Brief Biography

Brief Biography

Summary

Dr. Reza Kamarei is a results-oriented professional with 30 years R&D and Management experience in the areas of nutraceuticals, functional foods, foods and beverages, dietary supplements and nutritional supplements. He has track record of substantial contribution to the growth and profitability of global, national and entrepreneurial corporations.

Education

Reza received his B.S. from college of nutrition and food chemistry (Tehran), his first M.S. in food technology from Tehran University, his second M.S. and Ph.D. in food science & technology from department of nutrition and food science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During his post-doctoral years at MIT (1982-1985), he functioned as supervisor of the food science & technology lab and contributed to the NASA-sponsored project “feasibility of producing a range of food products from a limited range of undifferentiated major food components” for future manned space habitats.

Health & Wellness Industry

Reza’s first industry job (1985-1990) was with the Angio-Medical Corp. (an entrepreneurial pharmaceutical company in Boston, MA) as the Vice President of Bio-processing Operations. At this position, he developed methods for isolation of fine bio-chemicals (e.g., gangliosides) and ingredients (e.g., omental lipids) to be used in creams for diabetic skin, bed sores, and burns.

Food, Beverage and Nutrition Industries

For five years (1990-1995), Reza worked at Clintec Nutrition (Deerfield, IL), a JV between Nestle and Baxter, managing a group of more than 40 R&D professionals. In cooperation with sales, marketing, regulatory, manufacturing, clinical and external contractors, his team brought numerous enteral products to the market, including Peptamen® for GI-compromised patients, NutriHep® for hepatic patients, and Glytrol® for diabetic patients.

In 1996, Reza joined National Starch (Bridgewater, NJ) as the first Director of Nutritional and Medical Food Ingredients. He coordinated multi-national clinical studies to determine the physiological effects of resistant starches (RS) on diabetes and colon cancer. He also proposed to the FDA (as a response to the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) guidelines for the regulation of medical foods and medical food companies.

In 1999, he established an entrepreneurial nutrition company, Princeton Nutrition, LLC (Princeton, NJ), where he developed and consumer-tested four lines of fresh, refrigerated, pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized nutritional supplements, dairy products and infant formulas. He obtained five comprehensive US patents for these products.

In 2002, he accepted the position of Director, Nutrition Department at the Oceanic Institute (Waimanalo, HI), where he restructured the department based on the concept of vertical integration. Pursuant to this, he developed methods for extraction/isolation of fish oil from “aquacultured” fish and glucosamine from the shells of “aquacultured” shrimp.

In November 2005, he joined Coca-Cola North America (Apopka, FL) as Senior Manager, Nutritional Juices and Product & Ingredient Sciences. At Coca-Cola, he developed neutralized fruit juice technology which was the basis of Coca-Cola’s 2008 top prize for innovative products. Reza analyzed 550 patents on polyphenolics. He also analyzed the capabilities of ingredient and product companies, and suggested potential research areas for future investments.

From August 2011 until end of 2014, Reza worked at Sabinsa Corporation as VP of Science & Technology, and at its associate company, America’s Finest, Inc. as Chief Scientific Advisor. It was during this time, that he formulated and developed the Sanutra® Wellness line of 11 dietary supplements.

In November 2016, Reza accepted the position of VP, R&D – Nutrition and Health with the French company Naturex where he led the global team of R&D – Nutrition and Health, developed mission of business unit and determined and implemented R&D strategy, managed proper implementation of a range of R&D projects in Stage-Gate innovation pipeline and partnered with TRU-ID for DNA authenticity analysis of ingredients and natural health products.