Health Tech: Edward Pershing Of VisiRose On How Their Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course, many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who create or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Edward Pershing, Chairman of VisiRose, Inc. and Chairman and CEO of affiliate company Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Edward Pershing, an accountant by training, spent most of his career consulting to and advising healthcare industry providers, and founding multiple not-for-profit, community-based organizations along the way to address unmet healthcare needs. Mr. Pershing co-founded Pershing Yoakley & Associates (PYA), a top 100 accounting firm and top 15 healthcare consulting firm in the U.S. that serves clients in all 50 states. He also founded or co-founded five PYA affiliate companies that serve specific healthcare industry constituents and needs (i.e., real estate, values-based financial planning, technology innovation media, data analytics, and medical billing). Mr. Pershing is currently Chairman of VisiRose, a clinical-stage ophthalmology company spun-out from Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage oncology company where he is Chairman and CEO, taking Provectus from the brink of bankruptcy due to misconduct by prior leadership to raising more than $30 million to develop and advance safe, effective, affordable, and accessible immunotherapy medicines for cancer and other diseases.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in Alcoa, Tennessee, the third of four sons. Like my brothers, I was blessed to attend Alcoa public schools and the University of Tennessee (UT). Alcoa was a company town named after the Aluminum Company of America, which today is still one of the world’s largest producers of aluminum. My father was an Alcoa foreman, and my mother was a registered nurse who later also worked for Alcoa. My parents raised us with a strong work ethic, encouraged academic excellence, and inspired us to become servant leaders in our own way: My oldest brother became a pharmacist, my older brother a doctor, and my younger brother a high school teacher.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I had planned to attend law school after getting my Certified Public Accountant license, but after working on a large mineral rights acquisition transaction for Ernst & Ernst (EE), now Ernst & Young (EY), I realized corporate law was not going to fulfill me. Mind you, this was just two years after graduating from UT and joining EE in 1974. I was a lost ball in high weeds, uncertain of my future direction because I did not want to remain a public accounting auditor. Around this time, in 1976, I was extremely blessed to receive a call from the managing partner of the Knoxville, Tennessee EE office asking if I wanted to be nominated for a first of its kind accelerated healthcare consulting work-study program established by EE’s chairman. The program provided a curriculum taught by global healthcare experts as well as healthcare-focused work experiences that were simply not available at any organization or university at the time. The chairman wanted EE to become the leader in serving the healthcare industry and was seeking nominees from the US and Europe — I was one of the 18 chosen.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Walter Boruff, the managing partner of EE’s Knoxville office, nominated me for the first class of EE’s accelerated healthcare work-study program I mentioned earlier. I was, and still am, deeply grateful for the opportunity and the truly unique experience the program afforded me. It is hard to imagine today, but in 1976, the Big Eight accounting firms were not targeting healthcare as an attractive and growth segment of the American economy, in large part because healthcare was essentially a localized industry at the time. For example, the first for-profit hospital corporations were just in their infancy. Even though I had not considered a career in healthcare, during the program I became intrigued by the uniqueness of the industry and what I saw as numerous opportunities to provide much needed business acumen to a variety of different potential clients.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson quote is one I crafted myself after hundreds of meetings debating healthcare industry issues and attempting to gain consensus to solve these challenges. Recognizing some individuals adamantly hold positions that do not have to be resolved to gain agreement, I have tried to live by the motto, “Sometimes it’s better to be quiet than right.”

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. I love tackling difficult problems. I was instrumental in developing the Maternity Center of East Tennessee, a free-standing midwifery program that served women and children who either had no health insurance or were underinsured (primarily those covered by Medicaid). These women could not readily gain access to prenatal care, placing their baby and them at high risk. Approximately three months after the center opened, The Atlanta Journal ran a feature story on it and described the challenges the women faced in obtaining prenatal care. This spotlight on the issue resulted in hospitals and physician groups changing their policies to expand access for timely prenatal care. Many people do not realize that pregnant women and their children are at high risk if they do not receive prenatal care within the first trimester. The Maternity Center was consequential for changing regional healthcare policy.
2. Creating solutions where others can’t is extremely gratifying. I designed a healthcare services delivery network and payment model, Tennessee Health Partnership (THP), a not-for-profit organization established to ensure care for 132,000+ TennCare participants across 16 counties in East Tennessee (TennCare was the state Medicaid program). We accomplished exceptional performance across all aspects of healthcare services, medical management, and cost containment, while achieving high patient-member satisfaction scores. THP was an initiative undertaken to address the critical underperformance of TennCare at the time.
3. Being a life-long learner, coupled with a willingness to take the next step, and exploring with a curious outlook and a high tolerance for risk. I went from being a retail shareholder of Provectus to gaining control of its board of directors due to corporate misgovernance. Provectus’s drug agent, rose bengal sodium (RBS), has unique capabilities that we continue to explore as we try to develop safer and more effective drugs that can be made affordable and accessible. Many people thought my efforts to save this company for its remarkable medical science were impossible and foolhardy, and that I was crazy. We endeavored and rescued Provectus from potential bankruptcy. We have since turned the company around, raised more than $30 million, and opened eyes to the potential for its drug agent to transform the way the healthcare industry treats disease.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the technology or medical devices that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

VisiRose is a clinical-stage startup biotechnology company (and Provectus affiliate company) focused on commercializing innovative ocular research from the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI) to combat severe eye infections using Provectus’s RBS drug agent. U.S. News & World Report has recognized BPEI with America’s best ophthalmology hospital ranking for 21 consecutive years (23 years overall). BPEI believes it can potentially solve the problem of these eye infections, called infectious keratitis (IK), after conducting more than ten years of medical research.

IK is the leading cause of corneal blindness and vision impairment and impacts 50,000–100,000 Americans and 5–10 million people worldwide each year. Marginalized populations in the U.S. and elsewhere suffer from greater IK rates. IK is increasing in incidence because of poor eye hygiene, contact lens wear, and environmental conditions, among other key risk factors. Standard IK treatments, such as antibiotics, are old, often ineffective, and increasingly unavailable. The rise of multi-drug-resistant pathogens, such as certain strains of bacteria, fungi, and parasites, is significantly contributing to the growing global problem of IK.

How do you think your technology can address this?

VisiRose’s IK treatment is based on the Ophthalmic Biophysics Center at BPEI’s innovation called rose bengal photodynamic antimicrobial therapy (RB-PDAT):

• Broad-spectrum efficacy. RB-PDAT is active against multiple types and strains of pathogens, reducing or eliminating the likelihood of resistance.
• Non-invasive treatment. RB-PDAT is easy to administer and can avoid the need for surgery.
• Rapid complete resolution of eye infections. We believe RB-PDAT can lead to faster, better treatment outcomes compared to traditional therapies.
• Very cost effective. We also believe RB-PDAT can lead to lower direct and indirect costs for patients everywhere (e.g., operative and non-operative services, loss of wages and productivity, alternate treatments).

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

Provectus was the first entity in the world to advance the rose bengal molecule into clinical trials for the treatment of a disease, first for cancer and then later for dermatological disorders. Provectus is also the first entity, and currently the only one to date, to consistently make pharmaceutical grade rose bengal as a drug agent (i.e., active pharmaceutical ingredient) at a purity of nearly 100%. We first learned about Bascom Palmer’s use of rose bengal to fight eye infections and prevent corneal blindness using RB-PDAT from their first published paper about successfully treating the first 18 patients (Naranjo et al. 2019. Rose Bengal Photodynamic Antimicrobial Therapy for Patients with Progressive Infectious Keratitis: A Pilot Clinical Study. American Journal of Ophthalmology.). Immediately after publication, we approached Bascom Palmer to see how we could help advance their innovative ocular research to patients around the world. After five years of collaboration and trust building, and some bumps along the way, the University of Miami and Provectus launched VisiRose in December 2024 with the goal of bringing RB-PDAT to market.

How do you think this might change the world?

We believe that vision is humanity’s most treasured sense. For countless people worldwide, however, the scourge of eye infections and other eye diseases have stolen this precious faculty of sight, cloaking them in shadows, discomfort, and often perpetual darkness. VisiRose is pioneering a global revolution to protect and restore vision, starting with RB-PDAT for the treatment of IK (and later with Provectus’s RBS drug agent alone for other vision problems). Through invention, science, and technology, VisiRose is committed to reclaiming what has been lost, offering the transformative gift of renewed sight.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I understand that the essence of the Black Mirror Netflix series is the possible negative effects of technology on society and humanity, and that the Law of Unintended Consequences is often viewed as more about the negative consequences of the actions of people, corporations, and governments. I believe negative drawbacks of science and technology often come from chasing the “new new thing.” Western society is prone to ignoring simple technologies that have the ability and capacity to solve complex problems.

I believe better, affordable, and accessible healthcare can boost lives and productivity, increase income and gross domestic product, and contribute to more robust economies for everyone. I am confident Provectus’s RBS medical science can lead to life changing advancements in treatments for cancer, eye infections, and many other diseases. Our commitment lies in alleviating the burden of illness free from undue emotional, financial, and other strains on patients and their families, while ensuring sustained value for VisiRose and Provectus shareholders. I believe access to leading healthcare should never hinge on socioeconomic status or geographic location. This principle underscores our profound responsibility to the global public trust we uphold.

Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

1. Understand the needs of the community. Successful science and technology must comprehensively address real-world challenges, not just be “exciting” innovation. I believe Provectus’s RBS medical science can contribute to improving a patient’s quality of life while trying to put them on a trajectory towards the resolution of their disease, all in an affordable manner. Big Pharma can be seen to force cancer patients to strike a bargain between a few more months of life, poor quality of life during treatment, and the financial toxicity of cancer drugs.
2. Make it affordable. A compelling technology that is too expensive to produce or maintain for widespread use will ultimately fail to make a lasting impact on society. Affordability, the economic realities of patients, and long-term financial sustainability must be built into drug product design. These design parameters lie at the core of our drug development programs at Provectus and VisiRose. On the other hand, Much of the biotechnology-pharmaceutical industry focuses on charging what the market will bear for their drug products, which is an unsustainable proposition for patients and their families, our country, and the world.
3. Make it accessible. Successful technology must be designed for people of all backgrounds, income levels, and situations to use effectively and productively. At Provectus and VisiRose, we pursue drug product candidates that have the potential for broad-spectrum and ease of use, can safely and rapidly achieve complete resolution of disease, and are cost-effective to the patient. Designing drugs for the few, rather than the many, as the biotechnology-pharmaceutical industry often seems to do, is the antithesis of our scientific and business culture.
4. Design for scale. A successful technology must be able to scale to grow sustainably, irrespective of geographic, socioeconomic, or situational context. At Provectus and VisiRose, our drug agent and drug product candidates have the potential capacity to be manufactured in small and large batches reproducibly and consistently; stored for many years before re-qualification is required; stored and shipped in standard refrigeration conditions; and used at room temperature.
5. Build trust and transparency. People are more likely to adopt and benefit from technology when they trust how it works and understand its impact. Transparency helps build confidence. At Provectus and VisiRose, our RBS drug agent is a simple small molecule made simply, while our drug product candidates have one ingredient — our RBS drug agent — in addition to the medium of the product itself (e.g., a saline solution, an aqueous hydro- or other type of gel, etc.).

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

I would share with young people today that their personal journeys — to accomplish anything they believe can make a significant positive impact on society — will be extremely challenging and require their perseverance over a longer than expected time. If their desired societal impact did not demand such passion, commitment, perseverance, and resilience, it would have already been done by someone else. The greater the potential impact, the greater the challenge it will be to achieve. Their journey’s difficulty is what enables their personal growth in character, perspective, and wisdom. I truly believe that successfully completing the journey will bring them satisfaction that they will find to be priceless.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Secretary Kennedy has been quick to acknowledge he has made mistakes in his life; yet he possesses a willingness to take on extraordinarily controversial but necessarily germane issues that has resulted in unrelenting personal attacks. At a minimum, his efforts have generated important public debate of topics often considered taboo. I have been a vaccine advocate since Salk developed the polio vaccine. Secretary Kennedy’s efforts encouraged me to study current vaccine development practices, particularly those for COVID-19, which I found very troubling. I have been a numbers nerd my entire life and know statistical evaluation may not prove causation; however, such analysis should always lead someone to robustly test, if not question, the status quo. Having long been a skeptic, and then a critic, of mRNA vaccine platforms, I would love the opportunity to discuss the history and potential implications of mRNA technology development with Secretary Kennedy.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Your readers can learn more about our work at VisiRose at www.visirose.com and on LinkedIn, and about Provectus Biopharmaceuticals at www.provectusbio.com, through our Substack at provectus.substack.com and on X at @ProvectusBio.