Moti Kashyap is currently co-founder of Aasta Pharmaceuticals. LLC whose current mission is to develop niacin-based therapy for fatty liver disease. He is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, California. He trained as a physician-scientist at McGill University and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at University of California, San Francisco with specialization in lipidology and internal medicine   His translational research has combined basic scientific research with clinical investigation. He has directed major clinical trials funded by the NIH and the Department of Veterans Affairs and industry to assess the effects of specific drug interventions on cardiovascular disease including the landmark Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (CPPT), the HDL Intervention Trial (HIT), VA Diabetes Trial (VADT). He is Co-chair of Publications of the NIH sponsored the AIM-HIGH trial. Basic research has focused on lipoprotein metabolism and more recently on mechanism of action of niacin. He is inventor of a patent for the new use of niacin for the treatment of fatty liver disease based on discoveries that inhibits hepatic triglyceride synthesis by inhibiting the enzyme DGAT2 as the major mechanism and can reverse fatty liver disease His research team has also shown that niacin has hepatic anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrosis properties thus mitigating steatosis, steatohepatitis and fibrosis, major stages of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Dr. Kashyap founded the Cholesterol Clinical Center at Univ. of California, Irvine affiliated Long Beach VA Medical Center for management of complex lipid disorders. He is Fellow of several professional bodies including National Lipid Association, American Heart Association, American College of Physicians, and the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, etc. He has been on advisory boards and consultant of several major pharmaceutical companies in the field of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis. He is scientific peer reviewer of major impact journals and has published and lectured extensively.

Dr. Vijay Kamanna is a biochemist by training and has extensive basic science experience in the pathogenesis of various metabolic diseases including atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, inflammatory disorders, and kidney disease. He is co-founder of Aasta Pharmaceuticals focused on the clinical development of niacin-based therapy for the treatment fatty liver disease.

During the past several years, his research has been focused on delineating cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of niacin on lipid/lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis. Dr. Kamanna has also extensively investigated the pathophysiological role of atherogenic lipoproteins in glomerular injury and kidney disease. He is an inventor of the patent on the new indication for the use of niacin, its metabolites and derivatives/analogs for the treatment and reversal of fatty liver disease.

He has been principal investigator and/or co-principal investigator on several funded basic science and drug discovery research projects from the US Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Program and Pharmaceutical Industries. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed original articles and invited reviews. He is expert scientific reviewer for several high impact journals.

After graduating from the University of Iowa with Ph D in Engineering, Dr Nakra has been working with Consumer Products industry and the Pharmaceutical industry.

Currently, he is working as an Advisor, investor and Director of various start up companies to coach, guide and invest in young entrepreneurs taking their vision and companies from start up to speed up, ultimately developing and optimizing revenue, profitability and company value.

As President and CEO of BLI Holdings for Medicia Pharmaceuticals in NJ and Bocchi Laboratories in CA, he brought leadership, vision and focus in transforming all aspects of the organization and dramatically increased sales and profits thereby increasing the shareholders value.

As President, Chairman and CEO of Diamond Brands, his focus was growth through innovations , product development and expanded distribution. His focus on sales performance increased sales at point of existing distribution and increased the market share.

As President and CEO of Gruma Corporation, he developed a high performance management team and built Mission Foods into tortilla category market leader with 46% market share and two top selling brands.In seven years, this team was able to increase sales by six fold and turned a losing business into a highly profitable branded company.

Dr Nakra was Senior VP of Operations at Sunshine Biscuits managing six cookies and cracker plants and two chip plants.

Prior to that, he worked as Senior Manager at Quaker Oats in the Foods Division.

Throughout his career, Dr Nakra has been focussed on developing individuals and teams in achieving their full potential as human beings and as business leaders. As a business leader, he has always emphasized high yield opportunities and leveraging internal and external resources to capture them.