinguished Service Award of the of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) and the Research Achievement Award in Clinical Science of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS). He is a Fellow, former Secretary, Honorary Regent and President-elect (2006/07) of ACCP. He is currently President (2004/05) of the International Society of Antiinfective Pharmacology (ISAP). He is a Fellow of AAPS, and member of APhA, FPA, DPhG, ASCPT and AACP. He is also a member of the Nutrition and Therapeutics Committee of the NASA Space Medicine Program and a member of the FDA Clinical Pharmacology Advisory Committee.

Dr. Widlitz served as Vice President of U.S. Medical-Specialty Markets at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, where he managed a product portfolio of 27 brands with annual US product sales of $6.6 billion. He brings world class expertise in the areas of pharmaceutical R&D, regulatory law, CMC issues, biotechnology, and reimbursement issues. Dr. Widlitz is currently a board member of National Board of CancerCare and the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians. He earned his B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan, and an M.D. from George Washington University of School of Medicine. He later completed a residency in otolaryngology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and became Board Certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology.