The Team

The senior management team has extensive experience within CIRCE and the industry. With an average of more than 25 years of experience, management has proven through its operating history that it has successfully launched the Company from a local start-up to an industry-leading provider of solutions and services to address the mission-critical needed of its clients.

The team combines great creativity, sharp focus, passion and hard work.

Leadership Team

Mr. Fernando Barrera

Co-founder and CEO

Degree in Physics. Ignite start-ups acceleration course 2013, at the Cambridge Judge School. EU in Business Management by the UIB and Project Management by the UPC. Executive Master in Innovation by the EOI. Fourteen years of experience in technology transfer activities and R&D project management as Head of the Technology Transfer Unit of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB OTRI). He has managed and directed more than twenty national and international R&D projects. Vice-president of the biotechnology and biomedicine cluster of the Balearic Islands.

Dr. Rafel Prohens

Co-founder and Scientific Advisor

PhD in Organic Chemistry by the University of the Balearic Islands. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate (2001-2002) and a Visiting Researcher (2009, 2013-2015) at the University of Sheffield (UK). He is the Manager of the Polymorphism and Calorimetry Unit of the University of Barcelona since 2004. He has directed more than 80 R&D projects about Polymorphism and Cocrystals for the pharmaceutical industry, and supervised 4 PhD Thesis and 4 MSc Thesis in the fields of Crystal Engineering and Supramolecular Chemistry. He has published over 100 papers, articles and patents, mostly in the field of Crystal Engineering.

Mr. Ignasi Miquel

COO

Bachelor’s in Chemistry. MBA. Additional formation on Business Development (by BIO-Licensing Executives Society, in Boston) and for executives in Biotechnology. 24 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry first 10 in Research and Development, in different positions in Laboratorios SALVAT, LACER, J.Isern Patentes y Marcas, and in Thrombotargets. 14 years of experience in management, as Strategic Alliances and Business Development Director, in Thrombotargets. He has managed and directed more than 15 national R&D projects. He is the co-author of 8 scientific publications, 6 communications in international congresses, and co-inventor of 6 international patents.

Mr. David Roldán

CFO

Bachelor’s in economics, and Master in Banking and Finance. Managing partner of the consulting firm Timonel Consulting, a financial consultancy based in Palma de Mallorca. He has 15 years of experience in strategic consulting, business risk analysis, account auditing, and financial consulting. Full professor at the Escola Superior de Balears (ESB) and Palma Activa

Dr. Joan Albertí

CSO

PhD in Analytical Chemistry by the University of Barcelona. More than 20 years of research experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry supporting drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) in drug discovery and development. Head of Discovery & Drug Development DMPK at Almirall for 12 years. Adjunct professor in postgraduate master’s degrees in Pharmaceutical Industry at the University of Barcelona (UB) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona. Since 2015, he has been working as an independent DMPK and PK/PD consultant for Biotech, Pharma, and Venture Capital companies in Drug Discovery & Development stages. Co-author in over 40 peer-reviewed international publications and around 70 communications to research congresses. He has participated in more than 100 Pharma and Nutraceutical research projects and contributed to delivering 10 candidate drugs for clinical development by inhaled, dermal, and oral route.

David Vallet

Commercial Director

Bachelors degree in Pharmacy, with additional disertation in Pharmaceutical Law & History, in the Central University of Barcelona; Executive Course of Finance for Directors in ESADE. More than 20 years of experience in Business Development in the pharma and nutra sectors, with 15 years of those building and leading multidisciplinary teams starting new Afiliates / Generic Pharmaceutical Business Units in LACER Group & in Suanfarma Group. With a strong commercial focus and extensive international business development experience both in the nutritional supplement and pharmaceutical sectors.

Ana Grau

Marketing Director

Marketing Director with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Ramón Llull University, Barcelona. Master’s in Digital Marketing from EADA, Barcelona. 15 years of experience in various roles in Marketing, Communication, e-Commerce, and Events. Remarkable experience in a cosmetic start-up, at an American multinational in dietary supplements, and as an entrepreneur in an e-commerce venture, contributing to the growth and success of brands in an increasingly competitive and digital market.

Jose M. Estrela

Scientifc Advisor

Jose M. Estrela (M.D. & Ph.D.) is Prof. of Physiology and Director of the Cell Pathophysiology Unit at the Univ. of Valencia, Spain. He worked in the labs of Prof. Helmut Sies (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany), Prof. Alfred J. Meijer (Amsterdam University, The Netherlands), and Prof. Alfred L. Goldberg (Harvard University, Boston, USA). He is also research director of Scientia BioTech (focused on developing a new oncotherapeutic strategy based on the use of non-ionizing radiations) and research advisor of different biotech companies. Currently, a main research area in his lab relates to the biomedical applications of natural polyphenols.

Board of Directors

Dr. Joan Perelló

Chairman of the Board

PhD in Chemistry by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). Founder and CEO of Sanifit, a biopharmaceutical company. President of the BIOIB cluster, Vice Chancellor of the Official College of Chemistry of the Balearic Islands, and Associate Professor at the University of the Balearic Islands since 2006. He has managed to raise more than 100M Eur of private capital for the development of Sanifit products, and two license agreements in the health and medical consumer technology sectors. Co-author in over 50 peer-reviewed international publications, , co-inventor of 10 international patents. He has participated in 30 research projects being PI in half of them.

Mr. Fernando Barrera

Co-founder and CEO

Degree in Physics. Ignite start-ups acceleration course 2013, at the Cambridge Judge School. EU in Business Management by the UIB and Project Management by the UPC. Executive Master in Innovation by the EOI. Fourteen years of experience in technology transfer activities and R&D project management as Head of the Technology Transfer Unit of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB OTRI). He has managed and directed more than twenty national and international R&D projects. Vice-president of the biotechnology and biomedicine cluster of the Balearic Islands.

Mr. José Antonio de Paz

Board Member

M.D. of Medicine from the University of Salamanca, Scholarship in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University Hospital of La Paz, in Madrid. Head of Anesthesiology at Clínica Rotger. Master in Innovation Management at OBS Business School. His career as an entrepreneur has led him to be CEO at Paz Cruz S.L, at Biotech 2013, and CSO at MEL Pharma. 

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