Executive Team

Dr. David Scharp -Managing Partner, President & Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Scharp trained and worked at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, as a Professor of Surgery and researcher in islet transplantation for nearly 30 years, producing over 200 publications with continuous NIH (National Institutes of Health) and JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) funding and 13 issued patents to date in the area of islet transplantation. Collaborative studies with the late Paul E. Lacy, MD, PhD, pioneered much of the early progress in islet transplantation.

He left the university and joined Neocrin Company in 1994 as Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chief Medical Officer to develop encapsulated islet xeno-transplantation technology into a clinical product.

In 1999, Dr. Scharp co-founded Novocell, Inc. and developed a conformal PEG coating of human islets as an allograft product without requiring long term immunosuppression. Research and Development studies progressed from rodents through diabetic non-human primate models showing long term encapsulated islet allografts function without immunosuppression. A clinical trial IND for encapsulated human islet allografts was accepted by the FDA in 2005.

In 2006, Dr. Scharp left Novocell and founded Prodo Laboratories, Inc. and Invenio Institute, a not-for-profit California public benefit company focused on performing diabetes research. Invenio Institute later changed its name to The Scharp-Lacy Research Institute. Prodo Labs provides high quality human islets to both corporate and academic diabetes researchers on a global basis having delivered over 16 million human islets in the last three years. The companies are also pursuing research into human islet cell expansion, islet encapsulation, and other diabetes products.

For more information on consulting opportunities with Dr. Scharp, please click here
To view Dr. Scharp’s complete CV, please click here

David Bondurant-Partner and Chief Financial Officer. David spent over 10 years in the financial services industry with UBS Financial Services, Inc. As a director in planning and investment, David managed portfolios exceeding $50,000,000 for multiple families and small business. More recently, David held the position of Regional Vice President for Transamerica Capital, Inc. working with independent financial advisors and assisting in product development and long-term retirement income strategies for hundreds of individual clients.

During this time, David earned the Chartered Retirement Planning Consultant designation (CRPC®) from the College of Financial Planning. In addition, David also has extensive research experience working under Dr. David Scharp in various aspects of diabetes research, including the processing and culture of islet cells. He served as a laboratory assistant at the following entities: Washington University at St. Louis, MO, Neocrin, Inc. and Novocell Inc. David has assisted Dr. Scharp with the development of the artificial pancreas, and in particular, the coating of individual islet cells with polyethylene glycol using solid state cold laser technology. David earned his BA in Economics from The University of Southern California.

Brian Haight-Partner and Chief Marketing Officer. Brian joined our team in 2010 and brings a background that includes over 18 years of business development, marketing, management and sales. His industry experience includes biotech, financial and technical. Brian has reached high levels of sales and growth in each of his respective industries, bringing to us the leadership and experience we need in our sales and marketing groups. Since his arrival, Prodo Labs has grown to become the largest global service provider of human islets for research. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS in Business Administration with a marketing emphasis.