The BIO Ventures for Global Health team is made up of global health and biotechnology experts, research analysts, and communications & fundraising specialists who share a passion for improving global health.

 

Melinda Moree

CEO

Melinda Moree was named Chief Executive Officer of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) on December 30, 2009. She served as Interim CEO of BVGH from July - December 2009 and has been a member of the board of directors since the company’s inception in 2004. In her tenure as CEO, Dr. Moree has grown the organization and introduced two significant new programs -- the Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases and Global Health Connect – both of which find the common ground between the goals of global health and the pragmatic needs of companies to bring more biopharmaceutical companies into neglected disease product development. In addition, she has overseen the design of a new “Pay for Success” incentive aimed at increasing the number of companies working on products for neglected diseases. She has also significantly increased funding for the organization and overseen the opening of a San Francisco office.

Before joining BVGH, Dr. Moree was the Principal Investigator on the Malaria Policy Project conducted with the Center for Global Development, a member of the team evaluating the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and consulted with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations. Until early 2007, Dr. Moree was the Director of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), a public-private-partnership with a mission to accelerate the development of malaria vaccines and to ensure that they are available and accessible to people in developing countries. While at MVI, she was instrumental in setting the overall vision for the program and in ensuring an organizational design and a sense of urgency that enabled rapid execution and solid relations with industry. Dr. Moree oversaw the growth of the program from $50 million to $300 million and a tripling in staff. Most importantly a key milestone event—proof of concept (efficacy) in children in Africa-- was achieved under her leadership.

Prior to joining MVI, Dr. Moree was Manager of Advanced Research at EKOS Corporation and worked in technology transfer at the University of Washington School of Medicine. This work was preceded by an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Diplomacy fellowship at the United States Agency for International Development. During the fellowship Dr. Moree began her first work on public private partnerships for the development of technologies and diagnostics for the developing world. She received her Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Don Joseph

COO

Donald R. Joseph was named Chief Operating Officer (COO) for BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in April 2010. Mr. Joseph brings to the organization a wealth of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Before joining BVGH, he served in senior executive positions in both legal and business roles at private and publicly held biopharmaceutical companies including Renovis and Abgenix, where he played a key role in its acquisition by Amgen. He has consulted for a number of biopharmaceutical companies and previously served as COO of the Institute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company devoted to developing new and affordable medicines for neglected diseases.

Mr. Joseph has extensive business and legal experience, with more than 15 years in the biopharmaceutical industry. His industry projects have included a wide array of commercial, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, collaboration, and financing transactions, while providing business guidance for R&D, product launches, and sales and marketing. His therapeutic areas of experience include neurology, oncology, and antibody technology, as well as malaria and infectious diseases. His operations experience includes involvement with many marketed products in addition to research, preclinical, and clinical development of a number of products and technologies.

Prior to entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Mr. Joseph was an international partner in the San Francisco/Palo Alto office of Baker & McKenzie. He received his J.D. from the University of Texas Law School. 

 

Jackie Papkoff

Vice President, Global Health Connect

Jackie Papkoff was named Vice President, Global Health Connect, for BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in July 2010. She has worked for more than 20 years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and has extensive scientific leadership, management, and business experience.

Before joining BVGH, Dr. Papkoff was a biotherapeutics R&D consultant for biopharmaceutical companies. She was Chief Scientific Officer of CFD Therapeutics, a preclinical cancer therapeutic antibody company formed by Dr. Papkoff and colleagues as a spin-out from diaDexus, Inc., where she was Executive Vice President of Therapeutics and before that Vice President of Discovery. Dr. Papkoff joined diaDexus from the Aventis Cambridge Genomics Center, where she served as Head of Genomics Platform Technologies and Vice President of Cell Biology and Genetics. Prior to Aventis, Dr. Papkoff was Director of Molecular Oncology for Megabios Corporation and previously Senior Scientist at Sugen Inc. in the Department of Cellular Biochemistry. She also held several research scientist positions at Syntex Research.

In addition to her corporate activities Dr. Papkoff served as a grant reviewer and subsequently advisory council member for the California Breast Cancer Research Program and was appointed Consulting Professor of Cancer Biology at Stanford University for a 10-year period. She received her PhD in Biology from the University of California, San Diego, at the Salk Institute and completed postdoctoral research at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco.

 

Nadine Weich

Senior Director, Scientific Affairs

Nadine Weich joined BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in June 2010 as the Senior Director of Scientific Affairs. Dr. Weich has more than seventeen years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, where she has focused on the research and development of antibody/protein and small molecule therapeutics for tissue growth and repair, cardiovascular, inflammation (infectious and autoimmune diseases), and oncology indications. Prior to joining BVGH, she served as Project Team Leader for immunology and tissue growth and repair programs at Genentech. She previously consulted with Autologous Cell Therapeutics, a start-up company focused on cell-based therapy for cardiac tissue repair. Dr. Weich also served at Millenium Pharmaceuticals in genomics-based target/drug discovery and development as Senior Scientist and then Director of the Department of Inflammation.

Dr. Weich earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, Division of Biochemistry, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Laboratory of Developmental Cell Biology in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Weich has also contributed as an author to nine patents.
 

 

Julie Klim

Senior Advisor

Julie Klim is a Senior Advisor for BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH). She previously served as Vice President, Business Development at BVGH where she was responsible for the organization's partnering and fundraising activities. Prior to joining BVGH, Ms. Klim was Principal and Co-Founder of Capital Royalty L.P., a leading private equity fund specializing in royalty based financing in the healthcare sector with $325 million under management. Prior to Capital Royalty, Ms. Klim was Director, Worldwide Business Development for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals.

Priya Mehta

Director, Global Health Markets

Priya Mehta joined BIO Ventures for Global Health in fall 2008 as the Manager for Policy, Research and Analysis, and she now serves as the Director of Global Health Markets. As a Senior Consultant at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, Ms. Mehta advised leading multinational corporations, UN agencies and other multilateral organizations on strategic planning, organizational transformation, and operational effectiveness measures and helped to build Dalberg's global health practice area. Prior to her time at Dalberg, she was an Associate Consultant with Bain and Company’s New York office. Ms. Mehta earned a B.A. in Government from Harvard University in 2003.

Molly Polen

Director, Communications

Molly Polen joined BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in spring 2009 as the Director of Communications. Ms. Polen has an extensive background in journalism, editing, communications, and the Web. Prior to working at BVGH, she worked with the consumer medical community on patient disease magazines at The Magazine Group and with research scientists at the American Society of Hematology.

Ms. Polen received a BS in Advertising from the University of Florida and earned an MS in Publishing from the George Washington University.

Chris Maltby

Manager, Special Projects

Chris Maltby joined BIO Ventures for Global Health in December 2009 as Manager, Special Projects. Mr. Maltby brings with him a broad background in business and non-profit organizations including the Bank of California, American Seafoods Company, and the Casey Family Program. Most recently, he was a member of the commercialization and product development team of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

Mr. Maltby earned his BA in Radio/TV Communications and his MBA from the University of Washington and studied at the Cranfield School of Management in Cranfield, UK.

Elizabeth Ponder

Manager, Scientific Affairs

Elizabeth Ponder joined BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in August 2010 as the Manager of Scientific Affairs. Dr. Ponder has a broad background and interest in infectious diseases and extensive experience in the field of parasitology. Her previous scientific research as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow focused on using small molecules to explore the biological function and drug target potential of proteases of the parasite that causes human malaria. Prior to joining BVGH, Dr. Ponder worked as a Malaria Control Intern with The MENTOR Initiative in northeastern Kenya on a program to improve malaria diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in rural communities.

Dr. Ponder completed her PhD in Microbiology & Immunology and a short postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Robert Schendle

Manager, Knowledge Systems

Robert Schendle joined BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) as the Manager of Knowledge Systems in April 2010. Prior to joining BVGH, he co-managed the Law and Criminal Justice program at The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC), a non-profit organization that places undergrad and graduate students in DC-area internships for academic credit. At TWC, Mr. Schendle was integral in the organization’s use of technology to streamline processes and enhance the student experience, most notably by helping design and develop a web-based student information and enrollment system. Prior to TWC, he served with the National Youth Leadership Forum, where he managed educational conferences around technology and law for high-achieving high school students.

A native of Louisiana, Mr. Schendle received a B.S. in Management from Tulane University and a J.D. from Tulane Law School.

Rianna Stefanakis

Manager, Research and Policy

Rianna Stefanakis joined BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) in November 2009, and she now serves as Manager of Research and Policy. Previously, Ms. Stefanakis worked as a Research Associate with the HIV/AIDS National Resource Center at the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center, where she focused on clinical guideline and curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation of HIV/AIDS training programs for healthcare workers in the U.S.; and specifically on the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria and Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Ms. Stefanakis graduated from Harvard University in 2003 with a degree in Cognitive Psychology and citation in Modern Greek Literature. She subsequently completed post-baccalaureate studies in premedical sciences at Harvard. Before joining BVGH, Ms. Stefanakis was working on several translational research protocols in an endocrinology laboratory at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Jennifer Manganello

Associate, External Affairs

Jennifer Manganello joined the BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) team in fall 2008 as a Development Associate responsible for coordinating BVGH’s fundraising campaigns. Since that time, she expanded her role to support various other projects and led planning of the 2010 Partnering for Global Health Forum. Previously, Ms. Manganello worked as a Development Associate at The HHC Foundation of NYC, the philanthropic arm of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. In 2005, Ms. Manganello was a Fulbright scholar to Morocco where she conducted research on maternal health and family planning. She received her B.A. from Fordham University in Philosophy and Middle Eastern Studies.