scientific advisors

CILcare is supported by its Scientific Advisory Board and a team of international key experts in specific domains. We are very grateful to have their support, and we consider it an honor to have them on board.

The Scientific Advisory Board

Yves CAZALS, PhD

Honorary President of the Scientific Advisory Board
INSERM Research Director, CNRS UMR7260

Known for being one of the most famous international experts on pathophysiology and the rehabilitation of deafness and tinnitus, Dr.Cazals spent the majority of his research career studying cochlear disorders, and his work is now a point of reference for detecting and measuring hearing loss and tinnitus in pharmacology. His research has given depth and perspective to research in hearing. His years of mentoring of CILcare has put us on the cutting edge of scientific progress in translational sciences, and we are all very grateful towards him.

Richard SALVI, PhD

SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo – USA

Prof. Salvi is internationally known for his scientific work on the auditory system and hearing disorders, as well as over 400 publications. His research spans topics including noise-induced hearing loss, ototoxicity, age-related hearing loss, hair cell regeneration, tinnitus, hyperacusis and neural plasticity. Currently the Director of the Center of Hearing and Deafness at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Prof. Salvi advises CILcare in the selection, set-up and the management of scalable preclinical models of normal hearing and hearing loss, and will be accessible to drug developers for their last preclinical steps before moving in clinical trials. Having his experience and expertise is a true honor.

Stéphane MAISON, AuD, PhD

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School Principal Investigator and Clinical Audiologist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear

After 20 years in the study of animal models and sensorineural hearing loss, Dr. Maison acquired formal clinical training and Audiology certification to bring the questions back to human subjects in a clinical context. Using ear-canal electrocochleography, he demonstrated signs of nerve damage in normal-hearing college students who regularly abuse their ears. This type of “hidden hearing loss” refers to cochlear synaptopathy or damage to the connections between the auditory nerve and the sensory cells of the inner ear. Loss of these connections likely contributes to difficulties understanding speech in challenging listening environments, and may also be important in the generation of tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. At present, hidden hearing loss cannot be measured using the standard audiogram; thus, he set out to develop more sensitive measures that can test for this condition. The data he has acquired served as the foundational observations underlying his current project funded by NIH-NIDCD.

Diagnostic measures for cochlear neural degeneration are important because they help us see the full extent of age-related and/or noise-induced damages to the inner ear and are necessary in the assessment of future therapies to 1) provide better speech intelligibility outcomes to hearing aid users, 2) shed a new light on strategies to silence tinnitus and 3) reduce the physiological activity leading to hyperacusis. For all these reasons, I joined CILcare’s scientific advisory board.

Aimo KANNT, PhD

Head of Drug Discovery and Preclinical Research – Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology

Dr. Aimo Kannt is a pharmacologist and drug hunter with more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development. As group leader and Head of Department at Sanofi, he led various teams and projects in the fields of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases such as obesity or diabetes and its comorbidities and diabetes. Dr. Kannt is currently the Head of Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology’s Drug Discovery and Preclinical Research unit, whose activities range from early drug discovery to clinical studies in the broad area of inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases.

I am very happy to join CILcare’s Scientific Advisory Board and to support the company’s quest to develop innovative therapeutics to improve the life of countless patients with ear diseases.

Dona JAYAKODY, PhD, AuD

Senior Researcher and Research Lead for Cognition and Hearing Loss at the Ear Science Institute Australia

Dr Dona Jayakody is a researcher and clinical audiologist at the Ear Science Institute Australia whose work focuses on identifying causal association between hearing loss and dementia. Dr Jayakody is currently leading HearCog, a control trial that investigates the use of hearing aids to treat hearing loss in older adults with dementia. She also took part as a co-investigator in several studies around the world, all revolving around hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment.

Keith DARROW, AuD, PhD,

Director and Founder of the Hearing and Brain Centers of America and Excellence in Audiology

Dr. Keith Darrow is an audiologist and researcher whose published articles have been cited over 1,000 times. Dr. Darrow specializes in the prevention of cognitive decline and dementia, combining his love for auditory research with his intimate knowledge of the brain. He has written articles and books on the neuroscience of hearing loss and tinnitus as well as on correlated diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Not only has Dr. Darrow been teaching at the Worcester State University for over 12 years, but he also has been advocating for patient care through Excellence in Audiology and the Hearing and Brain Centers of America.

I joined CILcare’s Scientific Advisory Board to continue my advocacy and contributions towards helping the +500 million people worldwide access hearing healthcare and maintain cognitive health as they age.

Scientific Advisors

Alan FOSTER, PhD

Scientific Advisor

Alan Foster is an internationally recognized expert in pharmacology with a strong background in otologic and neurologic disease areas. He most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer at Otonomy, a US-based biotech dedicated to the development of innovative therapeutics for neurotology. He notably contributed to pioneering the application of drug delivery technology to the ear in order to develop products that achieve sustained drug exposure from a single local administration. Alan Foster’s cutting-edge research and strong understanding of the challenges of drug development for inner ear diseases will greatly benefit CILcare’s development programs.

Thomas GERBAUD, PhD

Acting as Chief Data Officer

Thomas Gerbaud is the Managing Director of AltGR, a company specializing in leveraging all types of data to develop data acceleration programs and AI solutions. With more than 15 years of expertise in AI and machine learning, Dr Gerbaud is responsible of supervising and piloting CILcare’s strategy and operations related to data and databases. He is bringing a unique experience to accelerate CILcare’s projects related to auditory signatures and AI.