About UPM
Contract Drug Manufacturing
Our Team
Taking your product successfully to market hinges on the talents of those
developing it. Our scientists and professionals are among the top in
the industry. 
We combine our experience and expertise to form an in-depth
understanding
of your product. We become an extension of your company, anticipating
changes, overcoming challenges, and developing on-the-spot solutions
for advancement.
We go beyond simply delivering a product. As a team of innovative thinkers,
we contribute our unique insight to make your product better. We can
apply our intellectual property to enhance drug delivery, improve patient
compliance,
or optimize the product life cycle management of your compound.
John M. Gregory
Chairman and CEO
Serving as Chairman and CEO for UPM Pharmaceuticals, Inc., John M. Gregory is a pioneer in specialty pharmaceuticals. In 2002, John received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, honored as the winner in the Health Sciences category. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in pharmacy, John and his wife, Joan, moved to Bastian, Virginia, where he opened the town's first retail pharmacy. Seeing an opportunity to expand, in 1984 John co-founded General Injectables and Vaccines (GIV), a company that supplied injectables and vaccine products directly to physicians' offices. As president and CEO, John turned GIV into a successful enterprise with 550 employees and annual revenues exceeding $150 million annually.With a small initial investment in their pockets and a lot of debt on their shoulders, John and his brothers purchased a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1993. Under John's leadership as chairman and CEO from 1993-2001, King Pharmaceuticals grew from a 90-employee family business to an S&P 500 Index company on the New York Stock Exchange with revenues exceeding $1 billion.
Dean Cirotta
President and COO
Mr. Cirotta has 20 years of pharmaceutical experience in Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Quality and Operations. He worked for Glaxo, Shionogi Qualicaps, and Merz Pharmaceuticals earlier in his career. In 1999, Dean joined King Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs and then was the Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs for the pharmaceutical division of Bausch & Lomb in Rochester, NY. Most recently, he was President and COO of Leitner Pharmaceuticals in Bristol, TN. Mr. Cirotta has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Harold Chappelear
Vice-Chairman
Harold E. Chappelear, LLD, (Hon.), Vice Chairman, brings to UPM a distinguished background in the pharmaceutical industry, including a thirty-year career at The Upjohn Company, where he was Corporate Executive Vice President. After participating in the private practice of pharmacy at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, Dr. Chappelear joined The Upjohn Company as a sales representative in Anderson, South Carolina in 1962. He became a member of the company's management ranks in 1967 and throughout the years that followed, held numerous positions which included responsibility for North American Operations, Worldwide Marketing Support, and External Affairs. He was a member of the Corporate Management Office, a group of eleven officers responsible for directing the business of The Upjohn Company. Since his early retirement from Upjohn, he served as President and COO of Medicis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (New York and Phoenix) and in April, 1993, Dr. Chappelear was appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland.
Gary Hollenbeck, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Hollenbeck serves as a key scientific and technical advisor on UPM projects and directs focused research and development activities in the area of novel drug delivery platforms. Dr. Hollenbeck is also a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University Of Maryland School Of Pharmacy. His research interests range from basic physical pharmacy to the development and evaluation of novel drug delivery systems. Dr. Hollenbeck served as Associate Dean for Academic Programs from 1989 through 1996 as the School developed its nationally acclaimed Doctor of Pharmacy program. He also was co-principal investigator and directed the education and training activities of the University of Maryland/FDA Collaborative Agreement, receiving a Special Recognition Award for the ?SUPAC IR Training Program? from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Dr. Hollenbeck received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Physical Pharmacy from Purdue University.
Lisa C. White, Esq.
General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources
Ms. White has over 15 years of experience handling pharmaceutical, corporate and human resource legal issues. She has spent the last 10 years overseeing strategic mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry and swiftly resolving legal issues in pharmaceutical manufacturing, sales, distribution, intellectual property and research/development. After working in private practice and as a state prosecutor, she joined King Pharmaceuticals in 1998 and became the Vice President of their Legal Affairs Department. Most recently, she was Executive Vice President of Contract Administration for SJ Strategic Investments in Bristol, Tennessee. Ms. White has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and her Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond School of Law.
Ed Scholtz, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Scholtz is responsible for UPM's Research and Development Division. He also personally manages numerous formulation and development projects. Prior to joining UPM, Dr. Scholtz enjoyed 22 years working in various sophisticated scientific and management positions for Merck & Company. These positions included site automation compliance, worldwide quality assurance, manufacturing division regulatory compliance, and pharmaceutical R&D leadership on large, complex, new product formulation/process development project teams. Dr. Scholtz is the co-author of four patents, numerous publications, and many presentations at professional meetings. He received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the same institution and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Physical Pharmacy from Purdue University.
Frances F. Spaven, PhD
Vice President, Contracting & Drug Development Services
Dr. Spaven oversees early stage Client-UPM project contracting, requests and deliverables. Prior to joining UPM, Dr. Spaven spent ten years with the Medical Products Business at E.I. DuPont de Nemours. Her assignments there included: Process Chemist in R&D, Manager of a cGMP Tablet and Blend production area, and Technical Manager of Specialty Reagents and Industrial Pharmacy Divisions. During this time, Dr. Spaven also participated on the following committees: ISO-9001 certification, Business Resource Planning, Product Development and Commercialization Framework, Consumables Product Approval Committee (CPAC), Medical Products Professional Progression Committee (PPC) and the Technology Advisory Panel. The CPAC reviewed and approved all new and revised products for funding and resourcing; the PPC recommended for approval all senior level technical promotions. The TAP evaluated and approved funding for new research and technology scouting efforts. Dr. Spaven also has contributed her time to programs such as Junior Achievement, Telementoring Science, and Education and Business Alliance; programs all aimed at encouraging young adults in science careers. Dr. Spaven earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Ruth Moore, Ph.D.
Vice President, Analytical Services
Dr. Moore has over 15 years experience providing R&D laboratory services to pharmaceutical and related industries. She has spent the last 10 years leading formulations, methods development, validation, and stability programs in support of drug development and manufacture. She has a proven track record of effectively managing contract research services throughout her tenure at Cook Imaging (formerly a subsidiary of Cook Pharmaceuticals), Oread Inc., Proceutics, Inc., and Covance Inc. She was most recently employed at Shire Laboratories in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Moore received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
M. Michael He, PhD
Executive Director, Research and Development
Dr. He manages project activities and is directly involved in the formulation and process development of products. He has more than 11 years’ experience in product/process development, scale-up/process validation, and commercial manufacturing activities on solids, semi-solids and liquids in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. Dr. He enjoys and takes on challenges of numerous preclinical, clinical development projects and is in direct support of CMC filings. He also has expeience in process characterization, drug delivery technologies, applied biophysics and empirical model building techniques. Dr. He is the author or co-author of four patents, numerous published papers and abstracts and many presentations at professional meetings. He received his Ph.D. (Industrial Pharmacy) and M.S. degrees from the University of Cincinnati.
John Connell
Executive Director, Technical Services
25+ years of brand and generic experience in GMP manufacturing, technical charterization, and scale-up of liquid, semi-solid, and solid dose forms.
Ram Ramachandran, Ph.D.
Project Manager
Dr. Ramachandran is responsible for management of formulation and process development projects. He has over 12 years of experience in solids and parenteral formulation development including liposomes, lyophilized recombinant proteins, vaccines, IR solids and cytotoxics. He has significant experience in biophysical characterization of recombinant proteins, protein purification, analytical method development and validation, CMC documentation and interaction with reviewers and process development. Dr. Ramachandran received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from University of Iowa.