Our Leadership

Meet the leadership behind ExstoBio

Juan Carlos Pacheco

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Juan Carlos is a JD/MBA from UNC School of Law & Kenan-Flagler Business School. His previous experience includes healthcare acquisitions with NextGen Growth Partners, legal clerkship with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NC, legal clerkship with the U.S. District Courts, and seminary formation with the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Professional Experience:

Publications:

The Dr. Carlie Podcast

Dr. Kyle Jensen

Chief Science Officer

Dr. Kyle Jensen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Tadross Lab at Duke University. Dr. Jensen received his Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. His research focuses on circuit ephys and endocannabinoid—cannabinoid receptor signaling, and his expertise expands into synaptic transmission and neuroplasticity.

Professional Experience:

Publications:

Multiple cannabinoid signaling cascades powerfully suppress recurrent excitation in the hippocampus

LTP at Hilar Mossy Cell-Dentate Granule Cell Synapses Modulates Dentate Gyrus Output by Increasing Excitation/Inhibition Balance

The Dr. Carlie Podcast

David Lee

Co-Founder & Chief Pain Scientist

David is a Pharmacology Ph.D. candidate at the UNC School of Medicine. His research focuses on uncovering precision pharmacological approaches for analgesia (pain relief), in hopes to combat the current dual chronic pain and opioid epidemic.

Professional Experience:

Publications:

Cocaine-Induced Locomotor Activation Differs Across Inbred Mouse Substrains

Microtubule polarity is instructive for many aspects of neuronal polarity

A modulator-bound GPCR structure enables allosteric non-opioid analgesia

The open field assay is influenced by room temperature and by drugs that affect core body temperature

The Dr. Carlie Podcast

Dr. Carlie Bell-Biggins

Director of Patient Care

Dr. Carlie is a licensed Naturopathic Physician specializing in holistic primary care and plant-based medicine. She is a member of the provider team for a functional medicine clinic where she enjoys counseling patients on healthy lifestyle choices and natural remedies for their health concerns. With expertise in the endocannabinoid system and the cannabis plant, Dr. Carlie is invited to lecture at various cannabis industry events, schools and dispensaries

Professional Experience:

Publications:

Cannabis Culture and Holistic Healing with Dr. Carlie

What We Know About Military Veterans with PTSD and CBD

Everything You Need to Know About CBD Beauty

Pairing Adaptogens with CBD

The Dr. Carlie Podcast

ExstoBio Advisory Board

Dr. Alan Brookhart

Dr. Brookhart is a Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University. Dr. Brookhart has spent his career developing epidemiologic and statistical methods for improving learning from real-world healthcare data. Dr. Brookhart also co-founded RxAnte, Inc. and NoviSci, Inc., both with successful exits.

Marne Coit, JD/LLM

Marne is Principal at Coit Consulting and a senior level legal professional with more than 15 years of experience in food and agricultural law. Marne launched and ran N.C.’s Hemp Extension program to educate and support more than 1,500 licensed hemp growers and other industry professionals in North Carolina. Marne is also a Board Member of the Global Hemp Association.

Ben Stokes, MBA

Ben is the Founding Partner of Chasing Rainbows Investment Fund. He was named a “Top 100 Investor” by Alumni Spotlight in 2022 and is recognized by the NVCA, as one of the top LGBTQ+ investors making an impact. Ben founded SocialTable, a social platform used on every continent. Recently, Ben was awarded Venture Capital Journal’s 2023 “40 under 40.”

Dr. Gregory Scherrer

Dr. Scherrer is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Scherrer Lab at UNC School of Medicine. The Scherrer Lab aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which our nervous system generates the different dimensions of pain experience, at the genetic, molecular, cellular, neural circuit, and behavioral levels, using the mouse as a model system.

Darryl Henderson, J.D.

Darryl is SVP of Human Resources for TILT Holdings. He has 30 years of experience as an HR executive, chief compliance officer, executive coach, entrepreneur, business management consultant, and commercial lawyer. He previously held leadership roles at Monsanto Company, First Union National Bank, and Lowe’s Home Improvement

Maury Cole

Maury is CEO of La Jolla Alcohol Research & Member of The Scripps Research Institute. Maury is the inventor of the LJARI alcohol vapor system and the patented eVape system. With 13+ publications from these systems alone, Maury has significantly advanced the field of alcohol and drug research. He holds several patents and has established exclusive use of the "e-Vape" trademark.

Dr. Curtis Lockshin

Dr. Lockshin is the CSO of Xenetic Biosciences. He previously served as CEO of SciVac Therapeutics, CTO of VBI Vaccines, CEO of Guardum Pharmaceuticals, and VP of R&D for OPKO Health. Dr. Lockshin currently serves ad Board Member of Phio Pharmaceuticals and Director of the Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Foundation, a Duke University Support Corporation.

Our Interns

Ali Alvarez

UNC PREP Scholar & Sleep Specialist

Careers

Join our growing team.

An active and rising award-winning start-up

Learn more about our activities and impact as a rising start up

Rankin Innovator Acceleration Award

“The Rankin Innovator Acceleration Award exemplifies the first-in-class opportunities at UNC for student bioentrepreneurs. I look forward to building a strong business foundation to complement my scientific studies under this generous award.” - David Lee

Inicio Ventures Award

Inicio Ventures Pitch Awards is a startup competition manager focused on showcasing and supporting Latinx-led ventures and regional startup ecosystems across the US.

Innovate Carolina 1789 Fund - Award Recipient

The Venture Catalyst Program is led by KickStart Venture Services in collaboration with Innovate Carolina. The program allows founders of UNC-affiliated startups and innovations to converge, collaborate and grow young companies with the support of talented graduate students and postdocs.

Launch Chapel Hill 3.0 Startup Accelerator

Launch Chapel Hill is a startup accelerator, co-working space and community of innovators that values and supports all people to encourage innovative thinking, individual empowerment, community outreach, economic development, and impactful change that lifts us all.