Our Team
Edward D. Pagani, Ph.D.
General Manager
Dr. Pagani joined Lumigen in 2007 as General Manager. His key role is to oversee the day-to-day business functions at Lumigen, which includes strategic management of the Lumigen Leadership Team. He also brings unique business experiences and accomplishments in pharmaceutical research and drug development, managing investment portfolios, and developing and implementing economic development strategies.
Prior to joining Lumigen, Dr. Pagani was Senior Director, Strategic Alliances at Pfizer, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has a successful record of identifying and licensing drug candidates for clinical development, and for negotiating major research collaborations with academic centers to support Pfizer’s internal R & D.
Dr. Pagani received an undergraduate degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the Cincinnati College of Medicine. His post-graduate work was performed at Harvard Medical School / Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. Pagani has over 55 scientific publications.
Dr. Pagani is also involved in many community service activities, and has served on the Board of Directors, Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Directors, Michigan Biotechnology Association (MichBio). In addition, he is a founding member of Ann Arbor SPARK, which aims to advance the economic development of innovation-based businesses in Southeastern Michigan.
Hashem Akhavan-Tafti, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Akhavan-Tafti’s professional career began in 1989 when he joined Lumigen, Inc. as a Senior Research Scientist. While at Lumigen, Dr. Akhavan-Tafti held various positions of increasing responsibility and was Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, responsible for all aspects of research and development. Dr. Akhavan-Tafti currently holds the position of Chief Scientific Officer. In this role he is responsible for leading a team of research scientists in the discovery of chemiluminescence, nucleic acid purification and new detection technologies.
During his time at Lumigen, Dr. Akhavan-Tafti has managed a team of research scientists in the development of novel chemiluminescent compounds, improved methods for the chemiluminescent detection of enzymes and enzyme conjugates, methods for chemiluminescent enhancement, developing applications for DNA and protein detection by chemiluminescence and methods of nucleic acid purification. Dr. Akhavan-Tafti played a key role in the invention of multiple commercial products for the chemiluminescent detection of alkaline phosphatase and horseradish peroxidase.
Dr. Akhavan-Tafti holds a BS degree in Chemistry from Kalamazoo College and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Wayne State University. In addition, he is the primary inventor and holder of over 70 United States patents, and hundreds worldwide.
Khaledur S. (Sumon) Rashid, Ph. D.
Director of Manufacturing
Dr. Rashid is Lumigen’s Head of Manufacturing operations. He directs and controls all manufacturing operations for all product lines within Lumigen and supports new product development and technological advancement; facilitates the transfer of manufacturing methods and/or technologies within Beckman Coulter and with external business partners; develops and maintains strong collaborative partnerships with leading experts, other companies, joint ventures, and OEMs; and ensures all FDA, ISO and related regulatory requirements are consistently met.
Dr. Rashid has been associated with Lumigen in various positions of increasing responsibility since its inception as a Research Scientist, the Quality Control Manager and the Director of Production. In collaboration with our R&D Department and other partners he has overseen for our current manufacturing processes and product portfolio. He has also developed our QC processes using various scientific methods and procedures uncommon to the general marketplace.
Dr. Rashid holds a Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry from Wayne State University, an M. S. in Chemistry from University of Texas at El Paso, an M.Sc. in Applied Chemistry from University of Dhaka (Bangladesh), a B. Sc. (Honors) in Chemistry from University of Dhaka. He was a Robert A. Welch Fellow at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Rashid is a long time member of The American Chemical Society and The American Society for Quality. He has coauthored several scientific articles in peer reviewed international scientific journals related to Heterocyclic Synthesis of Fused Ring Aromatic Amines and has developed synthetic methods for Chemiluminescent Dioxetanes.
Carolyn Grabarczyk
Customer Relations Manager
> Contact Carolyn for Lumigen orders
Mrs. Grabarczyk joined Lumigen in 2000 as Customer Relations Manager. She provides personal attention and service to Lumigen’s more than 400 customers, worldwide. In addition, she also is Chair of Lumigen’s internal Customer Satisfaction Task Force, which ensures that Lumigen maintains its 100% on-time delivery rating by our customers.
Prior to joining Lumigen, Mrs. Grabarczyk held the position of Appointments Specialist for Michigan Governor John Engler for 8 consecutive years, Presidential Debate Office Leader for President George Bush (White House Advance and Secret Service), and Assistant Executive Director/ House of Delegates and Board of Directors, for Michigan Dental Association for 10 years.
Mrs. Grabarczyk holds a Business Administration degree from Lansing Community College, in Michigan.
Tony F. Gaglio
Marketing / Business Development
> Contact Tony for marketing and technical support
Mr. Gaglio joined Lumigen in 1998 as a Production chemist. He has broad experience in the synthesis of commercialized Lumigen products, and their use. As a Production chemist, he was granted autonomy over his work and successfully improved reaction yield efficiencies and pilot-plant scale-up endeavors on key Lumigen products.
Recently, Mr. Gaglio has been appointed to undertaking Lumigen's Marketing endeavors, which also includes new business development activities and opening worldwide distribution channels. Mr. Gaglio’s role is to establish external business partners and collaborative efforts with researchers, end-users, and medical device OEM’s. In addition, he has created an events-driven marketing strategy to exhibit Lumigen technology at trade shows and conferences.
Mr. Gaglio received his B.S. in Chemistry from Wayne State University, in Detroit Michigan in 1998, and a Master of Science in Industrial Operations from Lawrence Technological University in 2003.