Management Team

Ted Karkus, CEO and Chairman of ProPhase Labs, drives the company’s diverse and synergistic businesses with his successful track record in biomedical and health companies. He transformed ID Biomedical’s strategy and valuation from $25 million to $1.4 billion sale to GlaxoSmithKline.  As CEO of ProPhase Labs, he restructured the go-to-market strategy for the flagship product Cold-EEZE, turned around and significantly grew revenues, ultimately selling it for $50 million to Mylan.

ProPhase Labs is a fast-growing biotech, genomics and diagnostics company due to its commitment to growth, innovation, and execution excellence outlined in Ted’s high growth roadmap. He pivoted into industry leading CLIA labs, and then further diversified by acquiring genomics leader Nebula Genomics.  Constantly innovating, Ted then created ProPhase BioPharma to deliver antivirals, cancer tests and therapeutic cancer compounds. The new acquisitions and legacy businesses work to drive synergistic growth with multi-billion-dollar potential.

He holds a BS in Psychology from Tufts University with Magna Cum Laude Honors and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University School of Business with Beta Gamma Sigma Honors.

Steven M. Plumb, CPA is a seasoned senior executive and financial manager experienced in operations, finance and marketing. He has Big 4 CPA experience, a background in IT, gaming, biotech, oil and gas, real estate, medical and utility companies. Mr. Plumb has served as the chief financial officer of numerous public companies over the course of his career as a fractional CFO. From April 2024 to August 2025, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of Driveitaway Holdings, Inc. (OTC:DWAY). From September 2023 to November 2024, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of A Game Beverages, Inc. From August 2022 to June 2024, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of Endexx Corp. (OTCBB:EDXC). From October 2020 to July 2023, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of Gaming Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:GMGT). From January 2020 to March 2023, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of Directview Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:DIRV). From January 2019 to October 2021, Mr. Plumb served as the chief financial officer of Artella Solutions, Inc. Since 2001, he has served as the owner and president of Clear Financial Solutions, a consulting firm that provides interim CFO services to small public companies. In this capacity he has prepared SEC filings, managed investor relations, raised capital, conducted mergers and acquisition activities, developed successful offering memorandum, registration statements and investor presentations. Mr. Plumb is a former auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. Mr. Plumb has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.

Jason drove explosive revenue growth at ProPhase Diagnostics, leading multiple areas including sales, business development, logistics operations, and account management. He oversaw the development of two CLIA-certified labs, generating approximately $200 million in revenues since 2021 and manages account managers and customer service reps who offer 24/7 service to exceed customer expectations. Jason now heads up business development for the rapid build-out of ProPhase’s Nebula Genomics business.

With a background in sales and development at top real estate firms, Jason is a graduate of the University of Maryland.

Kamal is co-founder of Nebula Genomics. He received his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and did graduate studies in computer science as a Gates-Cambridge Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Prior to founding Nebula, Kamal led teams at Google. For his work, Kamal has received multiple honors including being named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Lance is an accomplished finance leader experienced in all areas of finance and accounting. Lance has over 17 years of experience in working with large brands, both public and private, of varying industries and sizes.

Prior to ProPhase Labs, Lance served in finance leadership roles at multiple large brand companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Casper Sleep, Newmark and Forest Laboratories, where he was responsible for all accounting matters including financial reporting, general accounting, and related internal controls functions. He began his career with five years in public accounting with Marcum LLP. Lance earned a BBA in accounting from Hofstra University. He is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Dr. Matthew Halpert, Ph.D. earned his doctorate at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), and then spent 10 years at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston as a cancer immunologist.  His research in the space of ‘immunity’ and ‘novel cancer treatments’ lead to several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, hundreds of citations, a variety of patents, positions on multiple charitable boards, and establishment as one of the leading experts regarding cutting-edge mechanistic science as it pertains to the treatment of cancer.  His work has been advanced in several FDA clinical trials. 

Along with being a co-founder at Nebula Genomics, Dr. George Church is also Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of PersonalGenomes.org. His 1984 Harvard Ph.D. included the first methods for direct genome sequencing, molecular multiplexing & barcoding. This led to the first genome sequence (pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994. His innovations have contributed to nearly all “next-generation” DNA sequencing methods and companies (CGI-BGI, Life, Illumina, Nanopore). His honors include election to NAS & NAE & Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science. He has co-authored 590 papers, 155 patent publications and  one book (Regenesis).

Dr. Russ Altman, with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, is a certified expert in internal medicine and clinical informatics. His career has been distinguished with awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award and NSF's CAREER award. He holds fellowships with ACP, ACMI, AIMBE, and AAAS, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. His leadership extends to serving as past president of ISCB and ASCPT. Dr. Altman has also shaped national health policy and regulation through his roles advising the FDA and NIH, and co-chairing the IOM Drug Forum, demonstrating his influence in the advancement of medical sciences and technology.

Dr. Patrick Merel, a molecular biology PhD from the University of Bordeaux, has made significant contributions to molecular diagnostics and genomics over 20 years in both academic (Bordeaux Blood Bank, University Hospital of Bordeaux) and industry roles. In San Diego, he consulted for Beckman Coulter and co-founded Portable Genomics and Edico Genome, the latter acquired by Illumina in 2018. Currently, as director at Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute, he integrates genomics, multi-omics, AI, and biotech, building on his work with the Omics Center at G42 Healthcare and the Emirati Genome Program.