Our Team

Larry Raoul James, JD, MBA, has served as Founder, President, and CEO of MindLab since inception in 2013. He assembled a world-class team of employees, partners, consultants, and advisors and guided them through early drug development phases of compound development, patent approvals, animal and toxicology studies, and FDA meetings.

Mr. James has 14 years of pain management experience as an attorney, a sales and marketing specialist, and a member of several pharma Executive Advisory Boards. He spent nearly a decade helping Endo Pharmaceuticals introduce several opioid analgesics to the market. Prior to his exclusive focus on pain management, Mr. James leveraged his entrepreneurial acumen across multiple industries; founding and growing firms in the entertainment and real estate fields and leading them through multi-million dollar exits. Mr. James holds a law degree from Fordham Law School, and a MBA in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business.

Nabil H. Chehab, PhD, MBA, is MindLab’s Senior Clinical Development Officer.

Dr. Chehab is an ImmunoOncology (IO) Medical Scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb responsible for launching new IO drugs in lung cancer; and earlier was an Associate Director at BMS in the Medical Affairs department responsible for IO medical strategy. Previously he was Principal Scientist and Group Leader at ImClone Systems and the lead scientist for IND applications to the FDA. Dr. Chehab spent time as a Research Associate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Chehab holds PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in Management and Finance from the Leonard Stern School of Business at NYU, and a B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University. He completed a 5-year postdoctoral fellowship in structural biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Grace Forde, MD is MindLab’s Medical Director.

Dr. Forde is board-certified in Neurology and Pain Management, a national thought leader and author on pain management treatments and opioid use, and an Advisor to multiple pharmaceutical firms. She is the Director of Neurological Services at North American Partners in Pain Management in New York, and was a principal investigator in dozens of clinical trials in pain management.

Dr. Forde earned her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and completed her residency in Neurology at the University of California, San Diego and a fellowship in pain management at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Forde is also Secretary of the New York State Pain Society. She has a clinical teaching appointment at New York University.

Alexander Shtilbans, MD, PhD, is head of Clinical Research and Development.

Dr. Shtilbans is an Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and an Assistant Attending, Department of Neurology, at Hospital for Special Surgery and New York Presbyterian Hospital. As a Movement Disorder Neurologist, he has diagnosed and treated numerous Restless Leg Syndrome patients; an area of expansion for MindLab. He has obtained a multi-million dollar NIH grant and authored several publications.

Dr. Shtilbans is a physician-scientist. Previously as Associate Director Scientific Licensing at Sepracor and Business Manager at Enzon, he coordinated clinical presentations, conducted technology diligence, and negotiated licensing and sales to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Dr. Shtilbans is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and received a certificate in research design and statistical analysis for clinical and translational research. He earned an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a PhD in Biological Sciences from St. Petersburg Technological Institute, an MS in Molecular Biology from NYU, and a BS in Biotechnology from St. Petersburg Technological Institute (Russia).