In the C-suite for more than 30 years, Steve’s leadership has driven rapid growth from start-up to global enterprise. His interests focus on innovation that improves the lives of customers, from more useful computers to clean energy, cyber security and today, natural health.  After experiencing debilitating pain of cancer suffered by two close family members, Steve committed to identifying and successfully commercializing pain therapies that introduce fewer complications when administered with chemo and other complex cancer therapies.

“There is a vast, centuries-old repository of natural medicine which we have yet to harness to our full advantage. For example, most of us know someone who suffers from chronic pain. Watching them diminished by the condition is heart wrenching. More and more of us know someone who’s become addicted to pain killers or who’s had serious side effects like GI bleeding or stroke from long-term use of over-the-counter drugs. People simply shouldn’t be faced with those tradeoffs. Research indicates that natural plant compounds hold tremendous potential for effective treatment of chronic pain without harmful side effects.  That’s something I can be passionate about. Even driven.Harvesting medical knowledge from the annals of human history can result in revisiting lessons of the past through the lens of modern science and technology to develop more effective solutions that improve the quality of health and life. Think of what Hippocrates could have done with a microscope and a mass spectrometer.”

Kalman is an avid gardener who is fascinated by the unrelenting strength and arresting beauty of desert cacti.

Kathryn has decades of leadership experience in product development and marketing with industry titans known for breakthrough innovations in computing, video, mobile communications and biopharmaceuticals. The daughter of an amputee, her experience with her father’s lifelong chronic pain is deeply personal.

“My dad was a tough cookie, as were dozens of his friends who suffered horrendous combat injuries. About 18,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry served during WW II. 9,486 Purple Hearts were awarded for injuries in the line of duty. I grew up among dozens of vets who were missing limbs or carrying shrapnel as lifelong reminders of war. Many suffered with chronic pain from their injuries along with insomnia, post-traumatic stress and yes, substance abuse. But most of all, I remember their tremendous joy in life; love of family; genuine aloha spirit and their pride for having served. It’s my hope that natural solutions can help generations of veterans like my dad to live healthier, more productive lives despite the immeasurable sacrifices they make for others.”

Like her dad, Higa is also an avid organic gardener. Her first purchase in every new home is an aloe plant.

John has spent 25 years in the world of academic science, working to discover how the pain systems in the human body work. As a Professor at the University of Arizona, he has studied opioids, cannabinoids, terpenes, and other pain drugs, how they interact with your body and brain, and how they cause pain relief – and side effects like addiction. The goal of that work is to develop better alternatives for pain management, like new pain drugs that offer improved relief for the millions of people who suffer from uncontrolled pain, without the awful drawbacks of drugs like opioids.

“Every time we publish something new about pain and pain relieving drugs, I get letters from the public. These are desperate people that doctors can’t help, who have tried everything and found nothing helps them with their pain. They are trying anything they can think of to find help. The most heartbreaking thing is that I can’t help them – yet. We can make every discovery we want, but if those discoveries never leave the lab, they don’t help anyone. Part of my mission is to find a way to take our discoveries out of the lab and make them available for everyone.”

This mission is what drew John to terpenes like beta-caryophyllene. He first became interested in terpenes in 2019 while researching potential alternatives to drugs like opioids and cannabinoids. In the last 5 years, he has made rapid progress, with multiple publications showing that terpenes can be highly effective pain relievers in chronic pain without the terrible side effects of drugs like opioids. Now, he has joined Nápreva to bring that knowledge out of the lab and to the public. In partnership with Nápreva, he will show that plant terpenes like beta-caryophyllene can be the next frontier in treating chronic pain, backed by the best and most rigorous science.