Dr. Reiss is a surgeon-scientist and serial entrepreneur. He holds a B.A. from La Salle University and an MD from Drexel University. He completed a doctoral fellowship in Microbiology & Immunology within the Center for Gene Therapy in Philadelphia. He also completed residencies in General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah, and a fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He was Director of the Heart Valve Clinic & Transcatheter Therapies at SSM Heart & Vascular Center and has been the recipient of millions of dollars in NIH, VA Merit Review, and NSF funding. He was granted a Center of Excellence Award for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development and prior to joining StrongHolt, Dr. Reiss was COO and board member at SymbioCellTech. Focused on early clinical translation through commercialization, he has worked with multiple Life Science companies from startup stage through acquisition and IPO. He has been an Investigator or Sub-Investigator on multiple FDA Pre-INDs, INDs, and early phase clinical trials. Dr. Reiss was the co-founder and Medical Director of the University of Utah Cell Therapy & Regenerative Medicine Program, Public Cord Blood Bank, and cGMP facility.