At the leading edge of science committed to the future of stem cell medicine.
Our Mission
Harnessing the power of regenerative medicine to change the future of animal health.
The Gallant team is a collective of respected veterinarians, scientists, and some unbelievably dedicated entrepreneurs. Our work is the result of over 100 years of regenerative medicine experience, and a commitment to invest millions into the future of stem cell therapies.
Our best friends deserve better
Aaron Hirschhorn (In Loving Memory 1978-2021), founder of DogVacay, created Gallant after experiencing the power of regenerative medicine for himself. Traditional surgeries and injections proved unsuccessful, so Aaron underwent a single stem cell treatment to heal a debilitating back injury. The results were life-changing in more ways than one.
As a dog-lover, Aaron knew that our best friends could also benefit from this revolutionary approach to healing so he partnered with then CSO Dr. Linda Black to make it a reality. They created an autologous business to give pet parents short-term solutions while investing millions into “off-the-shelf” therapies for the future.
Independently funded
Gallant is venture-capital backed and funded by many of Silicon Valley’s most savvy investors. We're committed to investing millions in R&D for the future of regenerative medicine.
The Gallant Team
Linda Black, DVM, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Black is a founding team member starting with Gallant in 2019 and served as President and Chief Scientific Officer before moving to Chief Executive Officer in April 2021. She brings over 17 years of cross-functional experience leading strategic and operational initiatives in the biotechnology industry. She has led corporate development, finance, operations, and R&D along with a track record in regenerative medicine – with extensive experience in the development and commercialization of stem cell therapies for pets. From 2016 to 2019, she served as President and Chief Scientific Officer at Medicus Biosciences, a preclinical biotech firm focused on using polymer technologies for localized drug and stem cell delivery. Prior to Medicus, sh[...]
Carolyn Wrightson, PhD
Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Wrightson is a proven Chief Operating/Technical Officer with over 25 years’ successful leadership experience in scientific and technical operations, and research and development in the regenerative medicine, protein expression and genomic diagnostics industries for both human and veterinary markets. Excellent track record in partnering with top management and driving strategic value creation. Known for streamlining operations through reengineering and building highly skilled and motivated teams to deliver strong business results. Responsible for meeting growth requirements as well as assisting with strategic, regulatory, clinical, and scientific functions. Well versed in agency interactions from writing product characterization, manufac[...]
Valentine Williams, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS
Senior Vice President of Clinical Development & Regulatory
Dr. Williams is a highly experienced multidisciplinary veterinarian joining Gallant in 2023 as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Regulatory. She offers extensive knowledge in pharmaceutical and stem cell therapeutics with over 20 years of talent and leadership in animal health. She has served several large well-established animal health biopharmaceutical companies such as Fort Dodge Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health as well as smaller privately held or venture-capital held companies that reached Top Five status or were successfully acquired by a Top Five company such as Ceva Animal Health and Kindred Biosciences, Inc. She brings diverse business experience to Gallant to help drive growth and value for both[...]
Beau Becker
General Manager of Stem Cell Banking
As a founding team member of Gallant Therapeutics, Beau brings over 10 years of operational experience in the pet space and has been a part of teams from seed rounds to public. Prior to the founding of Gallant, Beau lead consumer operations for Pod Trackers, a GPS tracker for dogs and cats with customers in more than 150 countries. While at Pod, Beau ran international logistics and specialized in optimizing the customer experience while working cross-functionally with the engineering team to develop a top trier tracking device. Before that, Beau was Sr. Customer Service Manager at DogVacay, a consumer marketplace app for dog sitting and dog walking where he managed a team of 30 customer service and ops representatives that helped set the st[...]
Nopmanee Taechangam, DVM, MS, PhD
Sr. Scientist Research & Development
Dr. Taechangam joined Gallant as a Post-Doctoral Research and Development Scientist in 2021. As a former practicing veterinarian in a large-scale teaching hospital, she brings extensive experience in managing complicated companion animal internal medicine cases as well as serving on the hospital’s drug approval committee and leading educational seminars. She was awarded a prestigious Fulbright graduate scholarship to pursue her graduate study with research focus on feline mesenchymal stem cells and their potential therapeutic benefits towards inflammatory and immune-mediated disorders in Dr. Dori Borjesson’s world-renowned regenerative medicine laboratory. Dr. Taechangam has several first-authored publications in Stem Cell Research & Therap[...]
Rachel Bautista
Director of Biomanufacturing
Rachel Bautista serves as the Director of Biomanufacturing- directing both the Commercial Bank and Manufacturing laboratories. Rachel brings over a decade of experience in the regenerative medicine field with expertise in adipose-derived stem cell therapy for veterinary applications. Prior to joining Gallant, Rachel was the Laboratory Manager at VetStem Biopharma where she managed the autologous stem cell processing laboratory. She successfully maintained GTP laboratory operations- leading the laboratory processing team and upholding the standards of the established quality systems. She is also cross-trained in and highly proficient in GMP functions and Quality Assurance functions with QA/QC certification. She is committed to deliverin[...]
April Treadwell
Director of Finance
April brings over 15 years of experience in accounting and financial management in animal health and life sciences. She has focused on start-up and early phase companies to implement accounting systems, procedures and internal controls as well as create consistent and accurate financial reports. She manages and analyzes cash flow and the budgeting process, and also handles Human Resources compliance. Prior to Gallant, she served as Accounting Controller for VetStem Biopharma where she managed full cycle accounting and has consulted for several animal health start-ups to establish internal controls and procedures, restructure accounting teams, and converting to GAAP financials. April earned her undergraduate degree in Equine Science from[...]