Rick Pauls was appointed our President and Chief Executive Officer in 2009.  Mr. Pauls has served as a member of our board of directors since 2005 and as the Chairman of the Board from 2008 to 2014.

Before joining DiaMedica, Mr. Pauls was the Co-Founder and Managing Director of CentreStone Ventures, an early-stage life sciences venture capital fund, from 2002 until 2010. Mr. Pauls was an analyst for Centara Corporation, an early-stage venture capital fund, from 2000 until 2002.  From 1997 until 1999, Mr. Pauls worked for General Motors Acceptation Corporation specializing in asset-backed securitization and structured finance.  Additionally, Mr. Pauls has served on the board of directors of several public and private companies.  Mr. Pauls received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Manitoba and his M.B.A. in Finance from the University of North Dakota.

Dr. Masuoka has more than 25 years of experience building and expanding high value pipelines in the biopharmaceutical industry that have resulted in drug approvals and strategic alliances. She is a board-certified neurologist who has successfully created and overseen high performing teams to lead the clinical development of new medicines, with a focus in multiple sclerosis, oncology and epilepsy. Dr. Masuoka served as Chief Medical Officer of Epygenix Therapeutics, Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Cubist Pharmaceuticals (now Merck) and Nektar Therapeutics where, as a member of executive management, she managed teams in the areas of clinical research, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and data management, regulatory affairs and clinical operations. Previously, she held various roles of increasing responsibility at FivePrime Therapeutics (now Amgen) and Chiron (now Novartis). In addition to her executive roles, Dr. Masuoka most recently served as a Board member at Pfenex Inc. (now Ligand) and served as a Board member at Opiant Pharmaceuticals (now Indivior).

​Dr. Masuoka received her medical degree from the University of California, Davis, where she also completed her residency in neurology. She completed her epilepsy fellowship at Yale University and is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Scott Kellen joined us in January 2018 as our Vice President of Finance and was appointed our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary in April 2018. 

Before joining DiaMedica, Mr. Kellen served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sun BioPharma, Inc., a publicly-traded clinical-stage drug development company, from 2015 until 2018.  From 2010 to 2015, Mr. Kellen served as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Kips Bay Medical, Inc., a publicly-traded medical device company.  He became Chief Operating Officer of Kips Bay in 2012.  From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Kellen served as Finance Director of Transoma Medical, Inc. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Kellen served as a Corporate Controller of ev3 Inc.  From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Kellen served as Senior Manager, Audit and Advisory Services of Deloitte & Touche, L.L.P.  Altogether, Mr. Kellen has spent more than 25 years in the life sciences industry, focusing on publicly traded early stage and growth companies.  Mr. Kellen has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Dr. Shah has over 25 years of experience in advancing biopharmaceuticals from early stage to commercialization. He was previously the Vice President and Head of Global Vaccines Development at CSL Seqirus where he was accountable for end-to-end chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) in the development of vaccines. Prior to that position, he was Executive Director, Head of Drug Product Development at Bristol-Myers Squib (formerly Celgene). His prior experience comprised increasingly impactful roles at AstraZeneca (formerly MedImmune), GlaxoSmithKline (formerly Human Genome Sciences) and Pfizer (formerly Wyeth).

Dr. Shah received his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Mumbai University, India and his Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. He obtained his doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia with a focus on Drug Delivery.

Dominic R. Cundari was appointed our Chief Commercial Officer effective as of February 1, 2022.

Mr. Cundari has over 30 years of pharmaceutical experience in various commercial roles in high growth markets.  Prior to joining DiaMedica, Mr. Cundari served as an independent commercial strategy and development consultant for Genentech since 2009.  From 1988 to 2009, Mr. Cundari held a variety of sales and marketing management positions across multiple medical specialties at Genentech, a global biotechnology company.  As Senior Director for the Vascular Franchise, Mr. Cundari was responsible for shaping commercial strategies, leading product launches in cardiology, pulmonary and neurology specialties and establishing strategic partnerships with telemedicine companies.  Mr. Cundari holds both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Villanova University.

David Wambeke was appointed our Chief Business Officer April 2023.

Before joining DiaMedica, Mr. Wambeke served as Partner and Managing Director of Investment Banking at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, LLC, a growth-focused investment bank.  Mr. Wambeke joined Craig-Hallum in 2007 and was involved in more than one hundred financing and M&A transactions with a focus on the life sciences and biotech industries.  Prior to joining Craig-Hallum, Mr. Wambeke was enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as an artilleryman and military police officer.  During a deployment in Baghdad, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Mr. Wambeke was wounded in combat and awarded the Purple Heart.  Mr. Wambeke received a B.S. from the University of Minnesota.

Rebekah de Vitry Fries was appointed our Vice President of Clinical Operation in February 2024.

Ms. Fries brings over 15 years of clinical operations experience. Prior to joining DiaMedica, Ms. Fries was Head of Clinical Operations at Epygenix Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for rare and intractable genetic epilepsies. Ms. Fries served, in a consulting capacity, as Director, electronic Clinical Outcomes Assessment for Takeda Neuroscience and Ovid Pharmaceuticals in their collaboration on the development of a treatment for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies. Ms. Fries served as Director, Clinical Development Operations at Marinus Pharmaceuticals, a Nasdaq-listed, late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of epilepsy and other targeted neurological, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders. Prior to Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Fries held a series of research positions of increasing responsibility at a variety of companies including Invivo Therapeutics, DP Clinical, Premier Research, Human Genome Sciences and Genencor International. Ms. Fries received a Bachelor Science in Biotechnology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dr. Paolo Madeddu is an expert on the human protein KLK1 and the Kallikrein-Kinin-system, he has over 310 publications including over 55 related to KLK1, and internationally known for his research and publications.  Dr. Madeddu obtained his MD degree in 1976 at the University of Sassari (Italy) and in 1980 became Specialist of Cardiology from the University of Sassari.   He worked as a Senior Consultant for the Internal Medicine Department and  Chief of the Regenerative Medicine Center in Osilo and Porto Conte Ricerche until 2005.  He was then recruited by the University of Bristol, where he is currently a full professor in Cardiovascular Experimental Medicine.  He is Editor of Vascular Biology and Trends in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine, and associated editor of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB).  His research focuses  on new solutions to cardiovascular repair and rejuvenation, using gene therapy, protein therapy, and tissue engineering.  He has received funding to this research from the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Heart Research UK, Diabetes UK, JDFR, and the European Community.