Zelira Therapeutics Ltd. announced it has appointed Dr. Donna Gentile O'Donnell as non-executive director, effective 1 June 2023. Dr. O'Donnell served as Special Assistant to the President, Dr. Stephen K. Klasko, and is Senior Vice President for Innovation Partnerships and Programs at Thomas Jefferson University. Donna has led a diverse and successful career in health care, life sciences and public service concentrated in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Donna was formerly a principal with O'Donnell Associates, her clients included non-profit organisations, universities, and life science companies, including Cephalon Pharmaceuticals. She was previously the managing director of the Eastern Technology Council for nine years. There, she played a significant role in developing and creating BioAdvance, a state entity designed to grow the life sciences industry in Southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as many other key life science initiatives.

She was a special limited partner in PA Early Stage Partners. As former president of Franklin Health Trust, Dr. O'Donnell was instrumental in leading the negotiations for the merger of $50 million of the foundation's assets into the Drexel University College of Medicine. She served as Deputy Health Commissioner for Policy and Planning in the City of Philadelphia in the mid-1990s under former Mayor Ed Rendell.

During that time she wrote the only successful competitive federal health care grant in the Summer of Service program, to increase the rate of immunisation for at-risk children, newborn to 2 years old and received the Clara Barton Humanitarian Award from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. In 2020, she was elected as a Fellow to the Philadelphia College of Physicians. In 2005, she was awarded Philadelphia Business Journal's Women of Distinction Award.

In 2017, Gov. Tom Wolf appointed her to the Health Research Advisory Committee, which oversees the Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, or CURE. The CURE program, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, advises on the distribution of 19% of the $11 billion tobacco settlement that goes to health and life-science-related research.

In addition, Dr. O'Donnell served on the Women's Financial Services Network Advisory Board for PNC Bank and has served on the Regional Editorial Board of ADVANCE For Nurses. Furthermore, the company that Ms. Lisa Gray has resigned from the position of Non-Executive Director effective 31 May 2023, to focus on her other business interests and directorships. The board is wholeheartedly grateful to Ms. Gray for her significant contribution to the company as one of its founding Directors and wish her all the best with her future endeavours.

Ms. Gray remains a shareholder in Zelira.