SPEAKERS
John H. Krystal, MD (Event Co-Chair)
Dr. Krystal is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry of the Yale University School of Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Yale Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He has published over 400 papers and reviews on the neurobiology and treatment of alcoholism, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. His research program unites psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, and molecular genetics. His work on brain glutamate systems contributed to the identification of novel treatment mechanisms for alcoholism, depression, and schizophrenia that are now in development. He is the Director of the NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism, VA Alcohol Research Center, and Clinical Neuroscience Division of the VA National Center for PTSD. Dr. Krystal received the Joel Elkes Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), the APIRE/Kempf Fund Schizophrenia Research Award of the American Psychiatric Association, the Anna-Monika Foundation Prize for Depression Research, the NIAAA Jack Mendelson Alcoholism Research Award, and other awards. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was Chairman of the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors (2004-2007) and he currently serves on the NIAAA National Alcohol Advisory Council. He has served in leadership roles in several professional societies and he is currently president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Since 2006, he has edited a leading psychiatry and neuroscience journal, Biological Psychiatry.
Charles Albright, PhD
Dr. Charles Albright is the executive director and head of neuroscience at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He is working towards developing therapeutics for areas of high unmet need, including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, treatment-resistant depression, and neuropathic pain. Dr. Albright joined Dupont Pharmaceuticals in 1999, which was subsequently acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, he was an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Albright obtained a B.S. in Chemical Engineering (1980) and a Ph.D. in Biology (1989) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology before completing postdoctoral studies with Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
Robert Alpern, MD
Dr. Robert J. Alpern is the Ensign Professor of Medicine and the Dean of the Yale University School of Medicine. His research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In addition, Dr. Alpern has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine. In 1982, he joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 1987 he was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Nephrology. At Southwestern Dr. Alpern held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998 Dr. Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School until June 2004, when he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine. In 2000 he was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the Institute of Medicine and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Dr. Alpern received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1976, and received residency training in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Following this, he performed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Larry Altstiel, MD, PhD
Dr. Larry Altstiel is Vice President, Head of Clinical Neuroscience Research at the Pfizer Facility location in Groton, Connecticut. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois (Urbana) with majors in Chemistry and Physics and a Ph.D. at The Rockefeller University in New York with concentrations in Physical Chemistry, Cell Biology, and Virology. His research was concerned with virus-cell interactions. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Biological Laboratories at Harvard where his research centered on mechanisms of intracellular vesicular transport. Following his postdoctoral fellowship, he received a M.D. from the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Harlem Hospital Center and in Neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a faculty member at the Mt Sinai School of Medicine in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry. He was Director of Behavioral Neurology at the Bronx Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Chief Attending Physician in the Mt. Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Clinic, and directed a NIH funded laboratory with primary research interests in molecular genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. He served as Group Leader for Neurodegenerative Diseases at Eli Lilly with responsibilities in both discovery and clinical research in Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. Prior to joining Pfizer, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development for Schwarz Pharma.
Nancy Bachrach, PhD
Nancy Bachrach is the author of “The Center of the Universe,” a memoir of her mother. Published in 2009 by Alfred A. Knopf, it is a story so improbable that it could only be true. Reviewers have called the book - “dazzling, haunting and mordantly funny.” She is currently a senior advisor to APCO Worldwide, a public affairs firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Bachrach spent thirty years with a global advertising agency, in her own words, “spinning hot air like cotton candy.” Born and educated in New England, Bachrach holds a doctorate in Philosophy from Brandeis University.
William Boughton
William Boughton is the Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. With the NHSO he has received an ASCAP Award (2011) for Adventurous Programming and received critical acclaim for the Walton Project, with Gramophones Edward Greenfield nominating it for ‘Record of the Year’ (2010) and created the NHSO Youth Orchestra. In 1980 Boughton formed the English Symphony Orchestra and developed the ESO’s repertoire from the Baroque to Viennese classics and into contemporary music. Between 1986–1993 he was also Artistic & Music Director of the Jyvaskyla Sinfonia in Finland. After leaving Jyvaskyla he guest conducted with numerous orchestras including the London Symphony, Philharmonia, San Francisco, Royal Philharmonic, Finnish Radio, Mittel Deutsch Radio, working with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Leonidas Kavakos, Emmanuel Ax, Radu Lupu and Viktoria Mullova. In October 1993 Boughton was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Coventry University for services to British music. In 1996 he commenced a second term as Artistic Director of the Malvern Festival. Between 2000–2008 Boughton was invited to become the Artistic Director of The Nimbus Foundation and created the Wyastone Summer Series. Boughton’s musical education includes the New England Conservatory (Boston), Guildhall School of Music (London) and Prague Academy as a cellist. He entered the profession in London playing with the Royal Philharmonic, BBC and London Sinfonietta. As a conductor he studied with George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis.
Karin Briner, PhD
Dr. Briner is Vice President, Head Global Discovery Chemistry, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. She obtained her BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry and her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Zurich. She did NSF and NIH postdoctoral studies at Indiana University. In 1995, she joined Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis as Senior Organic Chemist and became soon thereafter a project leader in the Neuroscience Research area. From 2000 to 2010, she was a member of the Discovery Chemistry management team with increasing responsibilities, starting as Medicinal Chemistry Director in Neuroscience and Endocrine Research, later as Executive Director for Global Lead Optimization Chemistry and for Discovery Chemistry at the Lilly European Sites. Throughout this time up to 2007, she maintained her own research laboratory contributing new portfolio projects and delivering molecules into the clinic. From 2007 to 2010, she was Managing Director and Research Head of the Lilly Research Centre, Erl Wood, Windlesham, UK, with a focus in Neuroscience Research. In 2010, Karin became Vice President of Translational Sciences and Technologies, located in Indianapolis, with responsibilities for biomarker discovery research across all therapeutic areas, centralized in vitro screening, and structural biology. In June 2011, Karin joined Novartis as Head of Global Discovery Chemistry.
Jean-Paul Castaigne, MD
Dr. Castaigne is a senior executive with extensive international experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Prior to joining Angiochem as CEO, he was COO and CSO of Conjuchem, and previously he was Vice President, Head of Global R&D at the Fournier Group in France. In addition, Dr. Castaigne spent eleven years with Novartis in a variety of management positions, including Corporate Vice President for Canada, President and Managing Director in the Philippines and Director of Medical and R&D in France. Dr. Castaigne has also worked with CILAG (J&J) and Sanofi in France. Dr. Castaigne is member of the board of the following biotech companies: Tranzyme Pharma and Asmacure. He received his M.D. from Paris University in 1975 and held the position of Associate Professor of oncology and pneumology in 1978. Dr. Castaigne received an MBA from HEC Paris in 1987.
Jessica Chutter, MBA
Jessica Chutter is the Managing Director and Chairman of Morgan Stanely’s Biotechnology Investment Banking franchise. During Ms. Chutter’s 27-year career she has been responsible for $22Bn of capital raising and $55Bn of strategic transactions. Recent transactions include advising Alkermes on its $960MM acquisition of EDT, Cubist on its $415MM acquisition of Adolor, Endo on its $2.9Bn acquisition of AMS and Pharmasset in its $11Bn sale to Gilead. She has also been involved in the creation of a new asset class involving royalty-backed debt (“PhaRMA”) where over $4Bn has been raised. Ms. Chutter has a BA in Commerce/Honours Economics from McGill University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD
Dr. Mikael Dolsten is President of Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development (WRD), advancing the company’s scientific leadership in small molecule medicines, biotherapeutics and vaccines. He is a member of the Pfizer Executive Leadership Team and co-chairs the company’s Portfolio Strategy and Investment Committee. Dr. Dolsten oversees all research at Pfizer, as well as development of all compounds through proof of concept (POC). Before joining Pfizer in 2009, Dr. Dolsten was President of Wyeth Research. Prior to this appointment he served as Executive Vice President at Boehringer Ingelheim, responsible for R&D in the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Austria and Japan. His earlier career as a pharmaceutical research leader include positions with AstraZeneca, Pharmacia and Upjohn. Dr. Dolsten earned his Ph.D. in tumor immunology and M.D. from the University of Lund in Sweden. He studied virology and cell biology at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and has been appointed as Adjunct Professor in Immunology at the Medical Faculty in Lund. Dr. Dolsten is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a governor of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science. He serves on the Science and Regulatory Executive Committee of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and the PhRMA Foundation Board of Directors. He has authored approximately 150 scientific articles and reviews published in international journals, with particular emphasis in molecular cell biology, immunology and oncology.
Michael Ehlers, MD, PhD
Dr. Michael Ehlers is Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for Neuroscience at Pfizer, Inc. His current research focuses on the interface between neuronal cell biology, the plasticity of neural circuits, and neuropsychiatric disease. Prior to joining Pfizer in 2010, Dr. Ehlers was the George Barth Geller Professor of Neurobiology and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2003 Eppendorf & Science Prize in Neurobiology, the 2007 John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology, the 2007 Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, and the 2009 National Alliance for Schizophrenia and Depression Distinguished Investigator Award. He received the 2008 Breakthrough Research Award of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center given to a single scientist in North Carolina, and the 2013 Thudichum Medal of the Biochemical Society. Dr. Ehlers has authored over 80 scientific papers, served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and sat on advisory committees of the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the PhRMA Foundation Basic Pharmacology Advisory committee. He serves on the scientific advisory boards several private foundations and has advised major pharmaceutical, venture, and biotech companies. Dr. Ehlers earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Caltech. He holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Howard Feldman, MD
Dr. Howard Feldman is Professor of Neurology and Executive Associate Dean, Research at the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia,Vancouver, Canada. He holds academic appointments as Adjunct Professor at Yale University, Department of Neurology in New Haven, CT and at the McGill Center for Studies in Aging in Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Feldman has served as Director of the Clinic for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders and also as Head of the Division of Neurology at the University of British Columbia. In his research, Dr. Feldman has made seminal contributions to his field with scientific discoveries and clinical research focused on mild cognitive impairment/prodromal Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and diagnostic/therapeutic trials. He has contributed over 250 publications, including over 130 peer reviewed papers. His career contributions have been profiled in Lancet Neurology in 2007, and he has been appointed as Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2008 and of the American Academy of Neurology in 2007. In 2007, he was appointed as the inaugural Fisher Family and Alzheimer Society of British Columbia Endowed Professorship for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease. From 2009-2011, he took a leave from his academic appointment in Vancouver to take on a senior leadership role in neuroscience global clinical research at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where his research focused on developing novel pharmaceutical therapies for indications in Neurology and Psychiatry. His current work at UBC includes patient care, teaching and research in addition to his administrative duties.
Alice Flaherty, MD, PhD
Dr. Alice Flaherty is a joint associate professor of both neurology and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her practice is at the Massachusetts General Hospital where she is the director of the movement disorders fellowship and co-director of its deep brain stimulator unit in the neurology department. In addition to scientific papers, she is the author of The Midnight Disease (a book for general audiences on the brain’s role in writer’s block and creativity), The MGH Handbook of Neurology (a textbook), and The Luck of the Loch Ness Monster (a children’s book about picky eating). Each of her books has received national awards and had multiple translations. Two have been dramatized. She is known as an advocate for the abilities of the mentally ill, and has had many television appearances, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Flaherty’s current project on the neurology of illness behaviors was awarded a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and was the focus of the 2008 David Rockefeller Winter Institute. She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and a doctorate in neuroscience from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Alice Forrester, PhD
Dr. Alice Forrester is the Executive Director of the Clifford Beers Child Guidance Clinic in New Haven, CT. Clifford Beers Clinic is a community based, mental health center for excellence for the treatment of children and families. She is currently on Board of Directors of the Connecticut Community Providers Association, and is Past-President of National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT) and Past Chair of the National Coalition for Creative Arts Therapy Associations (NCCATA). She has a Masters degree from New York University in Drama Therapy and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fielding University.
Julio Frenk, MD, PhD
Dr. Julio Frenk is the Dean of the Faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health and T&G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, a joint appointment between the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and HSPH. Dr. Frenk served as the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, where he launched a major reform effort towards universal health insurance. Prior to that, he founded the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, which has become a premier academic center in the developing world. Dr. Frenk has also held leadership positions at the Mexican Health Foundation, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Carso Health Institute. In addition, he is chair of both the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Board and of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Board. Among other professional and scientific associations, Dr. Frenk is a member of the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico. In September 2008, he received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for changing “the way practitioners and policy makers across the world think about health.” Dr. Frenk holds a medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as three advanced degrees from the University of Michigan: master of public health, master of arts in sociology, and a Ph.D. in medical organization and sociology.
Gerald Friedland, MD
Dr. Gerald Friedland is a professor of medicine, epidemiology and public health at the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale School of Public Health. He is active in the provision of clinical care and in clinical and epidemiologic research of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Friedland's research interests lie at the interface of HIV biology, clinical care and behavior, and he directs large-scale clinical and epidemiologic studies among vulnerable populations with and at risk for HIV. Dr. Friedland also investigates how to integrate HIV and tuberculosis care in resource-limited settings, with a focus on South Africa. He also develops programs to educate health care providers in HIV care and studies transmission of antiretroviral resistance. He is the director of the AIDS program at Yale-New Haven Hospital and serves on the World Health Organization HIV/TB working group. He is a former member of the governing council of the International AIDS Society and was editor-in-chief of Journal Watch HIV/AIDS Clinical Care. He also serves as the chairman of the board of directors of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and is a trustee of the HIV Research Trust. He is a visiting professor at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Dr. Friedland received his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine.
Mark Friedlander, MD
Dr. Mark Friedlander joined Aetna in 2002 as a National Medical Director for Behavioral Health. Now, as the Chief Medical Officer for Behavioral Health, he has overall clinical responsibility for product strategy, oversight of patient management processes, design and implementation of programs and products, quality management and accreditation activities, and clinical direction. Dr. Friedlander was the clinical lead in development of a Behavioral Health Predictive Model, combining clinical, administrative and demographic inputs in combination with clinical algorithms to identify priorities for case management activities (patented). Dr. Friedlander completed his training at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and is board-certified in both Adult and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry. He began his career in 1991 as a staff psychiatrist at York Hospital in Pennsylvania. In addition, he served as a consultant to residential programs, rehabilitation communities, and a Children's Development Center. In 1993, he became Acting Medical Director for the Child Guidance Resource Centers with responsibilities including consulting, evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents for special education placements. In 1997, he became Medical Director for the outpatient department and adolescent inpatient unit at Friends Hospital in Philadelphia, with an academic appointment at The University of Pennsylvania. His achievements there also include the development of a clinic for patients with intellectual disabilities. Dr. Friedlander is a recognized clinical leader in the field of Intellectual Disability and Neuropsychiatry and has been recognized as a "Top Doc" in Philadelphia Magazine.
Tony Gibney
Tony Gibney is a former Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in New York, where he led the Firm’s East Coast biotechnology and branded specialty pharmaceutical effort. Gibney joined Merrill Lynch in 1999. He has executed over 75 lead advised M&A transactions and book-run financings, including IPO’s, follow-on offerings and convertible offerings, as well as sell-side, buy-side and corporate collaboration strategic advisory assignments for life science clients over his 16-year career in investment banking and in industry. Recent notable transactions include advising Virochem Pharma on its sale to Vertex Pharmaceuticals and advising Axcan Pharma on its sale to Texas Pacific Group. He earned a B.A. from Yale University.
Paul Greengard, PhD
Dr. Paul Greengard is the Vincent Astor Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at The Rockefeller University and Director of The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research. Greengard received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1953. He received advanced training at the University of London, Cambridge University and the National Institute of Medical Research. Upon his return to the United States, Greengard worked as Director of the Department of Biochemistry at Geigy (now Novartis) Research Laboratories, in Ardsley, New York. In 1967, he left the pharmaceutical industry to return to academia. From 1968 to 1983 Greengard served as Professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at Yale University, at which time he moved to his current position at The Rockefeller University. Over the years, Greengard’s achievements have earned him many distinguished awards including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award for Medical Research, The Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health, the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience, The National Academy of Sciences Award in the Neurosciences, the 3M Life Sciences Award of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. In the year 2000, Greengard was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system. He is an Honorary Member of the National Academies of Science in Sweden, Norway and Serbia and has been the recipient of many honorary degrees. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Anne Gatling Haynes, AIA
Anne Gatling Haynes is the CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven, a private 501c3 organization dedicated to business retention, growth and business attraction activities for the City. She has held multiple leadership roles in architecture, project management, and community development, including the Design Director/Program Manager for the City of New York, Office of the Mayor. Prior to that appointment, she was a Senior Associate at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven for over 12 years where she led the design and oversaw construction on a variety of arts, institutional and mixed-use buildings. She was the lead designer of the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison Wisconsin, and the Weber Music Hall at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She is also the co-founder of the community development project, CitySeed in New Haven. Ms. Haynes earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia School of Architecture and a Master’s Degree from Yale University’s School of Architecture.
Franz F. Hefti, PhD
Dr. Franz F. Hefti is an expert in drug discovery and development for nervous system diseases. He is President and CEO of Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company focusing on disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, and he serves on the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board of several other small biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Acumen, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., a company that developed an imaging diagnostic for Alzheimer’s disease and acquired by Lilly in 2010, and Executive Vice President of Drug Development at Rinat Neuroscience, a company with antibody programs for Alzheimer’s disease and pain indications and acquired by Pfizer in 2006. Before the years in small biotech companies, Dr. Hefti held senior management positions at Merck & Co. and Genentech, and he was Professor at the University of Southern California and Associate Professor at the University of Miami, where he carried out seminal research on therapeutic applications of neurotrophic factors. He published over 250 papers on neurotrophic factors and topics in neuropharmacology, as well as a textbook “Drug Discovery for Nervous System Diseases”. Dr. Hefti received his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich and did his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Max Planck Institute in Munich.
Staffan Hildebrand
Staffan Hildebrand has documented global aspects of HIV/AIDS on film for 25 years. In 1986 he produced his first documentary on HIV/AIDS for the Swedish National AIDS Commission. Mr. Hildebrand’s ongoing project, Face of AIDS, aims to develop an international web-based film archive on the human story of HIV/AIDS, targeting the academic world and NGO´s. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hildebrand covered the end of the war in Vietnam for Swedish National TV News. During this period he also worked as a freelance reporter for ABC News. In the 1980s Mr. Hildebrand directed several full-length feature films for the theatrical market focusing on young people’s social and cultural experiences and problems in Sweden. These films became box office hits and received media attention on teenager’s attitudes towards drugs, sex, parents, youth culture and the future. His latest documentary focusing on AIDS, "From Stigma to Hope," was produced for the Harvard@30 International Symposium by Harvard School of Public Health in 2011. It was there that Mr. Hildebrand met David Scheer, which led to producing the film for this year’s Global Health and the Arts Meeting.
Thomas Insel, MD
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., is Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the component of the National Institutes of Health charged with generating the knowledge needed to understand, treat, and prevent mental disorders. His tenure at NIMH has been distinguished by groundbreaking findings in the areas of practical clinical trials, autism research, and the role of genetics in mental illnesses. Prior to his appointment as NIMH Director in the Fall 2002, Dr. Insel was Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University. There, he was founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, one of the largest science and technology centers funded by the National Science Foundation and, concurrently, director of an NIH-funded Center for Autism Research. From 1994 to 1999, he was Director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta. While at Emory, Dr. Insel continued the line of research he had initiated at NIMH studying the neurobiology of complex social behaviors. He has published over 250 scientific articles and four books, including the Neurobiology of Parental Care (with Michael Numan) in 2003. Dr. Insel has served on numerous academic, scientific, and professional committees and boards. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and is a recipient of several awards including the Outstanding Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Insel graduated from the combined B.A.-M.D. program at Boston University in 1974. He did his internship at Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his residency at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Congressman Patrick Kennedy
Congressman Patrick Kennedy served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and is predominantly known as the author and lead sponsor of the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008. This dramatic piece of legislation provides tens of millions of Americans who were previously denied care with access to mental health treatment. Now, Congressman Kennedy is the co-founder of One Mind for Research, a newly formed national coalition that is seeking new treatments and cures for neurologic and psychiatric diseases of the brain that afflict one in every three Americans. The congressman has authored and co-sponsored dozens of bills to increase the understanding and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including the National Neurotechnology Initiative Act, the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act, the COMBAT PTSD Act, and the Alzheimer’s Treatment and Caregiver Support Act. Congressman Kennedy is a winner of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Distinguished Service Award, the Society for Neuroscience Public Service Award, the Autism Society of America Congressional Leadership Award, the Depression and Bipolar Support Paul Wellstone Mental Health Award, and the Epilepsy Foundation Public Service Award. He is also founder of the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus and the 21st Century Healthcare Caucus.
Lorence Kim, MD
Lorence Kim is co-head of the US biotechnology investment banking effort at Goldman Sachs. He has been a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking Group for twelve years. Lorence joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 as a summer associate, and was named managing director in 2008. Among his M&A transactions are the sales of MedImmune to AstraZeneca, Millennium to Takeda, Medarex to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Myogen to Gilead, Micromet to Amgen and FoldRx to Pfizer. Among his financings are transactions for Human Genome Sciences, Regeneron, Cubist and Micromet. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kim worked in various medical research and consulting positions concurrent with his graduate studies. Mr. Kim earned an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University in 1995. He earned an M.B.A. in Healthcare Management as a Palmer Scholar from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2000 and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2000.
Felicia Marie Knaul, PhD
Dr. Felicia Knaul, MA, PhD (Economics, Harvard University), is Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative where she serves as the Co-director of the Secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, an initiative she helped to found in 2009 and for which she is lead author on the report Closing the Cancer Divide released in October of 2011. She is also Senior Economist at the Mexican Health Foundation where she has led a research group focused on health and the economy since 2000. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, Dr. Knaul founded Cáncer de Mama: Tómatelo a Pecho -registered in 2010 as a Mexican non-profit association- a program that promotes research, advocacy, awareness, and early detection initiatives for breast cancer in Latin America. She has published several articles on the topic of breast cancer in low and middle-income countries in academic journals, lectures extensively on the topic both from the point of view of a patient-advocate and a researcher in health systems, and has been featured in several magazines including Science and Newsweek en Español. Her book, Tómatelo a Pecho, released in October of 2009, recounts her personal experience with breast cancer and as founder of a civil society organization. She holds a visiting academic appointment at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico. Dr. Knaul is a board member of numerous organizations and has held senior government posts at the Ministries of Education and Social Development in Mexico and at the Department of Planning in Colombia. She has also worked for several bilateral and multilateral agencies including WHO, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and UNICEF and for civil society organizations in Canada and Mexico.
Marc Laruelle, MD
Dr. Marc Laruelle is head of UCB Pharma’s Neurosciences Therapeutic Area in Belgium. The Neurosciences drug discovery effort at UCB Pharma concentrates on seizure, movement and cognitive disorders. He received his Medical Degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium in 1982. Following completion of the Belgian Neuropsychiatry Residency Program in 1988, he obtained a fellowship at the Clinical Brain Disorder Branch, NIMH, Washington DC, in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Weinberger (1990-1991). From 1991-1996, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University, working in the laboratory of Pr. Robert Innis on the development of new molecular imaging techniques. In 1996, he became Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. In 2005, he was appointed Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and became Director of the Conte Center for the study of Schizophrenia at Columbia University. In January 2006, he moved to GlaxoSmithKline in London, and was also appointed Professor of Biological Psychiatry, Division of Neurosciences, Imperial College in London. At GSK, he was Vice-President, Head of the Discovery Performance Unit (DPU) for Schizophrenia and Cognitive Disorders at GSK in Harlow, U.K, where he led the discovery effort in Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. When GSK divested from Neurosciences, he rejoined the faculty at Yale where he was appointed Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Laruelle’s academic work was recognized by the Paul Janssen Award for Schizophrenia Research from the CINP in 1996 and the International Joel Elkes Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 2004. He has authored more than 200 papers in the fields of molecular imaging, psychopharmacology, schizophrenia and cognitive disorders.
Richard Lifton, MD, PhD
Richard Lifton is Chairman of the Department of Genetics, Sterling Professor of Genetics and Internal Medicine, Director of the Yale Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Lifton's laboratory has used human genetics and genomics to identify causes of heart, kidney, and bone disease. By investigating thousands of families from around the world, his group has identified more than 25 human disease genes. These include key genes and pathways that are critical to the risk of hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and osteoporosis. These studies have provided new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these diseases, which affect more than one billion people worldwide. Dr. Lifton also chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of Merck and the NIH Advisory Committee for Large Scale Genomic Sequencing. He serves on the Governing Councils of the Institute of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of The Simons Foundation Autism Project, The Gallo Foundation of the University of California, San Francisco, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital. His honors include election to the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He has received the highest scientific awards of the American Heart Association, the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the American Society of Hypertension, the American Society of Nephrology, the International Society of Hypertension, and the International Society of Nephrology. He received the 2008 Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth, M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford, and completed clinical training in Medicine at Harvard prior to moving to Yale in 1993.
Husseini K. Manji, MD
Dr. Husseini K. Manji is Global Therapeutic Head for Neuroscience at Janssen Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC. Previously, he was Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology & Experimental Therapeutics, NIH, and Director of the NIH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Dr. Manji received his B.S. and M.D. from the University of British Columbia. He completed fellowship training at the NIMH and received additional training in cellular and molecular biology. His research has focused on the investigation of disease- and treatment-induced changes in gene and protein networks that regulate synaptic and neural plasticity. His work has led to investigation of novel therapeutics for patients with refractory psychiatric illnesses. Dr. Manji has also been involved in medical and neuroscience education and has published about the molecular and cellular neurobiology of neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of novel therapeutics.
Evan D. Morris, PhD
Dr. Evan D. Morris has been working in the field of PET and functional imaging for 20 years. He joined the Yale PET Center as Co-Director of the Imaging Section in the fall of 2009. Dr. Morris was trained as a biomedical engineer and before that as a chemical engineer. In the past, he has taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Medical Imaging, Tracer Kinetics, Biomedical Transport, and Biomedical Ethics, among others. Dr. Morris is currently interested in the use of PET imaging (of people and animals) to understand and improve treatments for Parkinson’s disease, alcoholism, smoking, and drug abuse. While in Indiana, Morris and his colleagues focused much of their efforts on the use of PET to understand what makes drugs and alcohol addictive. The work uses knowledge of neuropsychology, image processing, experimental study design, neurochemistry, and kinetic modeling.
Jeff Nye, MD, PhD
Dr. Jeff Nye is a senior R&D leader, responsible for the strategy and implementation of external R&D in the neurosciences. Previously, Jeff was Chief Medical Officer and head of Early Development for the East Coast Research and Early Development at J&J Pharma. Prior roles at J&J include VP and Head of Experimental Medicine for the East Coast, Compound Development Team Leader for Topiramate (Topamax), a blockbuster anticonvulsant and anti-migraine drug, and for Galantamine (Razadyne), a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. In the neurosciences, he led phase 2 and 3 clinical programs for schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, epilepsy and migraine. Dr. Nye was previously in discovery at Pharmacia/Pfizer where he led the CNS Discovery Genomics department and inaugurated the Gamma Secretase modulator program. He co-led the Pharmacia/Exelixis team that discovered the components of the gamma secretase and led drug discovery programs in multiple areas of psychiatry, neurology and pain. Dr. Nye received his bachelor’s in biochemistry and master’s degrees in pharmacology from Harvard, and his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Prior to industry, he was a tenured associate professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry and of Pediatrics (Neurology) at Northwestern University and Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Steven M. Paul, MD
Dr. Steven M. Paul is the Director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute and Professor of Neurology (Neuroscience) and Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was formerly the Executive Vice President of Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories (LRL) of Eli Lilly and Company. In 2005, Dr. Paul was named Chief Scientific Officer of the Year as one of the Annual Pharmaceutical Achievement Awards. Prior to assuming his position at Lilly, he served as Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH/NIH) and as Medical Director in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Paul is a member of and holds leadership positions in various professional and honorary societies and is the recipient of many honors and scientific recognitions. Additionally, he has held adjunct appointments at several universities, including the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Paul received his BA degree, Magna Cum Laude with honors in Biology and Psychology from Tulane University, in 1972. He received his Master of Science degree in Anatomy (Neuroanatomy) and his Doctor of Medicine degree, both in 1975, from the Tulane University School of Medicine.
John Puziss, PhD
Dr. Puziss is the Director of Technology Licensing at Yale University’s Office of Cooperative Research, where he leads a team of professionals who are responsible for the commercialization of technologies invented at Yale. He is a recognized expert in the licensing of university technologies and in negotiating academic-corporate collaborations. He has been a member of the Office of Cooperative Research since 2001. Prior to joining Yale, he was an Associate in Business Development and Marketing at Proteome, Inc., and a Senior Research Investigator in anti-infective drug discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Dr. Puziss received his B.S. cum laude in Microbiology from the University of Rochester, and his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Phil Hieter in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Tim Riley, PhD
Tim Riley, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President of Global Research at Nektar Therapeutics. He heads research activities for all product candidates. Riley is an accomplished scientist with diverse experience in drug discovery, intellectual property development, medicinal chemistry and process scale-up. He has played a key role in Nektar’s PEGylation programs and intellectual property portfolio. Riley also has expertise in nucleotide technology and oligonucleotide chemistry related to siRNA. Prior to joining Nektar, he held leadership roles with a variety of companies including Chimerix Inc., Oasis Biosciences (co-founder), Genta Incorporated, JBL Scientific, Inc. (now Promega Biosciences), and ICN Pharmaceuticals (now Valeant). Riley holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Kansas.
Edward Scolnick, MD
Dr. Edward Scolnick is Chief Scientist of the Psychiatric Disease Program and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, and Core Faculty Member at the Broad Institute. From February 2007 till February 2012, Dr. Scolnick was the Founding Director of the Stanley Center. He works closely with several principal investigators at the Broad, MGH and MIT towards identifying risk genes for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and using that information to develop novel therapeutics or diagnostics. In 1982, Dr. Scolnick began what would become a 22-year career with Merck & Company, Inc. Prior to joining Merck, he worked at the National Cancer Institute where he demonstrated the cellular origin of sarcoma virus oncogenes in mammals and defined specific genes that cause human cancer. He also worked at the National Heart Institute where his work defined the stop signals in the genetic code and the biochemical mechanism that produces the stops. Dr. Scolnick was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1984 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. He became a member of the Institute of Medicine in 1996. Among his many other academic honors, he was selected as Regents’ Lecturer, University of California at Berkeley, Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of ‘56 University Professor at Cornell University, and appointed to the Board of Visitors at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. He served on the Board of Directors of Merck & Co., Inc., the Board of Trustees for McLean Hospital, the Board of Directors of Millipore Corporation, as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council for the National Institute of Mental Health, and the FDA Science Board. He currently is a consultant for Clarus Ventures. Ed holds an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.D. from Harvard University Medical School.
Robert Sebbag, MD
Dr. Robert Sebbag is currently Vice President Access to Medicines at Sanofi. In his role, Dr. Sebbag participates in the company’s access to medicines strategy development for the Southern Hemisphere. Before joining Sanofi, Dr. Sebbag worked in Brussels for the European pharmaceutical industry association (EFPIA) to create a communications platform for the pharmaceutical companies operating in Europe. Prior to this appointment, he was Senior Vice President of Communications for the vaccine company, Aventis Pasteur (today known as sanofi pasteur). In addition to his activities within the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Sebbag is also teaching public health courses within the Paris hospital system, focusing on tropical parasitic diseases. Dr. Sebbag is active within the French Red Cross and has participated in numerous health missions in the Southern Hemisphere. Dr. Sebbag is a Doctor in Medicine with specialty in tropical parasitic diseases and training in psychiatry.
Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD
Nenad Sestan is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Yale’s School of Medicine (Biological and Biomedical Sciences) and member of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience. He is part of the Center for RNA Science and Medicine, the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program and collaborates in the Program in Neurodevelopment and Regeneration. The Sestan laboratory investigates how neuronal identities and synaptic circuits form during development and how they have changed during the evolution of the mammalian brain. The long-term goals of his laboratory are to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling cell type specification and regional patterning during cortical development, and how changes in genes that regulate these processes lead to changes in cortical organization during evolution and disease, i.e., to identify species-specific evolutionary changes in gene expression, neuronal identity, and connectivity that may be important for the development and evolution of the human frontal cortex. He completed his M.D. at the University of Zagreb in 1995 and received his Ph.D. at Yale University School of Medicine in 1999.
Jason D. Sibley
Jason is a Vice President at GE Equity and is a member of the healthcare investment team based in Connecticut. In addition to sourcing and underwriting healthcare growth capital investments, he is also responsible for managing several debt-to-equity restructurings in the industrial and automotive sectors and is part of the team managing GE’s legacy satellite and telecommunication assets. Prior to joining GE, he was a Vice President at Gleacher Partners, a $780MM mezzanine fund, where he completed several sub-debt and equity deals. Prior to Gleacher, Jason was a Senior Associate at American Capital (Nasdaq:ACAS). Jason was also an Associate at Morgenthaler Partners in their buyout team, where he managed a portion of $2B+ private equity capital in management buyouts and leveraged recapitalizations. Jason started his career at First Union/Wachovia Securities as a Financial Analyst in the Investment Banking group. He has a BBA in Finance from the College of William and Mary.
Matthew State, MD, PhD
Dr. Matthew State is the Donald J. Cohen Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry and Genetics, Vice Chairman for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and the Co-director of the Yale Program on Neurogenetics along with Dr. Murat Gunel. Dr. State's lab is dedicated to understanding the genetics of childhood neuropsychiatric disorders including Tourette syndrome (TS) and autism. In 2005, his lab was the first to identify a genetic mutation associated with TS, a finding that was cited as among the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of that year by Science magazine. More recently, his lab discovered a rare mutation causing Tourette in a single family that has now resulted in the launching of a clinical trial of a novel therapeutic agent, one of the only examples to date of a genetic finding leading directly to a new approach to treatment for a common psychiatric condition. In 2010, in collaboration with Dr. Gunel, the Yale Program on Neurogenetics was the first to use whole-exome sequencing to identify a novel gene causing structural brain disorders, a finding that was also cited as a top 10 scientific breakthrough of the year by Science Magazine. Dr. State is currently leading several multi-site genome wide studies of autism spectrum disorders, supported by the Simons Foundation. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University, and completed his residency in psychiatry and fellowship in child psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Yale and joined its faculty in 2001.
Rose Styron
Rose Styron is a poet, journalist and human rights activist. She has published three volumes of poetry (From Summer to Summer, Viking, 1965, Thieves’ Afternoon, Viking, 1972 and By Vineyard Light, Rizzoli, 1995) and collaborated in translations from Russian (Modern Russian Poetry and Poets on Street Corners both Viking Press). Her articles on human rights and foreign policy have been published in periodicals such as The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Republic, her interviews, book reviews and essays in American Poetry Review, The Paris Review, Ms. Magazine, Vogue, Holiday, Ramparts, The Los Angles Times, New York Times, Chicago Sun Times, etc. In the field of mental health, Ms. Styron contributed a chapter to “Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression,” edited by Nell Casey, (Harper Collins, 2002) and has spoken at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital about William Styron’s depression and its impact on the family. In 1970, Ms. Styron joined the founding group of Amnesty International USA and has since served on the board of many NGOs including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Reebok Human Rights Foundation, The Lawyers Committee For Human Rights, Equality Now and the Project on Justice (based successively at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and at Tufts University) traveling widely on their behalf in Latin America, the USSR, Central Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. Also, she has chaired PEN’s Freedom-to-Write Committee, AI USA’s National Advisory Council, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Awards. Ms. Styron currently serves on the boards of the Academy of American Poets, the Association to Benefit Children, and The Brain and Creativity Institute at USC. She is an overseer for New York University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
Thomas H. Styron, PhD
Dr. Thomas Styron is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He serves as Executive Director of the Community Services Network of Greater New Haven, a collaborative of 18 community-based not-for-profit organizations which provide a broad array of integrated community supports, include housing, employment and social opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness. Dr. Styron’s research and teaching focuses on best practices in the area of recovery-oriented care for individuals with serious mental illnesses. Dr. Styron is based at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, a public psychiatric hospital under the auspices of Yale’s Department of Psychiatry and the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, where he also oversees the psychology training program for the hospital’s outpatient and inpatient services divisions. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts.
Ian Wilson, PhD
Ian completed his DPhil in Biochemistry in 1994, and following a brief postdoctoral research position at Astra Zeneca joined Amersham International to oversee pre-clinical research activities on new contrast agents. He has been involved in the development of many contrast agents with an emphasis on PET/SPECT agents to image Alzheimer’s disease, Neurological disorders, inflammation, thrombosis, hypoxia and cancer metabolism. After 10 years with the research organization, Ian joined the Imanet Organisation to help Pharmaceutical companies’ fast track their discovery and development activities by using PET technologies to develop sensitive in vivo biomarkers to measure drug occupancy and/or measure disease in patient cohorts. In the last 5 years he has taken the responsibility to oversee the research project portfolio for GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and with particular responsibility of managing all project activities exploring new project ideas either within Medical Diagnostic research, with other GE partners, or with external organizations. Most recently Ian has become Global Head of Biology with GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostic with the responsibility of leading all biology research & development studies.
Julian Adams, Ph.D.
Julian Adams, Ph.D., is President, Research and Development at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Adams is responsible for the full spectrum of Infinity's drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development strategy, and regulatory affairs activities. Prior to joining Infinity in 2003, Dr. Adams was the Senior Vice President, drug discovery and development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. In this capacity, he had global responsibility for multiple drug discovery programs, including the successful discovery and development of Velcade® (bortezomib), a proteasome inhibitor for cancer therapy. He joined Millennium through its acquisition of LeukoSite in 1999 where he was Senior Vice President research and development. Dr. Adams joined LeukoSite as a result of its acquisition of ProScript, Inc., where he had served as a member of the founding management team, executive Vice President of research and development, and a member of the board of directors. Earlier in his career, Dr. Adams served in various positions, including director, medicinal Chemistry at Boehringer Ingelheim, where he successfully discovered the drug Viramune® (nevirapine) for HIV. Also, from 1982-1987, he was a medicinal chemist at Merck. Dr. Adams has received many awards, including the 2001 Ribbon of Hope Award for Velcade® from the International Myeloma Foundation. Dr. Adams is an inventor of more than 40 patents and has authored over 100 papers and book chapters in peer-reviewed journals. He is the editor of Proteasome Inhibition in Cancer Therapy, published in July 2004. Dr. Adams received his B.S. from McGill University and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of synthetic organic Chemistry.
Robert Alpern, M.D.
Dr. Robert J. Alpern attended undergraduate school at Northwestern University, where he majored in Chemistry. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1976, and received residency training in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Following this, he performed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1982, Dr. Alpern joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 1987 he was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Nephrology. At Southwestern Dr. Alpern held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998 Dr. Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School and in June 2004, he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine to become the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Dean of the medical school. Dr. Alpern’s research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In addition Dr. Alpern has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine. In 2000 he was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the Institute of Medicine and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Kirsten Anderson, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Kirsten Anderson is a Medical Director at Aetna where she functions as the Chief of Staff for the Chief Medical Officer. In that role she helps promote the overall strategic goals of the clinical community at Aetna. In addition, she oversees a team of analysts who examine medical trend across clinical conditions and advocate for implementation of programs to deliver effective, safe, patient-centered care. Dr. Anderson also provides strategic direction for Aetna Oncology Solutions, which is the Aetna strategy around rewarding high quality and cost effective care in Oncology. In a prior position at Aetna, Dr. Anderson was a medical director in the Northeast Region in patient management, where she was responsible for utilization management and for the implementation of high performance provider initiatives for the New England Region. She has worked as a general internist in primary care in Wallingford, CT, and has experience working as a medical director for physician organizations as well as managed care plans. Dr. Anderson is a graduate of Harvard College and obtained her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. She completed an M.P.H. at the Columbia University School of Public Health. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital and is board certified in Internal Medicine. Her professional affiliations are with the American College of Physicians and America’s Health Insurance Plans.
C. Glenn Begley, Ph.D.
C. Glenn Begley is Vice President and Global Head, Hematology and Oncology Research, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA. He is responsible for strategy, direction, coordination and integration of the research effort at Amgen sites in Thousand Oaks, San Francisco, Seattle, and Cambridge, MA. He is responsible for the on-going research effort around molecules with established clinical utility, in addition to earlier-stage clinical programs. Recent clinical-stage molecules to emerge from his group include several fully human monoclonal antibodies (AMG 655, AMG 102, AMG 479, AMG 820, AMG 888), peptibodies (AMG 386), small molecules (AMG 706, AMG 208, AMG 900) and protein ligands (Apo2-L/TRAIL in collaboration with Genentech). Dr. Begley joined Amgen in 2002. He graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1978, and undertook further training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, specializing in hematology and medical oncology. In collaboration with Prof. Donald Metcalf, Dr. Begley, identified the human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and characterized the G-CSF receptor on normal and leukemic human cells. He has been actively involved in hematopoietic stem cell research, first cloning and characterizing the stem cell leukemia (SCL) gene, involved in human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dr. Begley has also been involved in clinical studies of hematopoietic growth factors, demonstrating the utility of growth factor-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells, which has had significant impact in the field of bone marrow transplantation. He has won numerous awards and has published over 200 papers in scientific and medical journals.
Renzo Canetta, M.D.*
During his early years at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan, Italy (1974-1980), Dr. Canetta’s focus was on clinical trials in lymphomas and gastrointestinal tumors, among others. Since joining Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in 1980, Dr. Canetta has held numerous roles of increasing responsibility and leadership, including head of clinical cancer research; head of development, life cycle management; and, currently, as Vice President, oncology global clinical research. His experience can be summarized with the introduction of 16 new BMS chemical entities and the approval of over 50 regulatory dossiers for additional indications/formulations, including some outside of oncology. Dr. Canetta’s areas of expertise are focused on cancer patient care, diagnosis and experimental treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, methodology of clinical trials, and new drug development. Dr. Canetta received his M.D. in 1976 from the Universita' degli Studi, Milan, Italy; received state certification in clinical oncology in 1977 from the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan; and received his board certification in clinical and laboratory hematology in 1979 from the Universita' degli Studi, Milan.
Bruce A. Chabner, M.D.
Dr. Bruce Chabner is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Clinical Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center. Dr. Chabner graduated summa cum laude from Yale College in 1961. He received his M.D. from Harvard University cum laude in 1965, and then completed his internship and Junior residency in internal medicine at Brigham Hospital in Boston and his Senior residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Medical Center. In 1971, he joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology and participated in the training of fellows there for 24 years, including three years (1976-1979) as Chief of the Clinical Pharmacology Branch; two years (1979-1981) as Director of the Clinical Oncology Program and its fellowship programs in medical, pediatric, radiation, and surgical oncology; and, in 1981, one year as Acting Director, and for 13 years as permanent Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment, NCI. From 1971 to 1989, he maintained a laboratory program in cancer pharmacology, focusing on the mechanism of action, and resistance of antifolates and other antimetabolites, and led the development of Taxol. His research contributed significantly to the development of high dose chemotherapy regimens, and to standard therapies for lymphoma. In 1995, he joined the Massachusetts General Hospital as Clinical Director of its cancer center and Chief of Hematology/Oncology. With the formation of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, he assumed responsibilities as Associate Director for Clinical Sciences of that consortium, which includes the MGH, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He has authored and edited the standard text, Principles and Practice of Cancer Chemotherapy and Biological Response Modifiers, now in its fourth edition, has contributed the chapter on Antineoplastics in Goodman and Gilman’s textbook of Pharmacology, and has authored chapters for numerous other textbooks of internal medicine, hematology, oncology and pharmacology.
Dr. Chabner has received numerous awards, and he was the first recipient of the Bob Pinedo Award for Contributions to Improvement in the Care of Cancer Patients. Dr. Chabner is a Senior editor for the Oncologist and serves on the executive advisory boards for some of the industry’s leading innovators in drug development. In 2006, Dr. Chabner received a Presidential appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board at the National Cancer Institute.
Robert De Santis, M.S.
Robert DeSantis has been developing innovative products in the medical deVice industry for over twenty years. He has been an instrumental innovator and leader in developing ground-breaking products that have revolutionized surgery and fostered minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Robert has spent most of his career with Covidien Surgical DeVices, which traces its roots back to US Surgical in Norwalk, CT. Robert manages the Research and Development group responsible for development of Covidien’s mechanical instrumentation, laparoscopic deVices and intelligent instruments. Robert has a Master of Science degree in Bio-mechanical Engineering from the University of Buffalo. He holds eleven patents with twenty-two applications pending. Robert lives with his wife and son in Redding, CT, and is expecting a daughter in April.
Daniel DiMaio, M.D., Ph.D.*
Dr. Daniel DiMaio is the Waldemar von Zedtwitz Professor and Vice Chairman of Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Scientific Director and the Deputy Director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also a Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Molecular Biophysics and BioChemistry at Yale. He is the director of the Molecular Virology Program at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, and former director of the Division of Biological Sciences at Yale University.
Dr. DiMaio is an expert in molecular and viral oncology. By gaining insights into the molecular Biology of carcinogenesis and cell growth, Dr. DiMaio hopes to develop new approaches to prevent or treat cancer and other diseases. His laboratory discovered that the bovine papillomavirus E5 protein transforms cells by activating the cellular PDGF receptor and that continuous expression of human papillomavirus oncogenes is required to maintain the proliferative state of cervical cancer cells. He has developed a new system to study tumor suppressor mechanisms, developed genetic methods to identify new cellular genes required for tumor virus infection, and is also exploiting his understanding of viral proteins to develop novel methods to influence cellular phenotype and virus replication. His honors include a Swebilius Cancer Research Award, an NIH MERIT Award, and the Mallinckrodt Scholar Award. He was elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a fellow of the American Academy of MicroBiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he Chaired the DNA Virus Division of the American Society for MicroBiology. In 2001, he was named the Outstanding Mentor in the Natural Sciences by the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
After graduating from Yale College summa cum laude in 1974, Dr. DiMaio earned both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from John Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard, and joined the Yale faculty in 1983. Dr. DiMaio was a Senior editor of the Journal of Virology and is currently on the Editorial Board of Annual Reviews of MicroBiology.
Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D.
Mikael Dolsten is the President of Worldwide Research and Development at Pfizer, advancing Pfizer's leadership in small molecule science and medicines, biotherapeutics and vaccines. Mikael is also co-Chair of the company's Portfolio Strategy and Investment (PSI) Committee, which governs major pipeline investments and strategic R&D priorities. Mikael oversees all Pfizer research and biotech units in PharmaTherapeutics and BioTherapeutics: Antibacterials; Cardiovascular, Metabolic & Endocrine Diseases; Internal Medicine; Neuroscience; Oncology; Pain & Sensory Disorders; Regenerative Medicine; Indications Discovery; Inflammation & Immunology; Orphan & Genetic Diseases; Center for Therapeutic Innovation; Vaccine R&D; CovX; Rinat; and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics. WRD also includes these global science-based groups: Medicinal Chemistry; Drug Safety R&D; Pharmaceutical Sciences; Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics & Metabolism; Comparative Medicine; Clinical Research; Clinical Programs; Development Operations; Development & Strategic Operations; External R&D Innovation; Research Centers of Emphasis; and Asia R&D. Previously, Mikael held executive and research leadership positions at Wyeth, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Pharmacia and Upjohn. Mikael earned his Ph.D. in tumor immunology and M.D. from the University of Lund in Sweden. He also studied virology and cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and has been appointed as Adjunct Professor in Immunology at the Medical Faculty in Lund. Mikael has published several patents and about 150 articles in international journals with particular contributions in areas such as molecular cell Biology, immunology and oncology. In July 2010, Mikael was elected a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He is an appointed Governor of the New York Academy of Sciences. A member of the Science and Regulatory Executive Committee of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Mikael also serves on the PhRMA Foundation Board of Directors.
Daniel B. Dubin, M.D.
Daniel Dubin is the Vice Chairman, Chief Knowledge Officer and Founder of MEDACorp. He has been an advisor to institutional investors and corporate life sciences clients since 1996. Dr. Dubin is also a member of the Management Committee and Chair of the Commitment Committee at Leerink Swann.
He was an instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and has held staff appointments at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. While at Brigham and Women's Hospital, he served as Ambulatory Medical Director of Clinical Dermatology and as a member of the Clinical Executive Committee.
Dr. Dubin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship in internal medicine and a residency in Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has published over 30 manuscripts in medical journals and textbooks and performed a NIH training fellowship at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center. He serves as a Director of Leerink Swann, Eleme Medical, and NanoBio Corporation. He is the former Chairman of MetaWorks, Inc.
Leonard Farber, M.D.
Leonard Farber is a Medical Oncologist, and after 35 years of private practice, he is now a physician at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale, caring for both inpatients and outpatients. This has allowed him to continue his primary interest, caring for patients with cancer, as well as participate in clinical research and teaching of medical students, residents and fellows. Dr. Farber came to Yale in 1969 for a fellowship in Medical Oncology, and he remained in New Haven to start a practice. During that time, he authored or co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, and was promoted to Clinical Professor of Medicine in 1986. By the time he left his practice in 2005, it had grown to include 22 physicians and eight offices in south-central Connecticut. After several years as Clinical Director of the Hospital of St. Raphael's Cancer Center, Dr. Farber took his position at Smilow. He has been involved with The American Society of Clinical Oncology, serving on three of its committees and speaking at the annual scientific sessions. Dr. Farber lives in Branford with his wife Stephanie. They have a daughter Lauren, a pediatrician, and a son Paul, a lawyer, and three grandchildren.
Mark Faries, M.D.
Dr. Mark Faries is a recent recruit to the Yale School of Medicine, arriving in September 2010. Previously, he was an Associate Member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA. His clinical practice and research has focused on patients with melanoma, and he is excited to become a part of such an active group of dedicated melanoma clinicians and scientists here. Before moving to California in 2002, Dr. Faries received training in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and earned his medical degree from Cornell. His undergraduate education was at Haverford College. At Yale, Dr. Faires continues to treat patients with melanoma and he is initiating several therapeutic clinical trials in lymph node mapping, immunotherapy and regional perfusion.
Mark Fishman, M.D.*
Mark C. Fishman, M.D. is President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and a Member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. He leads all worldwide discovery and early clinical activities of Novartis from the research headquarters in Cambridge, MA. The goal of NIBR scientists is to change the practice of medicine, focusing on therapeutics for diseases, no matter how rare, where suffering is great and the scientific underpinnings strong. This approach has increased dramatically the number of new drugs entering and transitioning though clinical trials, especially using biological therapeutics. New medicines from these recent efforts have reached registration for cancer, autoimmune, and respiratory diseases.
Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Fishman was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the founding Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center of the MGH. During that time, he trained more than 80 post-doctoral fellows and students, as well as clinical Cardiology fellows. His labs’ discoveries opened a new field of Biology. Through the use of genetic screens in the zebrafish, they discovered many of the fundamental principles, and genes, that fashion form and function of vertebrate organ systems. Dr. Fishman has been honored by many awards and distinguished lectureships, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institutes of Medicine of the National Academies (USA).
Keith Flaherty, M.D.
Dr. Keith Flaherty received his B.S. from Yale University and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and completed a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined the faculty through 2009, when he moved to the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center as the Director of Developmental Therapeutics. Dr. Flaherty’s primary focus has been to perform clinical trials with molecularly targeted therapies aimed at blocking oncogene signaling and tumor angiogenesis in melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. In this context, he has led multidisciplinary research teams in each area and has been supported by the NIH through K23 and RO1 funding. He has led numerous first-in-human trials as well as NCI cooperative groups trials investigating the clinical effect and predictive markers of novel targeted therapy regimens. He is internationally known for expertise in clinical and translational research directed against signal transduction pathways in melanoma, having led both the first and definitive trials with BRAF inhibitors in metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF mutations. His current research seeks to understand the hierarchy of oncogenes and signal transduction pathways toward the goal of developing rational targeted therapy combination regimens. Through the conduct of the first clinical trials with this approach, Dr. Flaherty seeks to expand the degree to which therapy is personalized based on the genetic underpinnings of an individual cancer.
Julio Frenk, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Dr. Julio Frenk is dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, where he is the T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development. Dr. Frenk holds an M.D. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and an M.P.H., M.A. (Sociology) and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Frenk was founding director of the Center for Public Health Research in Mexico's Ministry of Health from 1984 to 1987, and from 1987 to 1992, founding director-general of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, guiding its emergence as one of the developing world's most respected and innovative centers of education and research in public health. At HSPH, he was a Visiting Professor from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2008. He served from 1995 to 1998 as executive VP of the Mexican Health Foundation and director of its Center for Health and the Economy. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Executive Director of Evidence and Information for Policy at WHO. As Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, Dr. Frenk pursued an ambitious agenda to reform the nation's health system, with an emphasis on redressing social inequality and establishing a program of comprehensive national health insurance, known as Seguro Popular. After completing his term, Dr. Frenk served as a Senior fellow in the global health program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as President of the Carso Health Institute in Mexico City. He is currently Chair of the board of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. A member of the U.S. Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico, he has served on the editorial boards of more than a dozen publications, and has been associated with the faculties of the University of Michigan and several universities in Mexico.
Michael Fuchs, B.A., J.D.
Michael Fuchs joined HBO in 1976 to develop original cable programming, the first of such programming for the fledgling cable industry, and was named Chairman and chief executive officer of HBO in 1984. Under his leadership, HBO became the largest and most successful pay-television company in the world. This original fare transformed HBO from primarily a cablecaster of movies after their theatrical release to a network noted for the breadth and quality of its original programming, its uniqueness, and its social relevance. HBO won 6 Oscars; 79 Emmys; 17 Golden Globe Awards; 15 George Foster Peabody Awards; and numerous other awards during Mr. Fuchs’ 19 years there. In 1995, Mr. Fuchs became Chairman of the Warner Music Group (WMG), responsible for the overall management of HBO and WMG for the world's leading entertainment company, Time Warner, Inc. Mr. Fuchs currently is an active investor and entrepreneur, primarily in the media and real estate areas. He is CEO of Concourse Health Sciences, LLC, a special pharmaceutical development company.
Mr. Fuchs has received many honors, including induction into the Broadcasting & Cable Magazine Hall of Fame (1994) and the Cable Hall of Fame (2005); Vanity Fair Magazine’s Television Hall of Fame; the Milton Petrie Award from The National Victim Center (1992), the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Distinguished SerVice Award (1989); the National Alzheimer's Association Rita Hayworth Award (1989); the National Cable Television Association's Vanguard Award for Programming Excellence (1988); the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Humanitarian Award (1996); and the People For the American Way's Spirit of Liberty Award (1996). Mr. Fuchs was also an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning the television drama, In the Gloaming, in 1997. In addition, he serves as the Chairman and a director of Autobytel.com Corporation. Mr. Fuchs is also an honorary member of the board of directors for The American Foundation for AIDS Research and served on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association. His memberships include the board of trustees for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an honorary trustee of the American Film Institute (AFI), the advisory board for the Creative Coalition, and the Chairman of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation. Mr. Fuchs holds a B.A. degree in political science from Union College in Schenectady, New York and earned a J.D. from New York University Law School.
Susan Galbraith, M.D., Ph.D.*
Susan Galbraith trained as a Clinical Oncologist in the United Kingdom. She studied Medicine at Manchester and Cambridge Universities, completing internal medicine training in hospitals in Cambridge and East Anglia. She was admitted to Membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 1992, and trained in Clinical Oncology in London. She gained Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists in 1997. She completed a Ph.D. at the University of London studying Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI in a Phase I trial of a novel vascular targeting agent.
Susan continued her interest in the use of biomarkers in drug development following her move to the Clinical Discovery Oncology group at Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2001. She led the brivanib Early Development Team and fostered the integration of pharmcogenomics and imaging biomarkers into many Phase I and II trials. Susan was closely involved in the in-licensing of ipilimumab from Medarex in 2003, elotuzumab from PDL, the acquisitions of Adnexus and Medarex and the research collaborations with Exelixis. She was promoted to VP Clinical Discovery Oncology and Immunology, and since 2007 six oncology compounds progressed through this proof of confidence decision point.
In 2008, Susan became VP for the Clinical Biomarker group, with responsibility across all therapeutic areas, in addition to maintaining leadership for Oncology Discovery Medicine. She has driven a strategic review and implementation of a new approach to the biomarker development process. In addition, her team developed an outsourcing strategy, utilizing opportunities in India and China and delivering annual productivity savings of $1 Million. Her team has played a key role in developing companion diagnostic strategies across the BMS portfolio, including Kras mutation as a predictive marker for Erbitux, and understanding the effects of Cyp 2C19 polymorphisms on response to Plavix. Susan has a passion for developing Oncology drugs and the leadership skills and experience of the people within her team. She has a track record of delivering against a strategic vision focused on the science of cancer Biology and drug development.
Richard Gaynor, M.D.*
Richard B. Gaynor, M.D., joined Eli Lilly and Company as Vice President for Cancer Research and Clinical Investigation in August, 2002. Currently, Dr. Gaynor is Vice President, Product Development and Medical Affairs, Oncology Business Unit.
Dr. Gaynor received his B.S. in Biology from Texas Tech University and his M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UTSW). He served his internship and residency in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, TX. He completed a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine and then served on the faculty there. He received board certification in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. Prior to joining Lilly, Gaynor was a Professor of Medicine and MicroBiology at the UTSW and held several important leadership positions. He was Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at UTSW and Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center there in addition to his work as the Lisa K. Simmons Distinguished Chair in Comprehensive Oncology. He served on numerous NIH advisory committees and was elected to both the American Society of Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians.
Gaynor is on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has an extensive publication record of more than 140 scientific articles. He serves on the board of the Damon-Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and the Walther Cancer Institute and on several committees for the American Association of Cancer Research and other leading cancer organizations.
Hans-Peter Gerber, Ph.D.
Hans-Peter Gerber received an M.S. in BioChemistry and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He joined Genentech in 1995 as a visiting scientist, where he spent 11 years in research studying the mechanisms involved in the regulating blood vessel formation and developing therapeutic antibodies interfering with tumor angiogenesis. Dr. Gerber was a member of several teams reviewing preclinical and clinical data from trials conducted with Avastin (Bevacizumab), a therapeutic antibody blocking the angiogenic factor VEGF-A. In March 2006, he joined Seattle Genetics as head of the Translational Biology Department, where he contributed to the development of therapeutic antibodies and ADCs including SGN-35, SGN-40, SGN-75 and SGN-19A targeting hematopoietic malignancies and solid tumors. In April 2009, he joined Wyeth Discovery Research Oncology in Pearl River, NY. After the acquisition by Pfizer in late 2009, he is leading the Vascular Biology/Bioconjugate group at the Oncology Research Unit East, in Pearl River, NY, where he is building a program to develop novel Biotherapeutics, including antibody drug conjugates targeting tumor and stromal cells.
Rinko Ghosh, M.B.A, M.S.
Rinko Ghosh joined Nektar in May 2001 and serves as their Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer. He has 20 years of experience in biopharmaceutical, healthcare and energy-related industries. His primary responsibilities at Nektar have included business and corporate development, marketing, strategic planning, portfolio evaluation and alliance management. He is a member of the Executive Committee at Nektar and has been instrumental in closing large, revenue-generating transactions and building long-term alliances with Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Baxter, Roche, Pfizer, Merck, Amgen, BMS, UCB, Affymax/Takeda, and Covidien. He has completed more than 40 business transactions over his career across North America, Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining Nektar, he was engaged as Commercial Development Consultant at Aviron (now Astra Zeneca/MedImmune) in Palo Alto, CA. Before Aviron, he was co-CEO of a biotechnology startup in Asia. Earlier, as a consultant with A.T. Kearney in San Francisco, CA and with Environ Corp, in Princeton, NJ, he worked with multi-national clients in healthcare and energy industries. Mr. Ghosh has been actively involved with non-profits, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He has served on several non-profit boards where has helped resolve issues related to board governance, general management and strategic planning. Mr. Ghosh earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Howard Hochster, M.D.*
Howard S. Hochster M.D., is Associate Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. He is an active Attending Physician at the Smilow Cancer Hospital and is Director of GI Oncology at the YCCC. He recently arrived at Yale after 30 years at NYU Medical Center where he was Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, NYU School of Medicine in the Divisions of Medical Oncology and the NYU Cancer Institute. Dr. Hochster is a well-known international figure in Gastrointestinal Cancer treatment and in developing new drugs to the clinic for these diseases. He has been recognized as one of the “Top Oncology Doctors in America” and in the New York area for many years. He has Chaired and published numerous clinical trials in the area of cancer drug development. He serves as Principal Investigator for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group at Yale and its affiliated institutions. He also is a member of the NSABP cooperative group colon cancer steering committee, and will be Chairing the next national adjuvant colon cancer study. He was national director of Early Drug Development for Aptium Oncology Research Network and now serves on the steering committee of the Aptium GI Cancer Consortium (AGICC). He reviews grants regularly for NIH, the Israel Cancer Foundation, and for the Cancer Research UK. He serves on the DSMB for international phase III trials. He has promoted cancer research and practice in New York City as President of the New York Cancer Society from 2005-2006. He is on the ASCO program committee and was Chair of the colorectal track in 2010.
His research interests include topoisomerase-1 inhibitors and new therapies of gastrointestinal cancers. His numerous publications of early clinical trials include those dealing with scheduling of the topo-1 inhibitors and their pharmacodynamics, oxaliplatin development, newer fluoropyrimidines and anti-metabolite pharmacodynamics and targeted therapy. He received an NIH grant to investigate Fluorine Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in patients with pancreatic cancer receiving gemcitabine. He has been highly instrumental in advancing the treatment of colon cancer and has been a pivotal investigator in bringing both oxaliplatin and bevacizumab into clinical use. He recently Chaired the national TREE and CONCEPT studies integrating oxaliplatin and bevacizumab-based therapy for improved treatment of colorectal cancer.
Melinda Irwin, Ph.D., M.P.H.*
Melinda L. Irwin, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an associate professor in the Yale School of Public Health and co-director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Irwin's research focuses on how lifestyle/behavioral factors influence cancer risk and survival. She is particularly interested in examining the biological mechanisms that mediate the relationship among obesity, physical activity, and breast cancer. Dr. Irwin is the principal investigator of a number of projects at Yale University and collaborates on various national projects and initiatives focused on lifestyle factors and cancer survivorship. She has received funding from the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Komen Foundation, Livestrong, and has published her research findings in top medical journals. Dr. Irwin also serves on various national advisory committees to develop consensus statements on physical activity, diet, weight, and cancer survivorship.
Shabnam Kazmi, B.A., M.B.A.*
Shabnam Kazmi is Vice President-Oncology, Patient and Branding Strategy for Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. Shabnam has worked in leadership commercial roles on three of the top oncology products -- Eloxatin, Taxotere and Erbitux -- and is currently working on patient adherence programs to support patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Prior to Otsuka, Shabnam headed up licensing across all therapeutic areas for the U.S. business of Sanofi-Aventis, and held commercial roles in HIV and oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. She has worked on over a dozen oncology drugs and developed patient-oriented programs across colon, breast, prostate, lung and pediatric cancers for which she has received several awards. Shabnam has a Bachelors Degree in BioChemistry and Economics from Smith College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Rick Klausner, M.D.*
Dr. Richard Klausner formerly served as the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he led one of the world’s largest research and health agencies, creating successful national and international programs aimed at applying science and technology to improving the public health. Following his serVice at the NCI, Dr. Klausner was the executive director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health program, whose overarching goal is to improve global health equity. Dr. Klausner is currently a managing partner of The Column Group, a strategy-based venture fund. Dr. Klausner also serves as advisor to the Prime Ministers of India and Norway and Senior advisor for global development to USAID and the U.S. Secretary of State.
Dr. Klausner is well known for his work in cell and molecular Biology. He served as chief of the cell Biology and metabolism branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He has served on numerous advisory committees and is the past President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is the author of more than 300 scientific articles and several books, and has received numerous awards and honors. Dr. Klausner served as a Senior fellow at the National Academies of Science (NAS), advisor to the Presidents of the Academies for counter terrorism, and liaison to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In addition, Dr. Klausner led the efforts of the National Academies of Science to write standards for science education for the United States. He is a member of the NAS and the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Felicia Knaul, M.A., Ph.D.*
Felicia Knaul, MA, Ph.D. (Economics, Harvard University), is director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. As director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, she serves as the Secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, a program she helped to design and establish. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, Dr. Knaul founded Cáncer de Mama: Tómatelo a Pecho - recently registered in Mexico as a not-for-profit – an institution that promotes research, advocacy, awareness, and early detection initiatives for breast cancer in Latin America. Her book, Tómatelo a Pecho, released in October of 2009, recounts her personal experience with breast cancer and as founder of the program.
Dr. Knaul has more than 120 academic and policy publications and holds visiting academic appointments at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, and the Mexican Health Foundation where she has led a research group focused on health and the economy since 2000. Dr. Knaul is a board member of numerous organizations including: the Union for International Cancer Control; the International Advisory Board on Cancer for the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; the Electronic Living Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Cancer Survivorship Research at Princess Margaret Hospital; the Harvard-Mexico Foundation; as well as, the Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi Center of Excellence in Breast Cancer in Saudi Arabia.
She has held Senior government posts at the Ministries of Education and Social Development in Mexico and at the Department of Planning in Colombia. She has also worked for several multilateral agencies including WHO, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and UNICEF. Dr. Knaul is Canadian, and resides in Boston and Mexico City. She and her husband, Dr. Julio Frenk, have two children, Hannah and Mariana Havivah.
Richard Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.
Richard Lifton is Chairman of the Department of Genetics, Sterling Professor of Genetics and Internal Medicine, Director of the Yale Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale School of Medicine. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth, M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford, and completed clinical training in Medicine at Harvard prior to moving to Yale in 1993.
Dr. Lifton's laboratory has used human genetics and genomics to identify causes of heart, kidney, and bone disease. By investigating thousands of families from around the world, his group has identified more than 25 human disease genes. These include key genes and pathways that are critical to the risk of hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and osteoporosis. These studies have provided new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these diseases, which affect more than one billion people world-wide.
Dr. Lifton also Chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of Merck and the NIH Advisory Committee for Large Scale Genomic Sequencing. He serves on the Governing Councils of the Institute of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of The Simons Foundation Autism Project, The Gallo Foundation of the University of California, San Francisco, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital. His honors include election to the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He has received the highest scientific awards of the American Heart Association, the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the American Society of Hypertension, the American Society of Nephrology, the International Society of Hypertension, and the International Society of Nephrology. He received the 2008 Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences.
Kevin Lokay, B.A., M.B.A.
Kevin G. Lokay joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2009 as Vice President and Head of the U.S. Oncology Business Unit, which is expected to launch three products across five indications over the next five years. Prior to joining BIP, Kevin served on the scientific advisory board at Paul Capital and the Board of Directors at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, and was an advisor to Dynavax Corporation. Kevin also served as President of the Americas for the EUSA Pharma where he oversaw the transition of the merger of Cytogen Corporation into EUSA Pharma. Kevin was also Chief Executive Officer at Cytogen Corporation in Princeton, NJ. In this role, Kevin successfully led the recapitalization of Cytogen through the merger into EUSA Pharma. Prior to joining Cytogen Corporation, Kevin was the Business Unit Head of Oncology and Acute Care at GlaxoSmithKline where he led the launch of four new products, led an organization of 491 people, and was responsible for sales of over $2.2 billion. Prior to joining GSK, Kevin spent l6 years with Merck, where his most recent assignment was Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Development – Merck Vaccine Division.
Kevin has experience in pharmaceutical sales, market research, advertising, marketing and business development, while gaining experience in a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including antihypertensives, anti-arrythmics, antibiotics, analgesic/anti-inflammatories, psychotherapeutics, vaccines, and gastro-intestinal products. He holds an M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, and a B.A. in Economics from Lafayette College. He serves on the Board of Directors for the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Ruth McCorkle Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
Dr. McCorkle is the Florence S. Wald Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing, Professor of Epidemiology, and was Program Leader of Cancer Control at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center from 1998 to 2010. She was recently appointed Assistant Director of Psychosocial Oncology Research. An international leader in cancer nursing, education, and cancer control research, Dr. McCorkle has done landmark research on the psychosocial ramifications of cancer. Dr. McCorkle has had continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1983. Currently, she is the principle investigator of “An Intervention to Improve Outcomes in patients with Advanced Cancer,” a grant funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. Dr. McCorkle joined the faculty of the Yale School of Nursing in 1998 to assume a leadership of the institution’s doctoral program and was the founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Chronic Illness.
Christopher McLeod, M.S.
Throughout his career, Christopher McLeod has demonstrated expertise in growing companies through strategic collaborations, innovative marketing, and new product development. Mr. McLeod has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of 454 Life Sciences since February 2005, and managed the integration with Roche Diagnostics following its acquisition in 2007. He currently oversees the development, manufacturing and marketing worldwide of the company's innovative DNA sequencing technology and products. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President of CuraGen from November 1999, where he oversaw bioinformatics, strategic business development, and collaborative research, including the negotiation of strategic partnerships with Abgenix, Bayer and TopoTarget A/S. Prior to joining CuraGen, Mr. McLeod spent over two years as Chief Executive Officer of Havas Interactive (formerly Cendant Software), a leading international software developer, whose annual revenues increased in excess of 60 percent during his tenure. Prior to heading Havas Interactive, Mr. McLeod served as Executive VP and Director at CUC International where he was President of the CompuCard division, marketing affinity membership programs with partners including Citibank, Sears, Bank One and Chase.
Mr. McLeod earned his B.S. magna cum laude with a dual major in economics and engineering and applied science from Yale University and his M.S. in management from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. McLeod serves on the boards of Sacred Heart University and the CT Yankee Council, Boy Scouts of America.
Ira Mellman, Ph.D.*
Ira Mellman received his A.B. degree from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. degree from Yale University School of Medicine (YUSOM). He was a postdoctoral fellow and later Assistant Professor at The Rockefeller University in NY. Dr. Mellman joined the faculty of YUSOM in 1981 in the Department of Cell Biology, which was then headed by Nobel Laureate, Dr. George E. Palade, whom he eventually succeeded as Chair. Dr. Mellman has also been a long time Member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and a member of its scientific advisory board, and was previously the Scientific Director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center. The recipient of many honors, named lectures, and awards including Yale’s prestigious Sterling Professorship, Dr. Mellman is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences, an elected foreign member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), a former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cell Biology, and a member of the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals. Dr. Mellman is the scientific founder of CGI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Athersys, Inc., and an advisor to many research institutes and foundations. In nearly 200 major publications, Dr. Mellman’s research has explored the relationship between basic cellular organization and higher order cellular function. His group has made seminal contributions to our understanding of how external molecules are identified and captured by cells, revealing how pathogens are internalized by dendritic cells, the cell type responsible for initiating nearly all immune responses. The work has also examined how individual cells form complex epithelial tissues and how cells and tissues are regulated by oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Dr. Mellman’s research is yielding insights of direct clinical benefit in the areas of cancer and chronic inflammation.
Dr. Mellman began at Genentech in the spring of 2007, as VP of Research Oncology. Responsible for the largest component of Genentech’s discovery efforts, Dr. Mellman leads all aspects of oncology research and has initiated new activities in multiple areas to bring the best of basic science to the discovery of new therapeutics in cancer.
Roslyn Meyer, Ph.D.
Dr. Roslyn Milstein Meyer is a Clinical Psychologist, and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. She is the co-founder, with her husband Jerome Meyer, of the Milstein Meyer Center for Melanoma Research and Treatment at the Yale School of Medicine, and a Patient Advocate for the Yale Skin SPORE (an NIH-funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence). Dr. Meyer is on the Advisory Board of Women's Health Research at Yale, and received their Women of Vision Award in 2008. She received the Yale Medal in 2009 for her contributions to the Yale community. Dr. Meyer co-founded Leadership, Education, Athletics in Partnership (LEAP) in 1991, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in 1996. She is a social activist and a community builder, and as the result of her own experiences with cancer, has become much more active in issues concerning drug development and access, clinical trial design, and patient empowerment. Dr. Meyer has three children - Rebecca, Michael and Jamie, and a granddaughter, Lucy. She is the survivor of stage 4 metastatic melanoma.
Kevin Mills, Ph.D.
Kevin Mills was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He first developed an interest in Biology in high school, and early on that interest was cultivated by a very dedicated Biology teacher. Kevin then attended the University of Colorado (Boulder) majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a minor in BioChemistry. Kevin received his Ph.D. in Biology in 1999 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his work on the mechanisms of cellular aging. This was followed by postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School (Boston), in the fields of molecular immunology and cancer Biology. In 2005, Kevin moved to The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME, to continue his work in cancer. The Mills Laboratory has been working since that time to understand the molecular and genetic origins of cancer, to uncover new methods for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and to develop new cancer treatment strategies based on knowledge of biological systems.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Ph.D.
Siddhartha Mukherjee was born in New Delhi, India. He went to school at St. Columba’s School. He majored in Biology at Stanford University, and won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University where he earned his Ph.D. in immunology. After graduation, he attended Harvard Medical School to train as an internist and won an oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Mukherjee is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University in New York. He is also a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center. He lives in New York and is married to the MacArthur award-winning artist, Sarah Sze. They have two daughters.
In 2010, Simon & Schuster published his highly-regarded The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, detailing the evolution of diagnosis and treatment of human cancers from ancient Egypt to the latest developments in chemotherapy and targeted therapy. The Oprah magazine listed it in its "Top 10 Books of 2010." It was also listed in "The 10 Best Books of 2010" by The New York Times and the "Top 10 Nonfiction Books" by Time magazine. The book was nominated for the Barnes and Noble Discover prize (one of three books). In 2011 The Emperor of All Maladies: A History of Cancer was nominated as a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, one of the most prestigious prizes for writing in the United States.
John Puziss, Ph.D.*
Dr. John Puziss is the Director of Technology Licensing at Yale University’s Office of Cooperative Research, where he leads a team of professionals who are responsible for the commercialization of technologies invented at Yale University. He is a recognized expert in the licensing of university technologies and in academic-corporate collaborations. He has been a member of the Office of Cooperative Research since 2001. Prior to joining Yale, he was an Associate in Business Development and Marketing at Proteome, Inc., and a Senior Research Investigator in anti-infective discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Dr. Puziss received his B.S. cum laude from the University of Rochester, and his Ph.D. in MicroBiology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Chris Takimoto, M.D., Ph.D.
Chris H. Takimoto, M.D., Ph.D., graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Stanford University in 1979, and in 1986 he received both his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and his M.D. degree from Yale University. After residency training in Internal Medicine at UCSF in 1989, he moved to Bethesda, MD, to complete a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1993 and another fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the Uniformed Services University (USN) of the Health Sciences in 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he served as a Senior Investigator in the Developmental Therapeutics Department in the Medicine Branch at the NCI and as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the USN. In 2000, he moved to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) as an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology. From 2004 to 2007, he held the position of Director of Pharmacology at the Institute for Drug Development (IDD) at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) in San Antonio, TX, where he was also the Zachry Chair for Translational Research. Dr. Takimoto was also an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the UTHSCSA. In 2007, he became one of the founding members of the South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) in San Antonio, an independent oncology clinical research center dedicated to early trials in oncology drug development. In 2008, Dr. Takimoto was recruited to Ortho Biotech Oncology R&D, a Johnson & Johnson company, where he is currently VP and head of Translational Medicine Early Development.
Dr. Takimoto's research interests include the pharmacology of new anticancer agents in clinical development, oncology drug development, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, Phase I clinical trials, and novel treatments for gastrointestinal malignancies. He has published over 100 research articles, reviews, editorials, and book chapters. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Investigational New Drugs, and several other oncology publications.
Jerry Zeldis, M.D., Ph.D.*
Jerome B. Zeldis is CEO of Celgene Global Health and Chief Medical Officer of Celgene Corporation, Summit, NJ. Prior to that, he was Celgene’s Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs. He attended Brown University for an A.B., M.S., followed by Yale University for an M.Phil., M.D., Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and BioChemistry (immunoChemistry). Dr. Zeldis trained in Internal Medicine at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences and Gastroenterology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He was Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, Davis, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical School and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Prior to working at Celgene, Dr. Zeldis worked at Sandoz Research Institute and Janssen Research Institute in both clinical research and medical development. He has been a board member of start-up biotechnology companies and is currently on the board of the Semorex Corporation, NJ chapter of the Arthritis Foundation and the Castleman’s Disease Organization. He has published 112 peer-reviewed articles and 24 reviews, book chapters, and editorials.
2011 VANGUARD AWARD
Joseph R. Bertino, M.D.
Joseph R. Bertino, is University Professor of medicine and pharmacology, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and is the interim director of the school's Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick. He was named interim director of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in 2007. He has been an American Cancer Society professor since 1976. Dr. Bertino joined The Cancer Institute of New Jersey in 2002 as associate director and was appointed chief scientific officer in 2004.
Prior to joining The Cancer Institute of New Jersey at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Bertino served as Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program, and member and co-head of the Program in Developmental Therapy and Clinical Investigation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. From 1973 to 1986, Dr. Bertino served as director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, including director of the center and associate director for clinical research. Dr. Bertino has been internationally recognized for his role in finding curative treatments for leukemia and lymphoma.
During his academic career, Dr.Bertino has received several awards and honors for his research accomplishments, including the Rosenthal Award from the American Association of Clinical Research, the Karnofsky Award from the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Currently, he is the associate editor for Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research and also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Cancer. Dr. Bertino served as President for the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 1976, and President of the American Association for Cancer Research in 1995-96. Dr. Bertino is the author and co-author of more than 400 scientific publications. His research elucidated the mechanisms of methotrexate resistance in experimental models, and in cancer patients, has helped shape optimal methotrexate administration schedules. This has provided a foundation for rational design and development of anticancer agents. His laboratory is studying the relationship between tumor suppressor gene abnormalities and drug resistance, and the use of drug resistant genes to protect bone marrow from chemotherapy toxicity. In addition to this gene therapy research, Dr. Bertino’s lab also is focusing on umbilical cord blood expansion in stem cell research.
Robert J. Alpern, M.D.
Dr. Robert Alpern, Dean, Yale School of Medicine, attended undergraduate school at Northwestern University, where he majored in Chemistry. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1976, and received residency training in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Following this, he performed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1982, Dr. Alpern joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 1987 he was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Nephrology. At Southwestern Dr. Alpern held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998 Dr. Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School and in June 2004, he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine to become the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Dean of the medical school. Dr. Alpern’s research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In addition Dr. Alpern has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine. In 2000 he was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology. He has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Institute of Medicine, and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Larry Altstiel, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Larry Alstiel is Vice President, Head of Clinical Neuroscience Research at the Pfizer Facility location in Groton, Connecticut. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois (Urbana) with majors in Chemistry and Physics and a Ph.D. at The Rockefeller University in New York with concentrations in Physical Chemistry, Cell Biology, and Virology. His research was concerned with virus-cell interactions. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Biological Laboratories at Harvard where his research centered on mechanisms of intracellular vesicular transport. Following his postdoctoral fellowship, he received a M.D. from the University Of Miami School Of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Harlem Hospital Center and in Neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a faculty member at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry. He was Director of Behavioral Neurology at the Bronx Veteran’s Administration Hospital, Chief Attending Physician in the Mt. Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Clinic, and directed a NIH funded laboratory with primary research interests in molecular genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. He served as Group Leader for Neurodegenerative Diseases at Eli Lilly with responsibilities in both discovery and clinical research in Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. Prior to joining Pfizer, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development for Schwarz Pharma.
Amy Arnsten, Ph.D.
Dr. Amy F.T. Arnsten, Professor of Neurobiology and Director of Graduate Studies, Neurobiology at Yale School of Medicine has been studying molecular influences in PFC for more than 25 years, and has extensive experience leading a large multi-disciplinary research team. Her group has recently discovered that regulation of ion channels on dendritic spines can powerfully determine the connectivity of cortical networks in a highly dynamic and flexible manner, and that inadequate regulation of these pathways can have devastating effects on cognition. Environmental and genetic insults in these signaling pathways contribute to cognitive impairment in normal aging, mental illness, and possibly Alzheimer’s Disease. This work has already led to two new treatments in use in humans: prazosin for PTSD, and guanfacine (IntunivTM) for ADHD and related disorders. Dr. Arnsten feels these success stories demonstrate the validity of our basic research to human health. Dr. Arnsten received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Brown University and her Ph.D from the University of Calfornia, San Diego, with post-doc studies at the University of Cambridge, U.K. and Yale University.
Sreeganga Chandra, Ph.D.
Dr. Sreeganga S. Chandra, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Yale, earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from India. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biochemistry from Purdue University in 1997. In her postdoctoral research, she pursued her interest in neuronal cell biology and neurodegeneration, first, in the lab of Edward H. Koo at the University of California, San Diego (1998) and subsequently with Thomas C. Südhof at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (1998 to 2006). She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and in the Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair. Dr. Chandra and her lab are interested in addressing questions regarding synapse autonomy, synapse maintenance and neurodegeneration. Recently, they identified a presynaptic system for the prevention of synapse loss and neurodegeneration involving the co-chaperone Cysteine String Protein a (CSPa) and a-synuclein. They are currently working on achieving a detailed molecular understanding of this presynaptic pathway. Her aim is to further investigate the functions of the ubiquitin-proteosome pathway in synapse maintenance and neuroprotection and in the lab uses mouse genetics in combination with biochemical, biophysical and neurobiological approaches to address these problems.
Pietro De Camilli, M.D.
Dr. De Camilli is Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director Program In Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair at Yale University School of Medicine. A native of Italy, De Camilli studied at the Liceo Manzoni in Milan, earned his M.D. degree from the University of Milano in 1972 and obtained a postgraduate degree in medical endocrinology from the University of Pavia in Italy. He was a postdoctoral fellow (1978-79) with Paul Greengard in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale, and subsequently an assistant professor in the Section of Cell Biology chaired by George Palade, also at Yale (1979-1981). He returned to the University of Milano at the end of 1981 as an associate professor, and in 1988 he moved back to Yale as a tenured associate professor in Department of Cell Biology, becoming a full professor and an HHMI investigator in 1992, and in 2003 he was awarded the Eugene Higgins professorship. He chaired the Yale Cell Biology department from 1997 to 2000, and since 2005 is a founding Director of the Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair. He was elected to membership in European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1987, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 2001, and the Institute of Medicine (USA) in 2005.
Gordon Edelstein, Artistic Director
Mr. Edelstein is in his eighth season as Long Wharf Theatre’s Artistic Director. In addition to his work on the world premiere of Athol Fugard’s Have You Seen Us?, Mr. Edelstein will also direct and adapt Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House later in Long Wharf Theatre’s 2009-10 season. In addition, Mr. Edelstein will direct Coming Home at Berkeley Rep this year and The Glass Menagerie starring Judith Ivey this spring at Roundabout Theatre in New York City. His recent productions of Arthur Miller’s The Price and Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (which he also adapted) were on numerous best of 2007 lists including the Wall Street Journal. As a director, he has garnered three Connecticut Critics Circle Awards and during his tenure at Long Wharf Theatre, the theatre has produced world premieres by Paula Vogel, Athol Fugard, Craig Lucas, Julia Cho, Noah Haidle, Dael Orlandersmith, and Anna Deavere Smith. Over the course of his career, he has also directed and/or produced premieres by Philip Glass, Arthur Miller, Paula Vogel, Donald Margulies, James Lapine, Charles Mee, Mac Wellman, and Martin McDonagh, among many others, and has directed an extremely diverse body of work from Sophocles to Pinter, and from Shakespeare to Beckett. Under his artistic leadership, Long Wharf Theatre has received 14 additional Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including six best actor or actress awards in plays that he directed. He was also given the organization’s Tom Killen Award, given annually to an individual who has made an indelible impact on the Connecticut theatrical landscape. Mr. Edelstein has directed countless plays and workshops for Long Wharf Theatre including the world premieres of BFE (transfer to Playwrights Horizons), The Day the Bronx Died (transfer to NY and London), A Dance Lesson, and The Times, as well as We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, A New War, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Anna Christie, The Front Page, and Mourning Becomes Electra, starring Jane Alexander. Prior to assuming artistic leadership of Long Wharf Theatre, Mr. Edelstein helmed Seattle’s ACT Theatre for five years. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in History and Religious Studies from Grinnell College in 1976 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Grinnell College in 2003.
Howard Feldman, M.D. F.R.C.P.C
Dr. Howard Feldman is Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head in Neuroscience, Global Clinical Research and Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He has been the Professor and Head of the Division of Neurology, University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, Canada (2001-8), and has held the positions of Director of the Clinic for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Related Disorders at UBC Hospital and the Fisher Family and Alzheimer’s Society of British Columbia Endowed Professorship for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging in Montreal.
Dr. Feldman has made important contributions to his field with his original research in the areas of mild cognitive impairment, frontotemporal dementia and clinical diagnostic/therapeutic trials in AD. He has been a very active clinical researcher in epidemiology, biomarker development and experimental therapeutics in dementia. He has over 250 publications including over 120 peer-reviewed papers. He has lectured globally and received numerous awards for his research and clinical work, including having his contributions profiled in Lancet Neurology in 2007 and having been appointed as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2008.
Michael Fuchs
Michael Fuchs is CEO of Concourse Health Sciences, LLC, a special pharmaceutical development company, and a Trustee of Long Wharf Theatre. Mr. Fuchs holds a B.A. degree in political science from Union College in Schenectady, New York and earned a J.D. from New York University Law School. In 1976 following an 18-month association with the New York office of the William Morris Agency he joined HBO and in 1984 he was named chairman and chief executive officer of HBO. Under his leadership, HBO became the largest and most successful pay-television company in the world. Mr. Fuchs pioneered HBO’s original programming, which was the first original programming on cable. In May of 1995, Mr. Fuchs became chairmanship of the Warner Music Group. He left Time Warner in November 1995 and has been an active investor and entrepreneur, primarily in the media and real estate areas since then. Mr. Fuchs has received many honors over the years and has been a member of the board of directors for many associations including The American Foundation for AIDS Research, Alzheimer’s Association the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. He is a member of the board of trustees for the New School University, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and an honorary trustee of the American Film Institute (AFI). He is a member of the advisory board for the Creative Coalition and is also the Chairman of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation.
David A. Hafler, M.D.
Dr. Hafler is the Gilbert H. Glaser Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine and is the Neurologist-in-Chief of the Yale-New Haven Hospital. He graduated magna cum laude in 1974 from Emory University with combined B.S. and M.S. degrees in biochemistry, and the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1978. He then completed his internship in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins followed by a neurology residency at Cornell Medical Center-New York Hospital in New York. Dr. Hafler received training in immunology at the Rockefeller University and at Harvard, where he joined the faculty in 1984. He is one of the Executive Directors of the Program in Immunology at Harvard Medical School and is on the faculty of the Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology program where he has been actively involved in the training of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Hafler has been elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, The American Neurological Association, the Alpha Omega Society, and was a Harvey Weaver Scholar of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He is currently a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the Journal of Experimental Medicine, and is co-founder of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies.
Dr. Hafler is a clinical scientist with over 300 publications in the field of autoimmunity and immunology. He received the 1st National Multiple Sclerosis Five Year Collaborative Center Award for tackling the MS genetic effort. Hafler leads the NIH Autoimmunity Prevention Center Grant at Harvard, and is a Jacob Javits Merit Award Recipient from the NIH. Dr. Hafler is a founding member of the International MS Genetic Consortium, a group recently formed to define the genetic causes of MS including scientists from the University of Cambridge and University of California, San Francisco.
David Holtzman, M.D.
Dr. Holtzman attended the Honors Program in Medical Education at Northwestern University receiving his B.S. (1983) and M.D. (1985). He did his medical internship followed by Neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco, from 1985-1989. He then did post-doctoral research training in the lab of William C. Mobley, MD, PhD, at UCSF from 1989-1994. At UCSF, he also established the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Clinic and was an Assistant Professor from 1991-1994. He moved to his own laboratory at Washington University in December of 1994. He was named as the Associate Professor of Neurology in 2001, Professor in November of 2002, and as the Andrew and Gretchen Jones Professor and head of the Department of Neurology in October 2003. In addition to his laboratory, administrative, and teaching duties, Dr. Holtzman is involved in clinical and research activities at the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Past honors include being the recipient of a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar Award in Aging Research, the 2003 Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology for research on Alzheimer's, election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2004), receiving a MERIT award from the NIA (2004), a 2006 recipient of the MetLife award on Alzheimer's disease, and election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2008.
Arthur Horwich, Ph.D.
Dr. Horwich is a Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at Yale University and an Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He attended Brown University and holds a number of honors including being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 2003; Gairdner International Award, 2004; Stein and Moore Award of The Protein Society, 2006; Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, 2007; Rosenstel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Sciences, 2008; Institute of Medicine, 2008; Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, 2008. Dr. Horwich’s research interest is in Chaperones in protein folding ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Studies of the past decade have shown that many diseases of neurodegeneration are the result of protein misfolding, and he is seeking an understanding of the mechanism of such degeneration. His lab has focused on misfolding caused by mutant forms of the anti-oxidant cytosolic enzyme SOD1 (superoxide dismutase), that produce an inherited form of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), with progressive, fatal motor neuron dysfunction.
Husseini K. Manji, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.
Dr. Husseini Manji is Global Therapeutic Head, Neuroscience, Johnson+Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. He was previously Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology & Experimental Therapeutics, NIMH, and director of the NIH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. He is also a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. Dr. Manji received his B.S. (Biochemistry) and M.D. from the University of British Columbia. He completed a fellowship at the NIMH and training in cellular and molecular biology at the NIDDK. Dr. Manji has received numerous research awards. He has published extensively on the molecular and cellular neurobiology of severe neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of novel therapeutics. He has been editor and associate editor of several journals, and sits on the editorial board of numerous journals. Dr. Manji has been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM), is a Councilor of the ACNP, chaired the ACNP’s Task Force on New Medication Development, and is immediate past president of the Society of Biological Psychiatry.
Vincent Marchesi
Vincent Marchesi is the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Pathology and Director of the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. As a research pathologist he studied the properties of cell membrane proteins for many years. Recently his interest has focused on the pathogenesis and clinical course of adult neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Marchesi aims to identify and develop biological markers that will allow early diagnosis and the monitoring of new therapies. Marchesi is a member of the National Academy of Science and the Institute of Medicine.
Lennart Mucke, M.D.
Dr. Mucke is Director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. After completion of his medical studies in Berlin and Göttingen, he did his thesis research in neurophysiology and neuroanatomy at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. Dr. Mucke trained in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He did a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroimmunology and neurovirology at the Scripps Research Institute where he was then appointed to the faculty. In 1996, Dr. Mucke was recruited to head a new program in molecular neurobiology in San Francisco resulting in the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease. Dr. Mucke has joint appointments in UCSF’s Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Program, Biomedical Sciences Program, and Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics. Dr. Mucke has served on many national review panels, teaches and is the recipient of numerous awards. His research contributions have resolved puzzling discrepancies between clinical and pathological findings and provided guidance in the development of novel treatments for these conditions. As director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, he has developed a vigorous program for research and training in disease-related neuroscience at UCSF.
Steven M. Paul, M.D.
Dr. Paul is Executive Vice President for Science and Technology, Lilly Research Laboratories, having joined the company in April 1993. In 2005 he was named Chief Scientific Officer of the Year at one of the annual pharmaceutical achievement awards. At Tulane University in 1972 Dr. Paul received a B.A. degree, magna cum laude with honors, in biology and psychology and in 1975 he received a M.S. degree in anatomy and neuroanatomy and his M.D. degree from the Tulane University School of Medicine. He was an intern in neurology at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and served as a resident in psychiatry and an instructor in the department of psychiatry at The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. Prior to joining Lilly, Dr. Paul served as scientific director of the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), in Bethesda, MD; professor of psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine; and chief of the clinical neuroscience branch, as well as chief of the section on preclinical studies at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He is a member of various editorial and professional societies and the recipient of many honors and scientific recognitions including being elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has more than 500 papers and invited book chapters, and he was listed as one of the most highly cited neuroscientists in the world (1980-2000) by the Institute for Scientific Information (I.S.I.), Philadelphia, PA. He is chairman of the executive board of PhRMA's Science and Regulatory Committee and on the board of BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization).
Marina R. Picciotto, Ph.D.
Dr. Picciotto is currently the Charles B.G. Murphy Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Neurobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. She joined the Yale faculty in 1995, after having completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Jean-Pierre Changeux in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Neurobiology at The Rockefeller University in New York City in 1992, where she worked in the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience under Paul Greengard. She received a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Stanford University, Stanford, California, in 1985. She is currently Senior Editor in the Behavioral/Cognitive/Systems section of the Journal of Neuroscience and Handling Editor of the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research. In 1999 she received the Human Frontiers Science Foundation 10th Anniversary award, in 2000 she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering by President Clinton and in 2007, she was honored with the Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award for Innovative Research in Drug Addiction and Alcoholism by the Society for Neuroscience. The goal of Dr. Picciotto's research team is to understand the role of single molecules in complex behaviors related to learning, depression, and addiction.
Darci Picoult, Playwright
Ms. Picoult is an actor-turned playwright and this is the world premiere of her play, Lil’s 90th. Her one woman show, My Virginia, was presented in theatres and solo festivals both nationally and internationally. Her play, Jayson with a Y (currently titled A Good Life) was produced by the New Group in New York City. She is also developing her play Mother Daughter Variations with director Lisa Peterson. Other plays include Ancient Lights and Making the World Round, which were workshopped at New York Theater Workshop and read at Lincoln Center as part of the New York Public Library Reading Series. She is a 2005 Sundance screenwriting fellow, having participated in the 2005 Sundance Feature Film Labs with her screenplay Mother of George and is the recipient of the 2006 Maryland Film Fellowship Award, the 2006 Annenberg Film Fellowship Program and was one of three finalists from the United States for the Sundance NHK award. Ms. Picoult taught writing for the Legacy Project at the Public Theater and currently teaches acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts/New York University. She is the recipient of the 2008 National Theater Conference’s Paul Green Award for her playwriting.
David Scheer
Mr. Scheer is President of Scheer & Company, Inc., a firm founded in 1981, with activities in venture capital, corporate strategy, and transactional advisory services (corporate alliances, licensing arrangements, divestments, mergers, and acquisitions) exclusively in the life sciences. In venture capital, Mr. Scheer has been involved in the founding and has been a member of the Board of Directors of ViroPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ, “VPHM”), OraPharma, Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (of which he was Chairman, acquired by Pfizer), Sopherion Therapeutics, Inc (of which he was Chairman). His current portfolio of companies and directorships include Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ, “ACHN”), Tengion, Inc., Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Optherion, Inc. (the latter three of which he is serving as Chairman). From 1991 through 1999, he was affiliated with the health care investing team at Oak Investment Partners. He has served as a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard School of Public Health, and of the Advisory Committee to the Harvard Malaria Initiative. Mr. Scheer is a Trustee of the Long Wharf Theatre, in New Haven, CT. He received his A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, and his M.S. from Yale University.
Stephen M. Strittmatter, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Stephen Strittmatter earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, summa cum laude, in 1980. He completed M.D. and Ph.D. training at Johns Hopkins in 1986 with mentorship from Solomon H. Snyder, M.D. He then moved to Massachusetts General Hospital for a medical internship and an Adult Neurology residency. While at Massachusetts General Hospital, he worked as a Research Fellow with Mark Fishman, M.D., exploring the molecular basis of axonal guidance. After a year as Fellow, he served briefly as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School before moving to Yale University in 1993. He holds the Vincent Coates Professorship of Neurology and co-founded the Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair (CNNR). His research on axonal growth during development and regeneration has been recognized by honors from the Ameritec Foundation, the John Merck Fund, the Donaghue Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Jacob Javits Award of the NINDS and the American Academy of Neurology.
Mary Tinetti, M.D.
Recently named a 2009 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Dr. Mary Tinetti is the Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of the Program on Aging at Yale School of Medicine and has been on faculty since 1984. Dr. Tinetti received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan and completed a geriatric and clinical epidemiology fellowship at the University of Rochester following an internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota. She was the first investigator to identify that older adults at risk for falling and injury could be identified, that falls and injuries were associated with a range of serious adverse outcomes, and that multifactorial risk reduction strategies were both effective and cost-effective. Her most recent research focus is on clinical decision-making for older adults in the face of multiple health conditions. She has over 150 publications and several reviews and book chapters. Dr. Tinetti is a member of the Institute of Medicine and several boards and committees including the American Geriatrics Society and the Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging, and the Nonprescription Drug Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration. She has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Geriatrics Society; the Joseph T. Freeman and Powell Lawton Awards from the Gerontological Society of America; the Irving Wright Award from the American Federation of Research; the John Eisenberg Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine; and the Greppi Prize from the Italian Gerontological and Geriatric Society.
Christopher H. van Dyck, M.D.
Dr. Christopher H. van Dyck is a graduate of Yale College and Northwestern University Medical School. He completed his residency in psychiatry, fellowship in geriatric psychiatry, and research fellowship in neuroimaging at Yale University School of Medicine. He subsequently joined the faculty at Yale where he is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology and Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit. Dr. van Dyck’s research includes neuroimaging of Alzheimer’s disease and the pharmacologic treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. He is a Steering Committee member and Yale site Principal Investigator for the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (National Institute of Aging) as well as PI on grants from the NIH, industry and private foundations. He received the prestigious Junior Investigator Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (1996) and serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. He has participated in several invited presentations at national and international meetings and has authored over 100 papers, abstracts, and reviews. In 2005 he received the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Compassion and Cure” Award and is Chairman of the Medical Scientific Advisory Committee for the Connecticut Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. He is intimately involved with local program development, advocacy, and
2009 HIV/AIDS event
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Gerald Friedland, MD
Dr. Friedland is the Director of the AIDS Program at Yale New Haven Hospital, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine, and Visiting Professor at the Nelson. R Mandela School of Medicine of the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, South Africa and the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University.
Dr. Friedland has been directly involved in the care of people living with HIV and AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in 1981. This work has included the development of comprehensive programs providing care and treatment for vulnerable, urban populations, initially in the Bronx, New York and since 1991, in New Haven, Connecticut. He has developed and directed large-scale clinical and epidemiologic studies among people with and at risk for HIV disease. His group presented the first convincing evidence of lack of transmission of HIV by close personal contact, defined the predictors of HIV transmission and natural history of HIV disease among injection drug users and the risk of reactivation of tuberculosis among those co-infected with M.Tuberculosis and HIV. More recently, Dr. Friedland has worked on clinical trials of antiretroviral therapies. He is currently the Principal Investigator of New England ProACT, a regional AIDS clinical trials network specializing in antiretroviral therapy clinical trials. Dr. Friedland’s research also has focused on studies at the interface of biology, clinical care and behavior, including adherence to HIV therapies and the integration of prevention strategies and clinical care.
During the past decade, Dr. Friedland has become increasingly involved in HIV/AIDS international care and research aimed at providing access to antiretroviral therapy in resource limited settings, most notably, in South Africa. The major focus of this work is the integration of HIV and TB care and treatment in co-infected patients with the aim of improving diagnosis, treatment and outcome of both diseases. This work has led to the discovery of extensively resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) as a major cause of death among HIV/TB co-infected patients in South Africa and now focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and reduction of transmission of multiple drug resistant (MDR) and XDR TB in HIV co-infected patients. Dr. Friedland directs and participates in several research projects addressing these issues in rural and urban South Africa, supported by charitable research foundations and the National Institutes of Health.
PARTICIPANTS
Robert J. Alpern, M.D.
Dr. Robert J. Alpern attended undergraduate school at Northwestern University, where he majored in Chemistry. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1976, and received residency training in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Following this, he performed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1982, Dr. Alpern joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 1987 he was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Nephrology. At Southwestern Dr. Alpern held the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. In July 1998 Dr. Alpern was appointed Dean of Southwestern Medical School and in June 2004, he moved to the Yale University School of Medicine to become the Ensign Professor of Medicine and Dean of the medical school. Dr. Alpern’s research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In addition Dr. Alpern has been highly committed to teaching and clinical medicine. In 2000 he was elected President of the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and has served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. He was recently elected to the Institute of Medicine.
Nancy R. Angoff, M.D.
Nancy Rockmore Angoff, M.D., M.P.H., M.Ed., is Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Yale University School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine. As an attending at Yale New Haven Hospital and the Nathan Smith Clinic at Yale, she specializes in the care of persons with HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Angoff started Yale medical school in 1986 at the age of 39 and at the height of the early HIV/AIDS epidemic. Her medical school thesis was written on “Do Physicians Have an Ethical Obligation to Care for Patients with AIDS?” After finishing a residency at Yale in internal medicine, she began caring for patients at Nathan Smith Clinic, the HIV/AIDS Clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital. In 1998 she was named Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Yale University School of Medicine but continues her active HIV/AIDS practice. She ran an elective course that paired first year medical students with an HIV provider and a patient with HIV who the student followed during medical school taking on increasingly more responsibility for the care of the patient. Her other interests include using literature to teach about medicine, teaching cultural awareness, medical ethics and the process of becoming a physician including development of a sense of professionalism. Dr. Angoff brings to her role as Associate Dean a rich background in education as former English teacher and guidance counselor. In addition, she has been a member of the Yale New Haven Hospital Bioethics Committee for fourteen years.
Choukri Ben Mamoun, Ph.D.
Dr. Ben Mamoun holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Section of Infectious Disease at Yale School of Medicine. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Section of Microbial pathogenesis at Yale School of Medicine. His principal fields of interest include understanding the mechanisms of pathogenesis of malaria, the mode of action of antimalarial drugs, and drug and vaccine development.
Dr. Ben Mamoun received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Paris XI in Orsay, France, in the field of molecular microbiology and genetics. Between December 1996 and December 2000 he held a position of a Research Associate of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, USA. His research at Washington University School of Medicine focused on understanding the molecular basis of survival of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in human red blood cells. He developed new technologies for genetic manipulation of this organism and established the first large-scale genomic analysis outlining the regulation of gene expression during the parasite life cycle.
Prior to his arrival at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Ben Mamoun held the positions of Assistant Professor (2001-2006) and Associate Professor with tenure (2006-2008) in the Department of Genetics and Development Biology at University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He served as a principal investigator, directed microbiology and medical parasitology courses, and lectured on various topics in the areas of microbiology, genetics, and pathogenesis. He also served as a chairman of the Institutional Biosafety committee and was a member of the UCHC Dental Education Council. His research at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine focused on understanding the molecular basis of parasite replication and pathogenesis. He developed the first conditionally lethal transgenic Plasmodium falciparum strain. This strain is currently being evaluated as an attenuated malaria vaccine. His current research at Yale School of Medicine aims to develop novel strategies for malaria prophylaxis and treatment.
Dr. Ben Mamoun received, among other awards, the Robert Leet & Clara Gutthrie Patterson Award in 2001 and the Burroughs Wellcome Award in Infectious Disease in 2006. He has authored thirty-five peer-reviewed publications including papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Eukaryotic Cell. He served on a large number of scientific review panels including the National Institute of Health (U.S.) study sections, the US Department of Defense infectious disease and wound healing and vaccine review panels, the Israel Science Foundation, the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) and the Medical Research Council (U.K.). He is a regular lecturer on the subject of malaria research both in the United Stated and abroad.
Michael Cappello, MD
Michael Cappello MD is a Professor of Pediatrics, Microbial Pathogenesis, and Epidemiology & Public Health at the Yale School of Medicine. He graduated from Brown University in 1984 with a degree in Biomedical Ethics and received his MD from Georgetown University in 1988. After residency and fellowship training, he joined the Yale faculty in 1996. Dr. Cappello has developed a laboratory and field based research program focused on the study of hookworms, bloodfeeding intestinal parasites that infect nearly one billion people in developing countries. In 2006, he was named a Global Health Ambassador by the Paul G. Rogers Society of Research!America, the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Dr. Cappello received the 2007 Bailey K Ashford medal, awarded by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene “for distinguished work in tropical medicine.”
In addition to his research, Dr. Cappello also provides clinical care as an Infectious Diseases specialist at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and serves as Co-Director of the Yale International Adoption Clinic. In 2002, he founded the Yale Program in International Child Health, which coordinates and develops global initiatives in Pediatric research, clinical care and medical education. In 2007 the Program established a bi-directional training program with the University of Ghana aimed at building African research capacity in Global Infectious Diseases. Also in 2007, Yale President Richard Levin appointed Dr. Cappello Director of the Yale World Fellows Program, a University-based initiative that provides academic enrichment and professional development to emerging international leaders across multiple disciplines, with a goal of building a network of individuals dedicated to effecting positive global change.
Karina Danvers
Karina Andrea Danvers is the Director of the Connecticut AIDS Education and Training Center at Yale School of Nursing. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master’s in Women’s Studies. Karina has worked in the AIDS field for the past 19 years and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Connecticut Commissioners AIDS Leadership Award for “Exceptional Commitment in Providing Advocacy and Support for People Living with HIV/AIDS,” The Yale School of Nursing Martin Luther King Award for “Service to the Community, and The United Nations Award as “One of the 100-Top Women in Connecticut.” In her work, she provides information on realistic and workable tools regarding HIV/AIDS that can be implemented by providers, patients, and communities on a daily basis.
Milind Deshpande, Ph.D.
Milind Deshpande joined Achillion in September 2001 as Vice President of Chemistry, was named Head of Drug Discovery in April 2002, Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery in December 2002, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in December 2004, and Executive Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer in June 2007.
Prior to joining Achillion, Dr. Deshpande was Associate Director of Lead Discovery and Early Discovery Chemistry at the Pharmaceutical Research Institute at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1991 to 2001, where he managed the identification of new clinical candidates to treat infectious and neurological diseases. From 1988 to 1991, he held a faculty position at Boston University Medical School. Dr. Deshpande received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Ohio University, following his undergraduate education in India.
Christopher D. Earl, PhD
Dr. Christopher D. Earl is President and CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to harness the resources of the biotechnology industry to create new medicines for neglected diseases of the developing world.
Over the past 30 years, biotechnology has revolutionized medicine in the developed world. In the developing world, however, millions of patients die each year from infectious diseases of poverty because we don’t yet have modern medicines to prevent, treat and diagnose deadly pathogens. Biotechnology can make major inroads in treating neglected diseases — and offer hope for cures in our lifetimes.
BVGH breaks down barriers that hinder industry initiatives in global health product development. Our organization fosters collaboration among stakeholders in industry, philanthropy, academia, and government, and catalyzes industry investment through the creation of new market-based incentives.
Dr. Earl previously served as Managing Director of the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, L.P., a leading investor in later-stage life science companies, where he managed investments in biopharmaceutical companies and served as a director on portfolio company boards. Earlier in his career, Dr. Earl was President and CEO of Avitech Diagnostics, Inc., and a General Partner of Plant Resources Venture Funds.
Dr. Earl serves on the board of Asuragen, Inc., and is a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. Dr. Earl received a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University.
Gordon Edelstein
Erol Fikrig, M.D.
Erol Fikrig M.D. is the Waldemar von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the Yale University School of Medicine, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his B.A from Cornell University and his M.D. from Cornell Medical College. His laboratory develops vaccines and therapeutics for emerging arthropod-borne diseases such as Lyme Disease, West Nile encephalitis, Anaplasmosis, Dengue fever, and malaria. He has been a Pew Scholar, an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, and the visiting Boerhaave Professor at the University of Leiden. Dr. Fikrig received the Burroughs Wellcome Clinicial-Scientist Award in Translational Research, and a MERIT award from the National Institute of Health. His research has been funded, in part, by the National Institute of Health, the Center for Disease Control, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Arthritis Foundation.
Michael Fuchs
Michael Fuchs was named chairman and chief executive officer of HBO in October of 1984. He joined HBO in 1976 with the assignment to develop original cable programming for HBO, the first of such programming for the fledgling cable industry. Under his leadership, HBO became the largest and most successful pay-television company in the world. HBO International, developed under Mr. Fuchs, has interests in HBO services throughout the world, including Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
HBO has been widely recognized for its original programming, much of which has been acknowledged for its uniqueness and social relevance. Mr. Fuchs pioneered HBO’s original programming, which was the first original programming on cable. This original fare transformed HBO from primarily a cablecaster of movies after their theatrical release, to a network noted for the breadth and quality of its original programming. HBO won 6 Oscar awards; 79 Emmy Awards; 354 Cable Ace Awards; 17 Golden Globe Awards; 15 George Foster Peabody Awards; and 2 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards during Mr. Fuchs’ 19 years there.
In May of 1995, Mr. Fuchs added the chairmanship of the Warner Music Group to his portfolio, becoming responsible for the overall management of HBO and Warner Music Group for the world's leading entertainment company, Time Warner, Inc.
Mr. Fuchs left Time Warner in November 1995 and has been an active investor and entrepreneur, primarily in the media and real estate areas since then. Currently Mr. Fuchs is CEO of Concourse Health Sciences, LLC, a special pharmaceutical development company. Mr. Fuchs has also given speeches at universities and to various corporate organizations throughout the United States and Europe.
Mr. Fuchs has received many honors, including induction into the Broadcasting & Cable Magazine Hall of Fame (1994) and the Cable Hall of Fame(2005); the National Academy of Cable Programming Governors Award (1994); Vanity Fair Magazine’s Television Hall of Fame; the Milton Petrie Award from The National Victim Center (1992), the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Distinguished Service Award (1989); the National Alzheimer's Association Rita Hayworth Award (1989); the National Cable Television Association's Vanguard Award for Programming Excellence (1988); the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Humanitarian Award (1996); Union College's Nott Medal for Distinguished Alumni (1995); Mount Vernon High School’s Hall of Fame (1996); and the People For the American Way's Spirit of Liberty Award (1996).
In addition he serves as the Chairman and a director of Autobytel.com Corporation, a NASDAQ corporation. Mr. Fuchs is also an honorary member of the board of directors for The American Foundation for AIDS Research, Alzheimer’s Association (and also a member of the Zenith Fellows Program of the Alzheimer’s Association), the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. He is a member of the board of trustees for the New School University, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and an honorary trustee of the American Film Institute (AFI). He is a member of the advisory board for the Creative Coalition and he is also the Chairman of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation.
Mr. Fuchs came to HBO in 1976 following an 18-month association with the New York office of the William Morris Agency. Previously, he worked as a specialist in entertainment law, serving as an associate with two New York City law firms.
Mr. Fuchs holds a B.A. degree in political science from Union College in Schenectady, New York and earned a J.D. from New York University Law School.
A native New Yorker, he resides in Manhattan and has two children.
John G. Houston, Ph. D.
John G. Houston, Ph.D., is Senior Vice President of Applied Biotechnology and Discovery Biology at the Bristol-Myers Squibb facility in Wallingford Connecticut. In this role, he oversees all technology areas related to the discovery of new compounds and targets including: Lead Discovery, Lead Evaluation and Profiling; Compound Management; Applied Genomics; Structural Biology and Computer Aided Drug Design; Gene Expression and Protein Biochemistry; New Leads Chemistry and Discovery Technologies and in addition, he leads the Company’s biological drug discovery efforts in the areas of Neurosciences and Infectious Diseases.
Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Houston worked at Glaxo Wellcome Research and Development in the UK, where he served as head of the Lead Discovery Unit.
Dr. Houston received his Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Microbiology from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and his Ph.D. from Heriot –Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was also a Medical Research Council Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.
Yorgo Modis, Ph.D.
Dr. Modis joined the faculty in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Yale University on January 1st, 2005. His laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms of viral pathogenesis with an emphasis on how dengue virus and West Nile virus enter the human cells.
Dr. Modis graduated from the University of Cambridge, U.K, with a First Class honors in Biochemistry. He was then awarded a predoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Heidelberg, Germany), where he studied the structure and function of enzymes involved in fat metabolism.
As a Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Stephen C. Harrison’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Modis made groundbreaking discoveries on how viruses assemble, and how they enter host cells. His most notable achievement was to determine the structure of the envelope protein of dengue virus in two different conformations: before and after fusion of the viral and host-cell membranes. Fusion of the viral membrane with the host-cell membrane is a critical step in the entry of the virus into the cell. The crystal structures showed how, during membrane fusion, the dengue envelope protein inserts a loop into the host cell membrane, and then folds back on itself, in a dramatic conformational rearrangement. Because the ends of the envelope protein are anchored in the viral and cellular membranes, respectively, this fold-back mechanism forces the two membranes together, driving them to fuse. The structures reveal the molecular basis for fusion in a new class of viral fusion proteins that includes many other important human pathogens, such as yellow fever, hepatitis C and West Nile viruses. Based on specific features of the postfusion structure, Dr. Modis and co-authors suggested two different strategies for designing compounds that inhibit entry of this family of viruses into the cell.
Since joining the faculty at Yale, Dr. Modis has set up a collaboration with Prof. Erol Fikrig (Yale School of Medicine) to advance our understanding of cellular attachment and viral membrane fusion of West Nile and dengue viruses. As part of this research program, the Modis laboratory obtained the first atomic model of West Nile virus, which reveals the precise locations of receptor-binding epitopes on the viral surface. Dr. Modis’s structure will guide future vaccine and drug design.
Elijah Paintsil, M.D.
Dr. Paintsil is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Yale University School of Medicine and Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. His clinical interests are: the management of drug resistance HIV; prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV; and pediatric antiretroviral therapy monitoring in resource limited setting.
Dr. Paintsil’s Ghanaian heritage and first-hand experience in managing AIDS with limited resources, after completing medical school in Ghana, have instilled within him a passion to understand the response of the HIV virus to reverse transcriptase inhibitors (major component of HIV treatment regimens in resource limited countries) and to develop methods for predicting response and outcome in the field. His research focuses on the cellular pharmacology of nucleoside analogs in relation to treatment response, drug toxicity, and evolution of drug resistance.
In 2006, Dr. Paintsil and his colleagues established the Yale-Ghana Partnership in Global Infectious Diseases Research with the mission of accelerating progress in Infectious Diseases and Public Health research in Africa through collaborative partnerships that effectively build intrinsic research capacity, reverse “brain-drain” by strengthening academic infrastructures, and create viable career opportunities for African and American scientists. Through this collaboration, Dr. Paintsil has extended his research to Ghana. His collaborative studies in Ghana are determining the effect of malaria during pregnancy on mother-to-child-transmission of HIV; and surrogate biomarkers for monitoring HIV therapy and disease progression Pediatric HIV in resource limited setting.
Steven C. Phillips, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Steven C. Phillips is the Medical Director, Global Issues and Projects, Exxon Mobil Corporation, where his responsibilities include overseeing the Corporation's "outside-the-fenceline" community and public health programs throughout its global operations. In this capacity, he has worked closely with governments, NGO's, U.N. agencies, multilateral, faith-based, and community organizations, and the private sector in fostering "public-private partnerships" as a development platform to address urgent global health priorities.
Dr. Phillips currently serves on the Boards of malaria NO MORE™, Net Impact, and the World Economic Forum's Global Health Initiative. He serves as an advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria. He is a member of the Harvard School of Public Health's Leadership Council and the advisory panels of Medicines for Malaria Ventures, the UCSF Global Health Group, Episcopal Relief and Development's "NetsforLife" Initiative, the World Bank Malaria Booster Program, and the Strategic Advisory Group of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. He is also a Private Sector Advisory Board representative to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Dr. Phillips received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Stanford University. He did his post-graduate training in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco, received a Master of Public Health from UCLA, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Occupational Medicine. Dr. Phillips is a member of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.
Prior to joining Exxon, Dr. Phillips served in the U.S. Public Health Service and was assigned to the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Dr. Roger J. Pomerantz, received his B.A. in Biochemistry at the Johns Hopkins University (1978) and his M.D. at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (1982). He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency training, and his subspecialty clinical and research training in Infectious Diseases and Virology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (M.G.H.) of the Harvard Medical School (1982 -1988), and was selected and served as the Chief Medical Resident at M.G.H (1988). His post-doctoral research training in Molecular Retrovirology was obtained at the Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, Dr. David Baltimore (1988 -1990). Dr. Pomerantz is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. He was an endowed, tenured Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Chief of Infectious Diseases, and the Founding Director and Chair of the Institute for Human Virology and Biodefense at the Thomas Jefferson University and Medical School in Philadelphia (1990 - 2005). Dr. Pomerantz has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles in the scientific literature and presented over 200 invited lectures, nationally and internationally, concentrating on the clinical research, molecular pathogenesis and latency of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other pathogenic human viruses. He has been awarded significant numbers of National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) grants and was continuously funded by the N.I.H. over several decades. Dr. Pomerantz has served as an invited full-time member and then as the Chairman of the Antiviral Advisory Panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.), and on numerous invited N.I.H. advisory commissions, panels and committees. His awards and honors have included election as a Fellow to the American Association of Physicians (F.A.A.P.), the American Society of Clinical Investigation (F.A.S.C.I.), the American College of Physicians (F.A.C.P.), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (F.I.D.S.A.), and receiving the President’s Award of the International Society of Neurovirology.
Dr. Pomerantz joined Johnson & Johnson, Inc. in 2005 as the President of Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Tibotec is the Virology and Infectious Diseases Research and Development Company within Johnson & Johnson. He also holds the corporate position as the World-Wide Therapeutic Area Head of Virology for Johnson & Johnson.
Since Dr. Pomerantz joined as President of Tibotec, the company has launched Prezista (Darunavir or TMC-114), the first true second generation anti-HIV protease inhibitor (PI), and Intelence (Etravarine or TMC-125), the first second generation anti-HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), within 18 months of each other, with approvals by the FDA, EMEA and other countries world-wide. The company has also completed collaboration agreements with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to co-develop and co-market Telapravir or VX950, potentially the initial anti-hepatitis C (HCV) protease inhibitor, and with Medivir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to co-discover and then co-develop several key anti-HCV (eg. TMC-435), HIV and hepatitis B (HBV) inhibitors. Over this time period and under his leadership, Tibotec has also progressed six new drugs to treat HIV (eg. TMC-278), HCV (eg. TMC-435) and Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Tuberculosis (eg. TMC-207) from Early to Full Development.
John Puziss, Ph.D.
Dr. Puziss is the Director of Technology Licensing at Yale University’s Office of Cooperative Research, where he leads a team of professionals who are responsible for commercialization of technologies invented at Yale University. These activities include the identification of transferable technologies, the evaluation of their commercial potential, the development of commercialization strategies, and the negotiation of licenses and collaborative R&D agreements in the execution of approved strategies. He has been a member of the Office of Cooperative Research since 2001. From 2000-2001, he was an Associate in Business Development and Marketing at Proteome, Inc. From 1995-2000, he was a Senior Research Investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in the Dept. of Microbiology. Dr. Puziss received his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Rochester, and his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Allan Saul, Ph.D.
Allan Saul was appointed to head the newly created Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) in September 2007. This Institute, a subsidiary of Novartis AG, is co-located in Siena Italy with the major research and development facility of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. NVGH has a not for profit mission to develop vaccines for neglected diseases of developing countries and provides a conduit for the application of Industrial vaccine development know how and resources to the translational research required to take vaccines specifically designed for the third world from laboratory concept though pilot scale production to proof of concept in humans.
Prior to joining NVGH, Dr Saul has more than 25 years experience working on the development and testing of experimental malaria vaccines, field work in epidemiology and testing control programs for malaria in endemic countries and in laboratory based research in antigen identification and characterization of potential protective immune responses. He held previous appointments at the National Institutes of Health (USA) where he was the co-branch chief of the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch and at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (Brisbane, Australia) where he led a program in malaria and other mosquito borne diseases.
Dr Saul was trained in Biochemistry at the University of Queensland, Australia. He worked for many years at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) on the biology of malaria, and on the development and testing of malaria vaccines. During his period at both QIMR and the NIH, he oversaw the production of many malaria antigens for human clinical trials, characterization of new adjuvants including human studies with novel adjuvants. To date, he has had direct involvement in 18 Phase 1 and Phase 2 malaria vaccine trials in Australia, USA, Switzerland, PNG and Africa either as the Principle or Senior Investigator. These studies included two phase 2 trials in endemic countries: a triple combination of blood stage antigens in Papua New Guinea and a Phase 2 study of AMA1 in 240 children in Mali.
As a Professor in the joint QIMR/University of Queensland, Australian Center for Tropical Health and Nutrition, Dr Saul was involved with teaching programs for postgraduate students from developing countries and also with extensive field studies including a 4 year study to develop surveillance programs in the South of China and 11 years working on the epidemiology of low transmission malaria and the planning and implementation of community based, sustainable malaria control programs in the Philippines. More recently, he has been involved with the epidemiology of malaria in Mali as the basis for malaria vaccine studies. While these programs targeted malaria, such field work inevitably resulted in substantial experience with the range of common diseases of developing countries.
David Scheer
Mr. Scheer is President of Scheer & Company, Inc., a firm founded in 1981, with activities in venture capital, corporate strategy, and transactional advisory services (corporate alliances, licensing arrangements, divestments, mergers, and acquisitions) exclusively in the life sciences. In venture capital, Mr. Scheer has been involved in the founding and has been a member of the Board of Directors of ViroPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ, “VPHM”), OraPharma, Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (of which he was Chairman, acquired by Pfizer), Sopherion Therapeutics, Inc (of which he was Chairman). His current portfolio of companies and directorships include Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ, “ACHN”), Tengion, Inc., Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Optherion, Inc. (the latter three of which he is serving as Chairman). From 1991 through 1999, he was affiliated with the health care investing team at Oak Investment Partners. He has served as a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard School of Public Health, and a member of the Advisory Committee to the Harvard Malaria Initiative. Mr. Scheer is a Trustee of the Long Wharf Theatre, in New Haven, CT. He received his A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, and his M.S. from Yale University.
Dr. Robert Sebbag
Dr. Robert Sebbag is currently Vice President Access to Medicines at sanofi-aventis. In his role, Dr. Sebbag participates in the company’s access to medicines strategy development for the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to joining sanofi-aventis, Dr. Sebbag worked in Brussels for the European pharmaceutical industry association (EFPIA) on creating a communications platform for the pharmaceutical companies operating in Europe. In his prior role, he was Senior Vice President of Communications for the vaccine company, Aventis Pasteur (today known as sanofi pasteur). In addition to his activities within the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Sebbag is also teaching public health courses within the Paris hospital system, focusing on tropical parasitic diseases. Dr. Sebbag is active within the French Red Cross and has participated in numerous health missions in the Southern Hemisphere. Dr. Sebbag is a Doctor in Medicine with specialty in tropical parasitic diseases and training in psychiatry.
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is one of the most widely produced and honored playwrights writing in the English language. Her plays include The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, How I Learned to Drive (for which she received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Hot ‘n’ Throbbing, The Baltimore Waltz, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, and The Oldest Profession. Paula is also the recipient of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, New York Drama Critics Award, Obie Award, AT&T New Plays Award, as well as fellowships from the Pew Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. In the fall of 2008, Ms. Vogel began her new appointment as chair of the playwriting department at the Yale School of Drama. Since 1984, she served as the Director of MFA and Undergraduate Playwriting at Brown University. She has also taught courses in the Theatre Arts and Women’s Studies programs at Cornell University. In December, Long Wharf Theatre produced the world premiere of Paula’s newest play, A Civil War Christmas.