Mr. Stergis has extensive transactional experience in the healthcare industry, having served in leadership positions and as a principal investor in both public and private companies. He has also founded several biotech companies which became public. Prior to joining Ladenburg Thalmann, he was the CEO and Vice Chair of the Board at Adeona Pharmaceuticals, currently Synthetic Biologics (NYSE AMEX:SYN). Previously, he served as Founder and Vice Chair of Encode Pharmaceuticals, which later merged with Raptor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:RPTP). He was also a Co-Founder and Managing Director at Accredited Ventures and an Investment Associate at Paramount Capital. Mr. Stergis holds a master’s degree in Biology from NYU and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from SUNY (Albany).