Our Story
Everlume is on a mission to eliminate rare disease by 2035. It is a massive goal, but we believe it is possible. But, it is not by doing things the same way as everyone else. We are paving a way to a new model of drug discovery that is orders of magnitude more efficient both in cost and time. To lean more check out our manifesto!
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Our Story
01
Where it all began
Everlume is dedicated to empowering rare disease families by providing a clear, patient-centric path to life-saving therapies, combining precision medicine and AI-driven insights to accelerate drug discovery.
Everlume’s journey began with the realization that rare disease families needed more than just hope—they needed a clear, actionable path toward a cure. Born from personal experiences and a deep understanding of the challenges in drug discovery, Everlume set out to revolutionize the process. Recognizing that families were often left to navigate the complexities of science and bureaucracy alone, we committed to building a system that puts patients first.
The company’s mission is personal. Both founders have been deeply affected by rare diseases—one has a child with an undiagnosed neurological condition, and the other lost a friend’s daughter to a rare form of cancer. These experiences fueled their drive to create Everlume, a company that empowers families while accelerating the journey to life-saving therapies.
As the company evolved, so did our approach. With the launch of the Everlume Bio platform, we expanded our capabilities to integrate cutting-edge advancements in precision medicine and AI-driven insights. This combination of scientific innovation and a patient-centric approach ensures that each family has access to a fully customized Cure Plan, designed to move swiftly from diagnosis to discovery.
At Everlume, we believe that every rare disease deserves attention, and every family deserves to feel empowered. We are not just another biotech company—we are a partner in the fight for life, dedicated to transforming the drug discovery landscape and making cures a reality. What began as a mission to bring clarity to an overwhelming process has now become a fully realized effort to accelerate the path to life-saving therapies, with families at the heart of everything we do.
The Team
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Leadership
Rick Barkley
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Rick Barkley is a successful tech entrepreneur who has been fascinated by the biotech space and what we can achieve to help solve some of the big problems facing humankind.
Millions of people are affected by rare diseases and there is not currently an easy answer on how to solve this problem. Rick believes that personalized medicines and therapeutics will be the catalyst that changes the future. He has a BBA and an MBA in Finance and is a self taught software engineer.
Chief Executive Officer
Rodney A. Bowling, Ph.D.
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Rodney Bowling Received his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences in 2008 From Texas A&M University Health Science Center Institute of Bioscience and Technology.
He has innovated drug development with a multidisciplinary approach, managing large teams of scientists through challenging and rewarding projects to produce therapeutics. Many of these therapeutics are now undergoing FDA and international trials . Rodney’s joy is his 6 healthy children. Rodney and his family have walked along side dear friends and supported them through childhood illnesses and deaths. He is acutely aware of the blessings upon his own family and dedicated to helping others find health and happiness. Rodney serves as Chief Scientific Officer for To Cure A Rose, a non-profit to benefit Rosie, and other families. Rosie is a precious little girl with a monogenetic disease, whose condition left untreated will only worsen. Rodney is also Chief Scientific Officer of Everlum Bio; Rodney is helping Rosie and many other children through empathetic, personalized, therapeutics.
Chief Science Officer
Justin Finck
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I am an accomplished Senior Sales and Marketing Leader with 20+ years of operational sales expertise in account management, product marketing, new business development, startups, and high-growth sales strategies. I expertly manage client and channel partner relationships with unique ability to partner with C-level decision-makers to maximize market share and increase profitability.
I am recognized as a visionary marketing leader with creative aptitude for targeted business development initiatives that exponentially increase revenue and drive client growth from $2M to $10M in sales.
Throughout my career, I have been recognized as a passionate leader who builds high-performance technical and creative teams while driving sustainable growth through innovative sales solutions.
While attending East Carolina University, Justin was captain of the Men’s Soccer team and received his BA in Psychology and M.Ed., magna cum laude.
Chief Revenue Officer
Mark Holt
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Mark bears over 20 years of brand marketing experience under his belt for a wide array of industries. From healthcare, technology and life sciences. Entertainment, financial services, and consumer products, Mark has had his hands in it all, resulting in some successful campaigns trailing in his tracks, propelling him even further in his rewarding CMO career.
"Its all about relationships," Mark says. He’s taken the most proactive approach to crafting creative solutions for each of his challenges – finding optimal opportunities where there seemed to be none.
Mark’s passion for the biotech and healthcare field suits him well to lead all marketing efforts for Everlume Bio. Embracing innovation, and put people and patients first is his goal in Everlume Bio’s drive to find a cure for them.
"The most rewarding aspect of my job is to see the plans we conceive succeed. I like to see our problems solved and their goals met."
Chief Marketing Officer
Elysia Barkley
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Elysia has been a key member in many startups.
Director of Finance
The Scientists
03
Neda Ghousifam, Ph.D.
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Neda Ghousifam is a highly motivated scientist with an extensive academic background and more than a decade of hands-on experience working in a laboratory setting. She received her Ph.D. in 2015 from Oklahoma State University and moved to Austin to pursue her career as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Texas at Austin. She then continued managing a biomedical engineering laboratory as a research associate before joining Everlum Bio as a senior scientist. Neda loves Everlum Bio’s mission to help families and kids with rare genetic diseases. She believes in treating customers like family and makes every effort to meet and care for their needs. Neda makes sure samples received from each kid are handled with the best possible care hoping to have personalized medicine for every individual kid.
Science Director
Rodney A. Bowling, Ph.D.
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Rodney Bowling Received his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences in 2008 From Texas A&M University Health Science Center Institute of Bioscience and Technology.
He has innovated drug development with a multidisciplinary approach, managing large teams of scientists through challenging and rewarding projects to produce therapeutics. Many of these therapeutics are now undergoing FDA and international trials . Rodney’s joy is his 6 healthy children. Rodney and his family have walked along side dear friends and supported them through childhood illnesses and deaths. He is acutely aware of the blessings upon his own family and dedicated to helping others find health and happiness. Rodney serves as Chief Scientific Officer for To Cure A Rose, a non-profit to benefit Rosie, and other families. Rosie is a precious little girl with a monogenetic disease, whose condition left untreated will only worsen. Rodney is also Chief Scientific Officer of Everlum Bio; Rodney is helping Rosie and many other children through empathetic, personalized, therapeutics.
Chief Science Officer
Daniel Soriano
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Daniel Soriano is a bioinformatician with a deep passion for precision medicine. He specializes in analyzing genomic data to drive precision and optimize outcomes for clients. With a focus on leveraging cutting-edge bioinformatics techniques, Daniel develops tailored, data-driven strategies to meet each customer’s unique needs, advancing genomic research and keeping the company at the forefront of innovation in the field. His long standing interest in precision medicine fuels his commitment to delivering high-impact solutions.
Bioinformatician
Advisory Board
Jeffrey Brown
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Dr. Jeffrey Brown is a seasoned biotech leader with over 25 years of preclinical drug development experience. Throughout his career, Jeffrey has built several drug discovery platforms focused on nucleic acid therapeutics across multiple organizations including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Alexion, Voyager Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, and Deep Genomics. With a focus on moving therapeutics from concept to clinic, Jeffrey has successfully advanced multiple preclinical programs to drug candidates, with some reaching clinical trials. Jeffrey received an eMBA from Suffolk University and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Utah. Following his Ph.D., Jeffrey completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Boston University Medical Center. Combining his drug discovery experience with his passion for helping patients affected with rare disease, inspired him to establish Scientific Foundation LLC, an organization dedicated to helping families, patients and biotech start-ups navigate the challenges of preclinical drug development. Jeffrey is a strong believer in the promise of RNA-based medicines and the hope it provides for all patients.
Biotech Leader
Aubrie Soucy
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Aubrie earned her B.A. from Wheaton College in May 2016, with a major in Bioinformatics. During her time at Wheaton her studies were focused on statistical analysis of biological data through computer programming. She joined the Yu Lab in December 2016. Here she is applying her knowledge of bioinformatics towards identifying genetic causes of neurodevelopmental diseases. Aubrie also serves as the project coordinator for Yu Lab antisense therapy projects.
Yu Lab
Eric Limm
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Eric is currently the Director of Data and Informatics at Orna, where he directs his efforts toward building a data-driven drug discovery organization. Before Orna, he led a team of talented computational scientists and experimental biologists at Stoke in leveraging antisense oligonucleotides as a therapeutic modality to treat the underlying cause of genetic diseases. Prior to Stoke, Eric was part of a research team at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that sought to advance potential treatment options for pediatric cancers with low survival rates.
Eric received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2011. His work focused on using computational biology and high-throughput genomics techniques to identify functional splicing elements in the genome. He has over 24 publications and patents in RNA splicing, and his work has led to numerous awards, including the Hyundai Quantum Award and the 40 Under 40 in Cancer.
Orna
Yael Weiss
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Yael Weiss is the CEO of Mahzi Therapeutics. Previously, Yael served as the Vice President of Business Development at Ultragenyx, a company specializing in the development of therapies for the treatment of rare genetic diseases. Prior to joining Ultragenyx, she spent 10 years at Merck, ultimately heading the group that evaluates the clinical, regulatory and safety aspects of Merck’s regional deals globally. Her earlier roles at Merck included Director of External Scientific Affairs and World Wide Licensing, West Coast and Medical Director at Merck Israel, a role in which she oversaw the company’s clinical trials and supported the sales and marketing organizations. Before joining Merck, Yael served as Director of Medical Affairs and Business Development at Genzyme Israel and spent several years at Columbine Ventures. Yael began her career practicing medicine at Sheba Medical Center. Yael received her MD degree from Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, and her PhD in molecular genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
CEO Mahzi Therapeutics
Dr. Caroline Martinez
Medical Director of Developmental Pediatrics
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Dr. Martinez currently works at Mt Sinai Hospital. NY, NY where she serves as the Assistant Clinical Professor Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Pediatrics. In addition, she also has the role of Medical Director of Developmental Pediatric Program.
Previous Appointments
NYU/Bellevue Hospital. NY, NY. Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship, July 2009 to July 2012
AAP CATCH autism grant project completed December 2012
Mt Sinai Hospital. NY, NY Pediatrics Internship July 2005 to June 2006, Pediatrics Residency
New York Hospital/ Cornell Medical Center
The Aitken Neuroscience Center, New York, NY. Research assistant, Goldman Lab of Neural Regeneration
Education
NYU Sackler Institute. NY, NY. MS in Biomedical Informatics, June 2022.
SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn New York. Doctor of Medicine 2005
University of Illinois, Chicago. Chicago, IL. 1st year medical student 2001-2002
Columbia University, New York, NY. Post-baccalaureate
Duke University. Durham, NC. B.S. in Neuroscience
Certification
American Board of Pediatrics (2009 to present)
Developmental Pediatrics (2013 to present)
David Whiteman
Vice President R&D at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
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David Whiteman, MD, Global Development Team Lead, Rare Metabolic Diseases, Research & Development, Takeda, has dedicated his career to the development of such therapies – and to helping overcome some of the associated challenges. After completing training in medical genetics and working at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Whiteman established a specialized medical service for providing diagnosis and medical treatments for rare, genetic diseases. He later joined a small pharmaceutical company to develop a treatment for Hunter syndrome or Mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II), a disease he first encountered by chance, as a medical student in the UK. That compound was eventually acquired by Shire.
Our Process
05
Cure Plan
First, we meet with the experts, assess all the research, and use our proprietary AI platform to analyze the data. Our science team then takes the output and creates a customized Cure Plan. A roadmap on how to cure our patient’s disease.
Modality Assessment
As part of the cure plan our scientists determine the best approach and modality to best cure or mitigate the disease.
Create the Therapeutic
The science team uses our AI platform to design the Therapeutic. Then we iterate on it in the lab through a series of experiments in cell lines until we find a working therapeutic.
Mouse and Tox Studies
Next we conduct mice and other trials to further test the therapeutic and ensure it is safe and effective.
N=1 Trial
Finally we work with the FDA to conduct an N=1 trial where our patient receives the therapeutic.
