BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Harold E. "Barry" Selick, Chairman
Barry Selick is Chief Executive Officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a Venture Partner of Sofinnova Ventures, Inc., a venture capital firm. From January 1999 to April 2002, he was Chief Executive Officer of Camitro Corporation, a biotechnology company. From 1992 to 1999, he was at Affymax Research Institute, the drug discovery technology development center for Glaxo Wellcome plc, most recently as Vice President of Research. Prior to working at Affymax he held scientific positions at Protein Design Labs, Inc. and Anergen, Inc. As a staff scientist at Protein Design Labs, he co-invented the technology underlying the creation of fully humanized antibody therapeutics and applied that to PDL's first product, Zenapax, which was developed and commercialized by Roche for treating kidney transplant rejection. Dr. Selick received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Fund Fellow and an American Cancer Society Senior Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.
G. Steven Burrill
G. Steven Burrill has been involved in the growth and prosperity of the biotechnology industry for 35 years. An early pioneer, Mr. Burrill is one of the original architects of the industry and one of its most avid and sustained developers. Prior to founding Burrill & Company in 1994, he spent 28 years with Ernst & Young, directing and coordinating the firm's services to clients in the biotechnology/life sciences/high technology/manufacturing industries worldwide. In 2002, Mr. Burrill was recognized as the biotech investment visionary by the prestigious Scientific American magazine (The Scientific American 50). Mr. Burrill is a founder of the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology. He also serves on the Boards of the Bay Area Bioscience Center, the Bay Area Science Infrastructure Consortium, the California Healthcare Institute, the Exploratorium, and the Kellogg Center for Biotechnology. Mr. Burrill is also on the Advisory Boards of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Foundation, the University of Hawaii Medical School, and the University of Wisconsin Foundation. In addition, he is a member of The World Bank's "Out of the Box" group as well as an adjunct professor at UCSF.
Ralph E. (Chris) Christoffersen, Ph.D.
Dr. Christoffersen is a general partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, and prior to that was most recently the President and CEO of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company whose mission is to commercialize the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of ribozymes for use as human therapeutics. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of Research at SmithKline Beecham, and Vice President of Discovery Research at The Upjohn Company, and President of Colorado State University. Christoffersen received an honorary doctor of law degree from Cornell College in 1983, the "Outstanding Research of the Year" Award from the International Society of Quantum Biology in 1981, and the "W. E. Upjohn Award" for contributions in biotechnology in 1988. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Cornell College, and Ph.D. in chemistry from Indiana University. Based in Boulder, Colorado, he is focusing on new biotechnology investments.
Jeff Himawan, Ph.D.
Dr. Jeff Himawan has over 20 years of experience as a scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He began his industrial career in 1987 as a bench scientist at Genzyme Corporation. In 1996, Dr. Himawan co-founded Seed-One Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in the initial formation, financing, and early operational development of technology-based companies. As a Managing Director at Seed-One Ventures, he led the formation and management of Elusys Therapeutics, a Fund IV company. He has written several patents in the fields of wireless communication, biotechnology and protein chemistry.
Dr. Himawan first joined Essex Woodlands in 1999 as an Adjunct Partner; he became a Partner in 2001. He serves on the Board of Directors of Receptor BioLogix, MediciNova, Light Sciences Oncology, Ception Therapeutics, Horizon Therapeutics and Symphogen. Dr. Himawan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. degree in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University.
Augustine Lawlor
Gus Lawlor has been a managing director of HealthCare Ventures since 2000. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of LeukoSite, Inc., a HealthCare Ventures III, IV, and V company. Before joining LeukoSite, he was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development for Alpha-Beta Technology. He held similar positions at BioSurface Technology and Armstrong Pharmaceuticals. He was previously a management consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Lawlor is a member of the board of directors of the Slater Center in Providence, Rhode Island. He received a master's degree in public and private management from Yale University.
Michael F. Powell, Ph.D.
Dr. Powell has been a Managing Partner of Sofinnova Ventures, a venture capital firm, since 1997. He was Group Leader of Drug Delivery at Genentech, from 1990 to 1997. From 1987 to 1990, he was the Director of Product Development for Cytel Corporation, a biotechnology firm. Dr. Powell is currently on several boards, including Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Ascenta Therapeutics, Intellikine, Ocera Therapeutics, Orexigen Therapeutics and Trius Therapeutics. He has served on several other boards in the past, including Algorx Pharmaceuticals, Anesiva, DiObex, Saegis Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Genetics and Threshold Pharmaceuticals. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto, and completed his post-doctorate work in bio-organic chemistry at the University of California where he was later a faculty member.
Dr. Powell is the author of 90 publications and books. He was Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas, an editorial board member of Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and other scientific journals, is currently the Board President of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, and Vaccine Advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and One World Health. He was one of the first individuals in the biotech industry to be named a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.
Nassim Usman, Ph.D.
Dr. Usman is currently CEO and a member of the Board of Directors at Catalyst Biosciences. Dr. Usman joined Catalyst from Morgenthaler Ventures, where he has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence since June, 2005. Prior to joining Morgenthaler he was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Sirna Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:RNAI – acquired by Merck NYSE:MRK) from 2004 to 2005 and held various R&D positions at both Sirna and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:RZYM), including VP of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer, from 1992 to 2004. During his industrial career Dr. Usman has entered several drugs into clinical development, completed multiple licensing deals with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and raised capital in both private and public financings. Prior to moving into the biotechnology industry in 1992, Dr. Usman was an NIH Fogarty and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow and Scientist in the Departments of Biology and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1992. He has authored more than 70 scientific articles and 130 patents and applications. Dr. Usman serves on the Board of Osprey Pharmaceuticals, the SABs of RXi Pharmaceuticals (Worcester, MA) and Noxxon Pharma AG (Berlin, Germany) and is a past director of Archemix Corporation (Cambridge, MA) and atugen AG (now Silence Therapeutics, LSE/AIM:SLN). He received his B.Sc. (Honours) and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from McGill University. In his doctoral dissertation he developed a method for the solid-phase synthesis of RNA that is widely used in science and in a marketed RNA product (Macugen™).
Asish K. Xavier, Ph.D.
Dr. Xavier is a Vice President, with
Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Johnson & Johnson’s
venture arm. Dr. Xavier is based in New Brunswick,
NJ and represents JJDC on the board of a number of its portfolio
companies. Dr. Xavier previously worked in business development
at BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corporation, King of Prussia, PA (recently
acquired by Pfizer). While at BioRexis, he assisted the company
in raising a $30 million second round of financing. He has
worked in business development and strategy at SGX Pharmaceuticals
(San Diego, CA; SGXP) and was a project leader at Message Pharmaceuticals
(Malvern, PA). Dr. Xavier holds an MBA from The Wharton School
at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors. He
holds a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur,
India) and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston both in Chemical
Engineering. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department
of Chemistry at John Hopkins University.
