Our Story
Dentist and inventor, Coty Fishburne, DDS (1937-2019) saw the impact of unreported dry mouth in his practice, and set about designing a consistent, absorbent paper indicator that mirrored saliva in the oral cavity in real time -- and that included a numbered scale. In 2017, Dr. Fishburne encountered Rita May, a dental consultant to the confectionery industry who had also introduced several minimally invasive products to the dental market. Together, the two formed Fishburne May, LLC to find a path to market Dr. Fishburne's remarkable concept.
With the advice of esteemed professionals, from dental researchers to paper experts, Mars Wrigley design team and industry coaches, Fishburne May's flagship product was introduced to the research community in 2023. The FishburneTabs™ for Oral Hydration a patented, simple instrument that can be used by physicians and dentists.
Sustainable Saliva Collection Platform
The Covid Pandemic refocused Fishburne May. At Tufts University, during the early weeks of the Pandemic, SARS Covid saliva samples were collected on the FishburneTabs and consequently frozen and stored for more than 3 years.
Dr. Charles Mace, associate professor of Chemistry at Tufts, is known for his studies of diagnostics in dried blood samples. Mace brought his expertise to the stored saliva samples, "repurposed" the FishburneTabs as a saliva collection device, and conducted an elegant study that validates the use of the FishburneTabs as a platform for dried saliva and sensitive molecular analysis.
The result is the FishburneTabsfor Saliva Collection (FishburneTabs®-SC) an environmentally sustainable saliva sample collection instrument. Feather-light and with minimal disposal issues, they provide easily repeatable and consistent collection for lab-based, point of care, or self-monitoring opportunities.
Leadership
Rita M May, MEd, Co-founder and CEO
Rita is an experienced non-profit manager, former executive director of the Sjorgren’s Syndrome Foundation and business manager to the American Surgical Association. As a seasoned marketing consultant, she specialized in innovative minimally invasive and prevention strategies in dentistry. Her programs introduced several dental products to the US market; she was responsible for the inclusion of xylitol as a staple in both the dental and confectionery industries. Her expertise in the salivary research spans two decades.
Thomas Buscemi, Chief Technical Officer
Thomas was formerly the Executive Vice President for a global organization primarily focused on the development and innovation of paper and plastic products for the Dental and Laboratory industries. He brings with him 40 years of experience of research and development in these fields. Thomas is currently part of a management team for a sleep science company while also functioning as a consultant on several projects in the Dental and research industries.
Scientific Advisors
Dale Athey, MBA, PhD
Dale is seasoned entrepreneur and scientist with extensive global leadership experience across public and private sectors. As a company founder and executive, he specializes in business development, while mentoring early-stage startups. Dale holds an MSc in Clinical Chemistry, PhD in Immunosensors from Newcastle University, and MBA from the Open University.
Clifton Carey, PhD
Professor, Assistant Director of Research, Department of Orthodontics Professor, Director of
Translational Research, Department of Craniofacial Biology, University of Colorado, School of Dentistry.
Clif is a teacher/scientist/entrepreneur whose passion is chemistry as applied to the study of dental
caries, saliva, biofilms, oral biome and secondary caries. He is active in standards development both
internationally (ISO) and nationally (ADA/ANSI) as the ISO convenor. In this capacity, he is U.S. chair on
toothpaste, tooth bleach products, fluoride varnishes, and analytical methods for dental product
evaluation as well as U.S. chair on oral rinses, denture adhesives and interlaboratory studies.
Much of Clif’s research has centered on caries. This includes topics such as how much fluoride is enough
to protect healthy teeth, dental restorations failure, biofilm reduction and the durability of dental
composites, mechanisms of fluoride varnishes in prevention, improving dental care products, caries risk
factors, non-fluoride (fluoride alternatives) caries prevention methods, dental forensics, and orthodontic
topics.
Michael Dodds, BDS, PhD
Michael Dodds was formerly Lead Oral Health Scientist at Mars Wrigley and is now an independent consultant with research interests in saliva and caries prevention. He holds a dental degree and PhD in Dental Sciences and is also an adjunct Associate Professor at the UIC College of Dentistry.
Prof Philip Preshaw
Philip is an established clinical academic, with an extensive track record of dental leadership and research roles spanning the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. His research expertise is in translational research at the interface between oral and general health, and in saliva analysis and testing, with over 175 publications in the scientific literature.
Margaret Scarlett, DMD
Margaret is a sought-after consultant to international health companies, consumer health groups, and non-government organizations on the prevention of infectious diseases and infection control. She is a dentist, futurist and Chief Science/Technology Officer for Digital Transformation Partners. Retired from the US Public Health Service after 20 years, her work centered on analysis of large population-based data sets from the Health Resources and Service Administration, the US Census for the National Health Interview Survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and at the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, called Big Data, she continues to work with health systems, large DSOs, and dental organizations on Artificial Intelligence in dentistry and others to advance digital transformation of dentistry, with humans at the center of decisions. She currently sits on the standards committee for the American Dental Association.
John Q. Walker II, PhD
John is a computer scientist and serial entrepreneur whose recent interests focus on real-time personalized and synthesized diagnostic data and informational services for the healthcare professional to guide individual choice. He was a founder of Ganymede, Inc. that developed LAN System software utilities for programs highly reliant on in-time information. His current enterprise, uMethod Inc, a company at the forefront precision medicine, located in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Lucian Lucia, PhD
Lucian is a scientist, teacher, and entrepreneur in sustainable materials and green chemistry. He is a globally recognized leader in biopolymer innovation serving as Professor in Forest Biomaterials and Chemistry at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Laboratory of Soft Materials & Green Chemistry. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Florida and completed postdoctoral work at The NSF Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer (University of Rochester).
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