Our Company
Our Slim Health Pet Food was developed by top scientists in pet health at Louisiana State University’s Pennington’s Biomedical Research Centre. Dr Thomas Gettys, Dr Frank Greenway and John Finley have all come together to make sure we can develop a healthy formulation to increase your pet’s metabolism and maintain a healthy weight. After our testing our formulation in rats, we are now moving into dog clinical trials.
Our Team
Our product was carefully crafted, designed, and brought to life by a group of team members that poured their heart out into this project. Each team member was specifically selected due to their dedication to their work and their extraordinary skillset in their specific area of expertise.
Vincent Marsland, CEO
Vincent Marsland, MBA is the CEO of Slim Health Inc. He graduated from Imperial College London with an MBA in 2018. During his studies, he received the Dean’s Award for Inspiring Brilliant Minds for his work with the campus Entrepreneurship Club along with the Joan Woodward Memorial Prize. He was also a Microsoft Student Partner, Education Committee Student Representative and studied abroad for part of his degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Prior to pursuing an MBA, Vincent worked for a variety of technology and entertainment companies doing marketing, project management and strategy. He has worked for global firms such as IBM and Sony along with a number of startups and independent companies such as
Dr. Thomas Gettys, Co-Inventor
Dr Thomas Gettys, a nutritional biochemist and physiologist by training, has a broad interest in understanding how organisms respond to changes in dietary composition in real time and engage the appropriate homeostatic responses. Although it has long been axiomatic that dietary composition has a deterministic role in overall health, Dr Gettys’ studies have begun to identify the signalling systems that match the specific homeostatic response to the specific change in dietary composition. His work has established that essential amino acids are the components of dietary protein that are being sensed, and that limiting the dietary content of specific essential amino acids produces a highly beneficial series of physiological responses. His work is central to an emerging consensus that essential amino acid nutrition provides critical regulatory input to the control of energy balance and the coordination of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in peripheral tissues. The goal of Dr Gettys’ work is to translate this knowledge of essential amino acid nutrition into therapeutic diets that limit weight gain, maintain insulin sensitivity, and prevent the development of metabolic disease.
Candida Rebello, R&D Lead
Candida Rebello is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and is supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) T-32 Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr Rebello holds a Bachelor of Law degree (LL.B.) from the University of Mumbai, India. Subsequently, she earned the Master of Science and Doctoral degrees in Nutrition from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Dr Rebello is researching the effects of bioactive components from food on the metabolic syndrome in primary human adipocytes, as a prelude to her goal of engaging in translational science where the results obtained from laboratory intervention studies are evaluated in human subjects. Dr Rebello is a registered dietitian and has worked as a research dietitian assisting with food development and the conduct of clinical trials at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Dr Rebello also serves as a principal and co-investigator on clinical trials and has 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Dr Rebello is a member of professional societies such as the American Society for Nutrition, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and is a Fellow of the Obesity Society.
Phil Roberts, Chief Medical Officer
Phil Roberts, MD, MS, ABAARM has over thirty years of combined training and clinical experience in General Surgery, Emergency Medicine and Functional Medicine. Having sought out additional medical training due to his own health issues, he became quite interested in seeking disease reversal through nutrients and bio-identical hormones. He obtained a Masters in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine while becoming an advanced diplomat with the Academy of Anti-Aging Functional and Regenerative Medicine. This allowed him to witness the power of these therapies in reversing many chronic diseases. He served on the Sci-Med board of a leading nutritional company in the US for several years. Extremely honoured, he is, to be involved with this world-class team seeking to reverse obesity, diabetes and fatty liver disease in animals and humans.
Frank Greenway, Chief Science Officer & Co-Inventor
Frank Greenway, M.D. is a professor and director for the Outpatient Research Unit at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. He graduated from Stanford University, obtained his medical degree from UCLA, did his internal medicine and endocrinology training at Harbor-UCLA and has boards in internal medicine and endocrinology. Dr Greenway practised internal medicine, endocrinology and taught at Harbor-UCLA for 20 years before coming to the Pennington as a Professor. His interest is in developing new treatments for obesity including drugs, dietary herbal supplements, medical foods and devices. His laboratory focuses on identifying food plants that have the potential to aid in weight loss. Dr Greenway serves as the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials with sponsorship by NIH and industry, is a member of a number of professional societies including the American College of Physicians (fellow), The Obesity Society (fellow), the American Society for Nutrition, the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society. Dr Greenway has published more than 200 articles and holds several patents.
Vanessa Ferlaino, Chief Marketing Officer
Vanessa Ferlaino HBSc, MBET is SlimHealth’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Vanessa is an entrepreneur with experience in biomedical and pharmaceutical research, from devices to pharma to advanced therapies. She obtained her Honours Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Immunology from the University of Toronto as well as her Masters of Business in Entrepreneurship and Technology from the University of Waterloo. With experience raising +1M in funding within the last three years across the biotechnology field, Vanessa is a hands-on, all-in company builder.
Ron Amen, Regulatory Advisor
Ron Amen Ph.D., After receiving graduate degrees in Food Science and Nutritional Physiology,
John Finley, R&D Lead
John Finley received a B.S. in Chemistry from LeMoyne College and a PhD from Cornell University. Dr Finley retired from Louisiana State University where he was head of the Food Science program from 2007 to 2014. His laboratory studied low-calorie ingredients, anti-inflammatory compounds in the diet, modified nutritional lipids and edible fibre. Previously he headed Fundamental Science at Nabisco, Was a Fellow at Kraft Food, served as chief technology officer of A.M. Todd Co. and the leader of the Food Science program at Monsanto, and Research Scientist with the USDA Regional Research Center. Dr Finley is a Fellow American Chemical Society, Fellow-Agricultural and Food Division of American Chemical Society, Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow Institute of Food Technologists, Certified Food Technologist by Fellow Institute of Food Technologists. Other Awards include Outstanding Alumnus Michigan State University. Other awards include Harris Distinguished lecturer at the Ohio State University, a Leadership Award at Nabisco and membership in Sigma Xi at Michigan State University, and Phi Kappa Phi at Cornell University. Dr Finley has edited eight books, holds 70 patents and 135 Publications.
Corey Park, Strategic Advisor Director
