About Your Speakers

Mr. Hollway manages Achaogen's financial and strategic operations, and is responsible for its non-dilutive financing efforts. He was most recently the Vice President of Operations, Strategy & Corporate Development, and Chief Privacy Officer for Acurian, Inc., a clinical services company. There he built the company's clinical data services and had responsibility for the overall management of client projects and the establishment and maintenance of industry-leading data management standards and procedures. Prior to joining Acurian, Mr. Hollway was the General Manager in charge of wireless strategy and product development for Shared Medical Systems Corp, now Siemens Medical Systems (SMS). Prior to his business career, Mr. Hollway was an attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he managed numerous complex civil litigation cases, with special emphasis on contractual disputes and business planning to avoid future litigation.

Mr. Hollway holds a J.D. with honors from the George Washington University Law School, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Yan Lavrovsky has extensive experience in drug discovery with roles covering executive research positions, scientific and tutorial work. Dr. Lavrovsky is Vice President for Clinical Development at ChemDiv, where he oversees the development of several discovery platforms in CNS and oncology through the clinical phases.

Before joining ChemDiv in 2006 Dr. Lavrovsky held research positions at Serono, Inc. in Geneva, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts. At Serono Dr. Lavrovsky led several development programs in oncology and fibrotic diseases. During these years he earned his “Mini-MBA” in business of biopharmaceutical sciences from Babson School of Executive Education, Babson College, Boston, MA

From 1995 to 2001 Dr. Lavrovsky was a faculty member at the University of Texas, Health Science Center, in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology. During his tenure at the University of Texas, Dr. Lavrovsky was a principal investigator on NIH-funded projects.

Dr. Lavrovsky is the author of more than 50 original reviews, original research articles, patents, and various book chapters. He is a trained physician with a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology and completed post-doctoral training at the Rockefeller University, New York, NY.

Francois Martelet has been appointed Board Member of Avax Technologies Inc. (www.avax-tech.com) in July 2007 and President & CEO as of Dec. 1st, 2007.

Francois was recently (2005-2006) VP & Global Franchise Head, Oncology, at Merck & Co, NJ. In this capacity he was responsible for building up the Oncology Division on the Commercial side, overseeing global late phase development and the implementation of marketing strategies-incl. business development- for the Oncology portfolio. From 2003 until 2005 Francois was the SVP & Region Pharma Head, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa within Novartis Pharma AG, Basel with P&L responsibility of the whole Pharma portfolio of Novartis. In this role he oversaw a staff of approximately 3’000 associates within the CEMEA Region and was responsible for a $1+ Billion. These regions were among Novartis’ fastest growing, representing near and medium term significant sales potential.

Francois assumed a VP role with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, NJ (2001-2003), InterContinental Region (ICR). In this position, he was responsible for building up and leading the Oncology Business Units in Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Under his leadership Novartis Oncology’ ICR was the fastest growing division within the Oncology Business Unit.

Francois has joined Novartis in 2001 from Schering-Plough International where he was the Business Unit Head for the Hospital and Oncology markets in the Benelux area (Belgium & The Netherlands). Prior to this, he was with Eli Lilly Corporation (1996-99) where he held the position of Regional Business Unit Manager for the Oncology portfolio for Europe, Middle East and Africa based in London, UK. Prior to this Francois started his career with F. Hofmann-la Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland (1991-1996) and assumed various international positions headquartered based in Switzerland and in Sweden.

He brings with more than 17 years’ of marketing, sales and business unit management experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry and has been providing consulting services (2007) with Bionest Partners Inc. to Pharma organizations as well as Biotechnology Companies.

French National Francois received a Doctorate in Medicine with distinction and a Pharmaceutical Marketing Master's Degree in Business from Dijon University, France. He also holds a Degree in Legal Medicine from R. Descartes University School of Medicine, Paris, France. In addition he has following the Advanced General Management Program, INSEAD (France) in 2005 as well as several Senior Executive Programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, MA (USA) in Finance, Leadership and Negotiation.

Francois is an advanced competitor in horse riding (jumping). He has been nominated in the Who’s Who in America (2003-present) and is a member of various associations US based: Madison Who’s Who, New Jersey Executives Club, Greater Philadelphia Senior Executives Group, International Executive Resources Group.

Francois is a Military Reserve Officer (LTC) within the French Uniformed Health Services and has been a part-time instructor at the US Military Academy of West Point, NY (2007-08).

Kevin started his career with Bayer in sales, in the Diagnostics Division, in 1975. In 1980 he joined the Pharmaceutical Division and held several sales positions as well as Division Sales Manager. He spent several years in both U.S. and Global headquarters. After returning to the U.S. he headed up Strategic Planning and Controlling. He also spent 2 years as Corporate Compliance Officer. In September 2002, Kevin was appointed VP Licensing. After Bayer’s acquisition of Schering AG in joined the Global Transactions Group. Kevin is a member of the Strategic Management Society and Licensing Executives Society.

Kevin has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Indiana University.

Dr. Bigornia joined BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in February 2003 and currently serves as the Vice President of Intellectual Property (IP). She is responsible for the management of all company IP matters, the development and implementation of patent strategy for all company programs, and the provision of IP-related support to Business Development, Commercial Planning, Regulatory, Clinical, Research, Legal Corporate and other groups within the company. Prior to joining BioMarin, Dr. Bigornia worked as Patent Counsel/Acting Director of IP for Hyseq Pharmaceutical (now Nuvelo) in Sunnyvale CA, and as a Patent Associate for Howrey, Simon, Arnold and White LLP in Menlo Park, CA. Dr. Bigornia received her doctoral degree in Pharmacology from the University of Manitoba in Canada and completed postdoctoral fellowships with the American Heart Association at the Albany Medical College in Albany, NY and with the National Institute of Health at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Bigornia has co-authored several scientific publications in the areas of pharmacology and molecular virology. Dr. Bigornia received a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and is a member of the California State Bar Association. She is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

An accomplished Pharmaceutical Executive with 20 years of successful experience in a variety of key leadership capacities demonstrating diverse leadership skills to develop highly visible Health Care alliances resulting in multi billion dollar partnerships. As a long time employee with Boehringer Ingelheim, Mike has led multiple commercial functions including: Health Care Partnerships, Government Affairs, and the Managed Care/Trade Relations Team. In these positions, Mike has focused on building alliances and strategic partnerships which have helped Boehringer Ingelheim grow to a top 16 worldwide, pharmaceutical manufacturer. During his tenure in these positions, BI has enjoyed success ranking it among the fastest growing US pharmaceutical manufacturers.

In his current position as Head, Health Care Partnerships, Mike leads a dedicated team of Alliance management directors who work with key partners such as Abbott Labs, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Astellas, Ventiv Health and other key pharmaceutical and patient focused partners.

Mike’s education includes a Master’s degree earned in Labor and Industrial Relations Law and an undergraduate (BBA) in Marketing.

Mike currently serves as Chair of the Global Board of Directors for (ASAP) Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals and is chair of the Biopharmaceutical council within ASAP. He is Past Chair of the (NPC) National Pharmaceutical Council, State Audiences Section, and Past Board member of (NEHI) New England Health Institute.

Karen is an Executive Director of Strategic Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb focusing on biopharmaceutical collaborations, mergers and acquisitions. Since focusing on business development in 2000, she has worked extensively in support of BMS’ worldwide commercial and R&D operations executing strategic collaborations, out-licenses and M&A spanning the oncology, antiviral and cardiovascular areas. She has also lead post-execution alliance management on strategic partnerships. Karen joined BMS in 1993, holding successive positions in finance, business evaluation and business development.

Karen earned her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. Karen currently serves on the business development board of New Jersey’s biotechnology council, BioNJ.

Scott is an Executive Director and has been a member of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Strategic Transactions Group leadership team since 2007. He is responsible for heading the Strategic Transactions Program Management Office as well as managing the day-to-day operations of the Strategic Transactions Group. His focus is on M&A strategy, identification of new transaction opportunities, and initiation of “String of Pearls” transactions.

Scott joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1990 as a Research Scientist and has held positions of increasing responsibility within Drug Discovery, Global Marketing, R&D Strategy & Analytics and R&D Operations. Scott’s accomplishments include playing an integral role in developing the rationale for the Bristol-Myers Squibb biologics strategy and helping to form the first competitive intelligence function in Bristol-Myers Squibb Medicines Group. Scott played a key operational role in the 2007 acquisition of Adnexus Therapeutics and has participated in the six significant “pearl” transactions since that time. Scott’s office is in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Scott holds a Bachelors degree in Biochemistry and a Masters degree in Microbiology, both from the University of Illinois.

When not at work, Scott enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and backpacking. Scott lives in Newtown, PA, with his wife Connie and their 13 year-old son, Adam.

Ben Bonifant is an experienced consultant to leaders of global pharmaceuticals and biotechnology organizations and to decision makers of large private equity funds. Mr. Bonifant has been a management consultant for more than fourteen years and leads the Business Development Practice at Campbell Alliance. His perspectives on developments in the life sciences market are frequently published in industry and strategy journals. Recent by-lined articles have appeared in Pharmaceutical Executive, InVivo, Nature Biotech, RPM Report, and Scrip. He is the author of the chapter, “Market Segmentation and New Product Development” in the recent update to The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development. In addition, Mr. Bonifant has written case studies on the pharmaceutical industry used in graduate business programs. He has been a guest lecturer at the Fuqua School of Business, the Indiana University Kelly School of Business, and many industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Canada. Mr. Bonifant earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Duke University.

Martin Reeves has almost 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both Europe and in the U.S., in roles as varied as research, project management, alliance management, strategic planning, business development and general operations. He joined Cephalon as the head of Project Management in 1997 and has helped coordinate numerous activities important to the company’s success. Currently Martin leads Cephalon’s project management, strategic planning and business development functions.

Martin began his career in 1980 as a research biochemist with SmithKline & French Research, Ltd. in the United Kingdom. In 1989, he joined project management in the newly-merged SmithKline Beecham. Martin moved to the U.S. in 1993, to join Wyeth-Ayerst Research as Director, Cardiovascular/Metabolism Project Management.

Matthew Meyer is the General Counsel and Vice President of Business Development and Licensing. Mr. Meyer has 15 years’ experience in commercial law, business development, marketing and licensing with large pharmaceutical, medical device and early stage healthcare companies in the US and Europe. Before joining Cerimon, Mr. Meyer served as Vice President and General Counsel at Draeger Medical Systems, a global medical device company. Prior to Draeger, Mr. Meyer held several positions of increasing responsibility at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel, Switzerland, including serving as Head of Global Marketing Channel Innovations. While at Novartis, he also coordinated and implemented strategic commercial, marketing, research and development initiatives for the Arthritis, Bone, GI and Urology (ABGU) global marketing franchise. Previously, Mr. Meyer spent four years as Vice President, Global Business Development and Legal Affairs at Allscripts LLC and five years as a commercial attorney at Pfizer Inc in New York.

Mr. Meyer graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law.

Mr. Totten is a Vice President of Dean & Company and head of its Life Sciences practice. At Dean, he assists clients ranging from small biotechs to large global pharmaceutical companies, in the areas of both business strategy and M&A due diligence. Prior to joining Dean in 1996, Mr. Totten was a Principal in the Washington, D.C. office of Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). Previously, Mr. Totten worked in brand management at the Procter & Gamble Company.

Remis Bistras, Ph.D., Vice President, Business Development, is leading EyeGate worldwide business development and licensing activities. Remis Bistras was formerly Director of Business Development & Licensing at CIBA Vision, a division of Novartis, where he was responsible for managing worldwide business development and licensing in the eye care area. In addition, Remis managed a clinical trial for dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). He has also spent several years consulting and working in corporate, business development and M&A for manufacturing companies. Remis holds a MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Psychology from University of Moscow.

Constantine Chinoporos joined Genzyme Corporation in December 2001. He leads a team charged with the identification, evaluation, and transaction of opportunities that fit within Genzyme’s strategic intent. Prior to joining Genzyme, Constantine served in various capacities at Eli Lilly and Company over a twelve year period, including roles in Corporate Finance & Investment Banking as well as the Office of Alliance Management. Constantine’s deal experience includes both in-licensing and out-licensing transactions, M&A, and specific transactions have ranged from technology platform to marketed products. Constantine received an undergraduate degree in History as well as an MBA from Cornell University.

Dr. Uprichard joined GliaMed as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2009. Dr. Uprichard has an extensive background in research and development in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining GliaMed, he served in various executive positions at EPIX Pharmaceuticals, ArQule and Curis. Earlier in his career, Dr. Uprichard held management positions at Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert (now part of Pfizer), where his experience included the oversight of a number of IND and NDA filings. Dr. Uprichard holds medical and scientific degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians

Dr. Mehr's extensive experience in the life sciences spans both research and business development. Prior to joining Golden Pine Ventures Dr. Mehr served as Vice President of Business Development for Qualyst, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company focused on novel and proprietary products that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of drug discovery and development. Dr. Mehr has also led business development at Paradigm Genetics and Laboratory Corporation of America, holding senior roles where he leveraged platform technologies for collaborative applications in drug discovery and development research. Dr. Mehr received his M.B.A. in strategy from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, his Ph.D. in genetics, bacterial pathogenesis and immunology at Northwestern University's Medical Center, and his B.S. in microbiology with honors in genomics, molecular evolution and bioinformatics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mehr is also involved with a number of local non-profit organizations, and in April 2007 was chosen among a select group of people to receive the Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Leadership Award, acknowledging his accomplishments in business and contributions to the community.

Nina Kjellson is a general partner at InterWest Partners, a leading diversified venture capital firm. She focuses primarily on investments in biopharmaceuticals. In addition to serving on the board of Alvine Pharmaceuticals, she is a board member of Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, Lycera, Primera Diagnostics, Sequel and Trius Therapeutics. Kjellson led InterWest's investment in APT Pharmaceuticals and Nereus Pharmaceuticals where she is an observer on the board. Additionally, she supports InterWest's investments in AkaRx, Devax, Kanisa, and MacuSight. Kjellson's past successfully exited investments include Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Galenica) and NovaCardia (acquired by Merck).

Prior to joining InterWest, Kjellson was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a healthcare-focused hedge fund. Kjellson began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Kjellson received a B.S. in human biology from Stanford University.

Alison Shurell is vice president of Life Sciences Product Marketing. She is responsible for building on IntraLinks position as the leading software as a service solution for critical information exchange in the Life Sciences industry. In this role, she partners with industry leaders in corporate development, clinical studies and regulatory affairs to help ensure the secure and efficient exchange of critical information to support industry success. Shurell’s background includes more than 15 years of experience in corporate marketing roles in the B2B software and financial services markets. She holds an undergraduate degree from Miami University and an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College.

Mr. Barrett has 15 years of experience in business development, corporate strategy, and research in pharmaceutical and biotech companies and research institutions. Since 2002, he has been a member of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical business development group with responsibility for leadership and execution of global transactions including commercial and clinical stage product and company acquisitions and R&D collaborations across therapeutic and technology areas. Mr. Barrett’s areas of expertise include commercial and strategic assessments, managing cross functional diligence and deal teams, and structuring and negotiating transactions. Mr. Barrett holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS from Duke University.

Yael completed her MSc and PhD in molecular genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel and obtained her medical degree at Hadassah Medical Center, affiliated with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. After practicing medicine for a few years, Yael joined an Israeli venture capital firm as a vice president responsible for analyzing and maintaining deal flow, and then moved on to become a medical and business development director at Genzyme Israel. Yael joined MSD Israel as medical director in the beginning of 2004 and in 2007 she joined Merck's Licensing group in San Francisco as a scientific scout responsible for identification of licensing opportunities emanating from the West Coast.

Daniel Curran joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1999 as a Director of Business Development. From 1999 to 2003, he played a key role in Millennium’s business development activities and was a driving force for strategic business transactions in the inflammation and cardiovascular disease franchises. In 2003, he moved to Millennium’s research and development organization and assumed leadership for two inflammation development programs: MLN1202 and MLN0415. In this role, Dan led the programs through Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials in a number of auto-immune disease indications.

Dan rejoined the corporate development group in 2006 as vice president and is responsible for strategic business transactions for Millennium. He has served as the primary negotiator of numerous transactions with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies during his nine year tenure at Millennium, including the recent acquisition of Millennium by Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to Millennium, Dan’s previous professional experiences include a business development role in the Product Planning and Acquisition group at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dan holds an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business, and a B.S. in Chemistry from King’s College. A native of Pennsylvania, Dan currently resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

John Li is the Head of Biology and Biologics in NIBR Patents, a role that includes coordination and quality control of biologics patenting and freedom-to-operate analysis across all disease areas, platforms, and functions within NIBR. John joined NIBR as a US patent attorney in September 2006 from Therion Biologics Corp., where he served as Director of Intellectual Property. Prior to joining Therion, John was a Senior Patent Agent and Assistant General Counsel in the IP group of Biogen Idec and was formerly a Technology Specialist at the law firm of Fish & Richardson. He earned his Ph.D. in viral pathogenesis from Harvard University, an MBA from Cornell University, a J.D. from Suffolk University, and a B.A. in molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark is currently Executive Director, Global Business Development and Licensing Alliance Management, Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience and has held national and global leadership positions in Sales, Marketing and Business Development & Licensing, including:

• Executive Director, National Sales
• Executive Director Cardiovascular BU & U.S. Director of Marketing.
• Executive Director, Novartis Global BD&L Alliance Management across several key international collaborations ranging from Phase1 to commercialization in Neuroscience, Infectious Disease and Respiratory therapeutic areas.

Mark earned his Bachelor of Science (Biology), Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) and Masters in Business Administration (Marketing / Finance) from the University of Alberta (Canada). Mark is also a founding certified member of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals Pharma-Biotech Council and an active member of the Licensing Executive Society.

Len holds a Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Missouri, and a Masters of Environmental Science from Southern Illinois University. He is currently working towards obtaining additional graduate degrees in Bioinformatics and Information Sciences. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk in August 2003, Len was an associate with the law firms of Leydig, Voit & Mayer (Chicago, IL and Washington, DC) and Synnestvedt, Lechner & Woodbridge (Philadelphia, PA and Princeton, NJ). He also completed internships in the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Len’s academic laboratory research focused on the characterization of repetitive DNA sequences and non-Mendelian inheritance. At Novo Nordisk, Len’s practice primarily involves biotechnology-related and pharmaceutical-related patent matters as well as management of US trademark and copyright issues.

"Jay brings over 15 years of biotechnology operating and business development experience in a variety of roles including leadership of a significant number of important transactions. We are excited to add someone of Jay's breadth of experience to the Orexigen executive team, " said Michael Narachi, President and Chief Executive Officer. "His solid background will be invaluable as we focus on partnership opportunities and position the organization to successfully manage our operations, continue our development activities and execute on our commercialization plans for Contrave(R) and Empatic™."

In his role, Jay will lead corporate development at Orexigen, notably focusing on partnership opportunities and commercialization strategy for lead products Contrave (naltrexone sustained release (SR)/bupropion SR), which is on track for an NDA submission to the FDA in the first half of 2010, and Empatic (zonisamide SR/bupropion SR), which is in the later stages of Phase 2 clinical development.

"I'm incredibly excited to join the Orexigen team at this pivotal time for the Company," said Jay. "Orexigen possesses a unique opportunity among small biotechnology companies. I look forward to leveraging my extensive experience in corporate and partnership strategy to further the Company's business development efforts."

Prior to joining Orexigen, Jay was a Partner at Groundswell Advisors, a biotechnology consulting firm, providing guidance and operational execution in corporate strategy, commercialization, financing and partnership opportunities. While at Groundswell Advisors, he served as acting chief executive officer of Unity Pharma, consulted to numerous small biotech companies, and served on the board of directors of Seredigm Corp. Prior to establishing Groundswell, Jay spent ten years at Amgen Inc. where he served in various senior business development roles, including founder and Managing Director of Amgen Ventures, and earlier as head of Corporate Development. His track record includes such notable completed transactions as the acquisitions of Immunex and Tularik as well as numerous other business development efforts totaling over $15 billion in value. Before joining Amgen, Jay spent five years in the bioengineering labs at Genzyme and Advanced Tissue Sciences.

He received an M.B.A. at Northeastern University and a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego

Mr. Cayer has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare technology field. Before joining Otonomy, Mr. Cayer served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Verus Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of allergic and respiratory disorders in children. Verus raised over $150M from top-tier venture and private capital groups to build a national field sales force and fund the development of innovative products for this underserved patient segment. In support of this mission, Mr. Cayer was responsible for numerous corporate partnering and new product assessment projects. During his tenure, Verus completed three out-licensing/divestiture transactions with total potential consideration exceeding $350M.

Mr. Cayer joined Verus from Targeted Molecules Corporation where he served as the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Business Development. TMC was a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company formed to exploit a proprietary drug discovery platform developed at The Burnham Institute. As the company’s only business executive, responsibilities encompassed all facets of daily operations including management of financial, legal and administrative matters, strategic planning, fund-raising, budgeting and forecasting, corporate promotion, and partnering. TMC was acquired in 2005.

Previously, Mr. Cayer worked in various commercial roles at Gensia Pharmaceuticals, product development marketing at Acuson, business planning and development with Castle & Cooke, and management consulting with Booz-Allen & Hamilton. Mr. Cayer received his B.A. in Biomechanical Engineering and M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Jamsheed Banaji leads the International Business Development Team with responsibility for all Business Development deals that are ex-US – across Asia, Europe, Latin America & Africa Middle East. These deals span a wide spectrum across country, multi-country, regional & multi-regional deals – including licensing, co-promotion/co-marketing as well as JVs & acquisitions.

Jamsheed has two decades of Pharmaceutical Marketing & Commercial experience in markets across Asia, Latin America & Africa Middle East. He started his professional career in the Pharmaceutical Industry in India in 1989. After working in two US & European multinational companies in India, Jamsheed joined Pfizer India in Product Management in 1994, where he held several positions of increasing responsibility managing products / franchises across Cardiovascular, Pain & Inflammation and Nutritionals. His experience spans both IP protected products and Branded Generics. He led the Marketing Team for all of Chronic Therapy in India and successfully led several new product launches and key growth brands there before moving to the US to lead the development of an internal Marketing Training Program targeted at markets outside US.

After two years of successfully developing and rolling out a path-breaking internal Marketing Development Curriculum across Marketing teams in Europe, Asia, Africa / Middle East & Latin America, Jamsheed moved back to New Product Planning, with responsibility for all of Latin America. Jamsheed was responsible for setting up the Latin America New Product Planning Network across all key markets in the region. After 3 years of successfully planning & executing several new product launches across a range of Therapeutic Areas, he moved to the Japan / Asia area in 2006. His responsibilities ranged from New Product Planning for the Specialty products including Oncology, Ophthalmology, Gastro-intestinal & Genito-urinary, to leading the Established (Branded Generics) Products teams across markets in the Japan/Asia area and with a specific responsibility for Capability Development of the Japan Marketing Team.

Jamsheed joined Business Development in late 2007 and has been responsible for setting up the International Business Development Team here in NY, a network of Business Development team members across all markets outside US as well as led the International Business Development Team on over 100 deal assessments & negotiations.

Jamsheed holds a Masters in Management from the Bombay University in India and a Graduate degree in Statistics & Economics from the same university.

Robert Bagdorf, M.D., MBA, is a board-certified neurologist who joined Pfizer in 1998 in CNS Clinical Development. For the past 8 years he has held positions of increasing responsibility within business development and currently oversees licensing and acquisition external search and evaluation activities for all therapeutic areas except Oncology.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Bagdorf had a large consultative general neurology practice and was the medical director for a community hospital neurodiagnostic center. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral biology from Johns Hopkins University, an M.D. degree from New York University School of Medicine, and a Healthcare MBA degree from George Washington University. He completed his neurology residency and electrophysiology/epilepsy fellowship at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Stefanie A. Hansen, JD is a Director in World Wide Business Development at Pfizer Inc. and is responsible for the design, implementation and management of a strategic portfolio of external investments which advances strategies and creates a sustainable competitive advantage. The portfolio spans the entire range of discovery and development activities, from gene and target discovery to enhancing the value of pipeline compounds through novel delivery and formulation. Stefanie is located in Groton, CT where she is head of the Metabolic Disease business group. She first joined Pfizer in 1989 as a Research Scientist and then moved into a business development role in 1997. Stefanie has negotiated hundreds of deals including multi-million dollar compound and technology platform licenses and complex R&D collaborations with biotechs, universities and corporate collaborators. Stefanie received her JD from the University of Connecticut and a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Vermont and. She is a member of LES and of the Connecticut State Bar Association.

Bill Lis has over 18 years of experience in biopharmaceutical and medical device sales & marketing, business development, and management. Currently he is Sr Vice President Business and Commercial Development, Portola Pharmaceuticals and is a member of the executive management team. His team recently executed a global license agreement for Portola’s Phase II antiplatelet agent Elinogrel with Novartis. Prior to joining Portola he was Vice President, Business and New Product Development, Scios, Inc. (A J&J Company) where he was responsible for cardiovascular business licensing strategies and commercial operations. He led in-licensing activities and post-deal commercial development on behalf of J&J in its deal with Bayer for Xarelto® (rivaroxaban) recently EMEA and FDA approved. Prior to joining Scios, he held several commercial positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, COR Therapeutics, and Rhone Poulenc Rorer. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland.

Steve is the Executive Director, Corporate Development of Proteolix, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on treating certain cancers and immunological conditions by discovering and developing products that inhibit the proteasome. From 2001 until 2007, Steve was with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served in business development, communications and corporate legal capacities. Prior to his tenure with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Steve was a Vice President with Lazard Venture Advisors, a division of Lazard Frères & Co., LLC, and an associate in the New York and San Francisco offices of Morrison & Foerster LLP. He holds a B.A. in English, a J.D. and a LL.M. in Corporations.

Gordon Beck joined Roche Welwyn (UK) in 1995 within Drug Delivery Science working on the antisense collaboration with Hybridon. He then set up and led the strategic technologies team investigating key properties in oral drug absorption.

In 2000 Gordon moved to Pharmaceutical R&D at Roche Nutley (USA), subsequently joining Pharma Partnering in 2004 as a Global Alliance Director. In this role he managed commercial alliances with Trimeris and Aspreva, was a key member of the Pharmasset and InterMune deal teams and led the Tamiflu licensing team in support of the Pandemic Preparedness Taskforce, before moving to his current role in May 2008.

Gordon is a Pharmacist by training and has a PhD in cell biology, both from Aston University, UK.

Sarah Holland is the CNS therapy area lead for Roche Pharma Partnering, based in Basel, Switzerland. Since joining Roche in 2005, Sarah has been responsible for evaluating licensing opportunities in a range of disease areas, including the Plexxikon deal on b-raf inhibitors, the Memory deal on Nicotinic alpha-7 agonists and the Evotec deal on NR2B NMDA antagonists.

Prior to joining Roche, Sarah was Global Brand Director at AstraZeneca for a hormonal agent for breast cancer during US and EU launch. She held various commercial and strategic roles over her ten years there, including Global Strategic Planning Manager for early compounds, Pricing Strategist and Health Economist.

Sarah’s interest in the CNS field dates back to the start of her industry career at Amersham International (now GE Healthcare), where she was Internatiomal Product Manager for an innovative agent for imaging brain blood flow.

Sarah gained her MBA from Manchester Business School, where she was a Visiting Fellow until 2004, and her DPhil and first degree at Oxford University.

Mark Bowditch is an attorney with Sandoz Inc., specializing in intellectual property law. He is responsible for all intellectual property matters for Sandoz's U.S. biopharmaceuticals division. Mr. Bowditch has a Master of Science degree in Biology, a law degree from the George Washington University National Law Center, and over 25 years experience in the fields of generic drug, biotechnology, and biopharmaceutical law, with extensive experience in Hatch-Waxman litigation.

Ms. Melincoff has over 20 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Her experience has spanned research operations, marketing, product management, project management, and licensing and business development.

From September 2004 to the present, Ms. Melincoff has been part of the Business Development team at Shire Pharmaceuticals, first as Vice President of Business Development, and recently as Senior Vice President of Business Development. During her tenure, she has been involved in numerous licenses, product divestments, co-promotion and collaboration agreements, and mergers and acquisitions. She was responsible for the collaboration with New River Pharmaceuticals that led to the $2.6 billion acquisition of the company within two years of the first transaction.

Prior to joining Shire, Ms. Melincoff was Vice President of Business Development at Adolor Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused in the development of pain management products. Over the five years that Ms. Melincoff worked at Adolor, the company grew from 22 employees to over 150 employees. She was involved in helping the company launch a successful IPO and in raising over $300 million. Ms. Melincoff was responsible for crafting the collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline on Entereg. This transaction included a $50 million upfront payment and potential milestones of $210 million, and was nominated for the “Allicense Deal of the Year” in 2004.

Ms. Melincoff worked for Eastman Kodak for over ten years in a number of their health care companies, including Eastman Pharmaceuticals which acquired Sterling Drug. She was the Director of Business Development at NanoSystems, a spin-out from Kodak that specialized in nanotechnology drug delivery. She was a key member of the management team which successfully built the business from a start-up to cash flow positive in less than five years and then sold the company for $175 million.

Ms. Melincoff has a B.S in Biology, a Master’s of Science in Management and Health Care Administration, and has attained the designation of the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP™).

Kerry Flynn is Vice President for Intellectual Property at Shire. She has over 20 years of experience in the Intellectual Property and Licensing field, and has recently earned the newly released designation of Certified Licensing Professional from the Licensing Executives Society. Ms. Flynn was previously Vice President of Business Development and Intellectual Property at Transkaryotic Therapies, now known as Shire Human Genetic Therapies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shire. Prior to joining the company, Ms. Flynn was Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Associate General Counsel at Biogen, Inc. She was also an Intellectual Property Associate at the law firm of Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeault and the law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. She is the Past Chair of the Greater Boston Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society, and the Biotechnology Committee of the Boston Patent Law Association. Ms. Flynn is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Boston University Law School. She has a J.D. from Western New England College School of Law and a B.A. in Biology from Smith College.

Prior to joining Synosia, Angie was CBO at Ren Pharmaceuticals where she oversaw operations, finance and corporate development. Angie also spent time as a Vice President at Venrock Associates where she worked primarily on new company building and corporate development activities for portfolio companies. During her tenure at Venrock, she served as the interim VP of Business Development for Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a Venrock portfolio company where she completed a worldwide licensing transaction with Schering Plough bringing in $40 million upfront payment, up to $575M in milestone payments and double digit royalties on sales for Anacor’s phase 2 product, AN2690. Before Venrock, Angie worked in business development at Exelixis, Inc, a cancer drug discovery company where she completed significant out-licensing transactions with Genentech and Helsinn Healthcare. She also worked as a management consultant in the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Co., working primarily with biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. Angie You received an AB in Chemistry and PhD in Biochemistry from Harvard University.

Anne Dollard leads the legal department for Takeda San Francisco (TSF), managing all facets of TSF's general legal and intellectual property matters. She is responsible for the global management of Takeda's antibody technology, including the company's in-licensing, out-licensing and research collaboration activities. Ms. Dollard also provides strategic advice on protection of assets and the life cycle management of the company's patent portfolio.

Ms. Dollard joined TSF in November 2008 with more than a decade of industry experience in the area of antibody technology and therapeutic antibody intellectual property. Prior to joining Takeda San Francisco, Ms. Dollard was the Associate General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel at XOMA (US) LLC, where she headed the patent department and was responsible for the management and development of the patent portfolio. Her work included life cycle management, rendering opinions on the validity of patents and freedom to operate matters. She managed due diligence investigations and litigation matters, and negotiated several contracts advised senior management regarding patent strategies. In addition, Ms. Dollard drafted and negotiated agreements for the company.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Dollard was Corporate Patent Counsel at Chiron Corporation, where her responsibilities included serving as primary counsel for several biopharmaceutical R&D programs, managing a large patent portfolio and developing strategies for globally maximizing the company's assets. She began her legal career in New York City as an intellectual property litigation attorney in the biotechnology group with Clifford Chance (f/k/a/ Rogers & Wells).

Dr. Mark Benedyk is Head of The Pfizer Incubator LLC, a company created by Pfizer to offer scientist-entrepreneurs an opportunity to bring their medical innovations to patients.

Prior to joining The Pfizer Incubator, Dr. Benedyk was Vice President of Business Development at Ascenta Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing pro-apoptotic small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer. There he led contract and licensing negotiations for Ascenta, and was part of the executive team that secured $50 million for Ascenta's Series C financing.

Before coming to Ascenta, Dr. Benedyk was Vice President of Business Development and Director of Optimer Biotechnology, an international biotechnology subsidiary of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, with operations in the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan. At Optimer he led business development activities for Optimer Biotechnology in Singapore, and was part of the executive team that raised $22 million for the Series C&D financing rounds for Optimer prior to its successful IPO in February of 2007.

Previously, Dr. Benedyk has held business development positions at rila bioconsulting, Farmal Biomedicines, Aurora Biosciences (now Vertex Pharmaceuticals), lan Pharmaceuticals, and Argonex Corporation. During his tenure in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, Dr. Benedyk has personally led transactions worth over $300 million and participated in over $500 million worth of product licensing, corporate acquisition and fundraising transactions. Dr. Benedyk received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Developmental Biology from The Rockefeller University, where he was a Lucille P. Markey Graduate Fellow. He received his B.S. in Microbiology and Botany from the University of Michigan.

Grace Yee is a licensing officer from the University of California, Irvine. She is responsible for a portfolio of technologies related to medical devices and life sciences. Grace interfaces on behalf of University researchers with industrial partners in the areas of licensing, sponsored research, and other forms of academic and industrial partnerships. Prior to the University of California, Grace was a medicinal chemist at Pfizer Warner-Lambert with a research focus on the cardiovascular therapeutic area. Grace has an MBA from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan.

Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D. currently serves as the company’s President and CEO. Dr. Lichter, a biotechnology and pharmaceutical business executive has over 20 years experience in management, scientific research and business development. Dr. Lichter has participated in licensing or M&A deals valued in excess of $1 billion. He is currently a Managing Member at Avalon Ventures.

Until November 2008, Dr. Lichter served as President and CEO of Akesis Pharmaceuticals, a developer of patent protected diabetes drugs. He remains on the board of directors as Executive Chairman. Dr. Lichter was the first employee and co-founder of Sequana Therapeutics, a genomics-base drug discovery company. Dr. Lichter led negotiations in the development and management of collaborations with Glaxo (diabetes), Boehringer Mannheim (osteoporosis), Boehringer Ingleheim (asthma) and Parke-Davis (central nervous system).

In 2000, Dr. Lichter co-founded and was CEO of Xenopharm, a drug safety company where he drove the development of the company and its ultimate acquisition by Deltagen. In 2004, Dr. Lichter co-founded Sytera, Inc., and served as Vice President of Operations and Business Development. Dr. Lichter was the inventor on key enabling intellectual property ("IP") that led to the company's acquisition by Sirion Therapeutics, Inc. in July 2006.

He was Executive Vice President of Business Development at Sequenom, where he negotiated strategic transactions with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Proctor & Gamble, and served as the in-licensing manager for genomics and discovery central nervous system ("CNS") research at Pfizer. Dr. Lichter also served as Vice President of Pharmacogenetics at Genset SA, where he was responsible for managing Genset's collaboration with Abbott Labs and developing collaborations with Pharmacia and Upjohn.

When completing his Ph.D. in 1990, Dr. Lichter held a postdoctoral position in Human Genetics at Yale University, where he received broad training in areas of classical human genetics, clinical genetics & bioinformatics. During his 2 year tenure at Yale, Dr. Lichter specifically focused on cancer genetics and genetics of neuropsychiatric diseases & authored over 20 scientific papers. Dr. Lichter held a 2nd postdoctoral position at DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co., where he focused on pharmacogenetics & identified genetic mutations in important dopamine receptor involved in drug response & disease progression for schizophrenia. Dr. Lichter received a B.S. and Ph.D. from the Univ. of Illinois.