The Team

Dr. Tagkopoulos is a leading expert in computational science with a focus on biomedical and business applications.

He is a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis, and the director of the USDA/NSF AI Institute for Next-Generation Food Systems (AIFS).

Prior to joining UC Davis, Ilias worked at fixed-income derivatives models at Credit Suisse, NY. Ilias holds a Diploma from the University of Patras, an M.Sc. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, all in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

John is a visionary leader and entrepreneur with a remarkable 30-year career that transformed the health, beauty and wellness markets through bioengineering, biofermentation, and renewable chemistry. He led the industrialization of Synthetic Biology and has been instrumental in establishing the global, clean beauty category. John drove rapid growth through innovation, sustainability, ecommerce and M&As, with more than $130B in global acquisitions to date. John was at the helm of Amyris Biotech (President, founding CEO & Board Director) for 16 years, creating a $1.4B valued portfolio of award-winning consumer brands and driving a successful IPO with peak equity value that exceeded $5B. At Amyris, he developed and scaled 14 molecules reaching more than 400 million consumers daily. Previously, John was President of BP’s US Fuels Business Unit. At BP he led business transformation resulting in reduced costs and improved financial returns.

A native of Azores, Portugal, John’s a member of YPO and the Portuguese Diaspora. He was awarded with the Portuguese Order of Merit of the Portuguese Royal House, Commander.

Christos Stamelos is our Chief Technology Officer.

Before joining PIPA, he co-founded and tenured as a corporate executive in startups in the US and Europe. He focused on developing innovative solutions in a variety of fields including social media, healthcare, cloud computing, machine learning, and voice recognition.

He holds an Engineering Diploma in Computer Engineering and Informatics and an M.Sc. in Computer Science. Christos owns numerous certifications and has a deep technical and management background.

Eric Hamborg is our Chief Commercial Officer.

Before joining PIPA, Eric held executive positions across the pharma and healthcare industries, leading the growth and innovation of companies and SaaS products. He’s the co-founder of the healthcare service company, MOBĒ and board advisor to nutrition and clinical trial organizations.

Eric is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas – St. Paul, MN – Marketing, and over his 30+ year career, he has applied his strategic acumen to transform businesses and multiply their impact.

Eli Berici is responsible for regulatory compliance, contracts and financial management.

Prior to joining PIPA, she was the officer for grants and contracts at the University of California, Davis.

Eli has attended the Seinajoki Business School (Finland) and holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Patras (Greece).

Anestis Taskos is our Head of Operations.

Prior to joining PIPA, Anestis was VP of Operations at PaxeraHealth.

Anestis is a Business Administration graduate and holds an MBA from the City University of New York.

Anestis is a 3x founder and has previously worked as a proprietary trader in New York.

Dr. Catarina Abreu is our Head of Nutraceuticals.

Before joining us, Catarina worked as a general manager in the Pharmaceutical industry. Throughout her career, Catarina brought to life several products, including medical devices, cosmetics, food supplements, and nutraceuticals.

Catarina holds a PharmD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Institute Superior de Ciências da Saúde-Sul and holds an M.Sc. in Advanced Clinical Nutrition.

Dr. Tarek I. Zohdi is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chair of the Designated Emphasis Program in Computational & Data Science & Engineering & Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley. Prior to this, he chaired the Engineering Science Program for four years. He currently holds the W. C. Hall Family Endowed Chair in Engineering & is a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. His research focuses on digital-twin technologies, industrial simulation and advanced manufacturing processes, and he has made significant contributions to the field through his publications, including +200 papers and 8 books. He is a past president of the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM, 2012-2014) & fellow of USACM & the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM). He is a co-editor-in-chief of Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics & Engineering (CMAME) & serves on 11 editorial boards of international journals. He is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Computational Particle Mechanics (CPM). In 2017, Zohdi received the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award & in 2019 was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics. In 2020, he received the Humboldt-Forschungspreis (Humboldt Research Prize). For more information see Tarek I. Zohdi.

Dr. Vasilis Vassalos is our Technology advisor.

Prior to joining PIPA, Vasilis was the Data Science VP at Workable. He is the founder of a data integration startup acquired by a public international company. He holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Stanford University and he is the co-author of more than 70 technical publications.

Vasilis has previously led the Information Processing Lab at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), was the post-grad program Director for Data Science at AUEB, and has been a professor at NYU.