The BIO Ventures for Global Health Board of Directors is made up of biopharmaceutical executives and global health leaders.

Carl B. Feldbaum

President Emeritus, Biotechnology Industry Organization

Carl B. Feldbaum is the former president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C. Mr. Feldbaum came to Washington D.C. in 1973 as an assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate special prosecution force to work with Archibald Cox to investigate and prosecute the Watergate scandal. Prior to his appointment as president of BIO, Mr. Feldbaum was chief of staff to Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) of Pennsylvania. He was also president and founder of the Palomar Corporation, a national security "think tank" in Washington, D.C. Before founding Palomar Corporation, Mr. Feldbaum was assistant to the Secretary of Energy, and served as the Inspector General for defense intelligence in the U.S. Department of Defense.

In 1979, Mr. Feldbaum was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from Defense Secretary Harold Brown. He received the Christopher Medal for his book "Looking the Tiger in the Eye: Confronting the Nuclear Threat", which was also designated by the New York Times as a notable book of the year for 1988. Additional awards include, "Best of Biotech 1995": Special Recognition for an Individual awarded by 140 biotechnology CEOs "for leadership of the Biotechnology Industry Organization which has emerged as a truly effective platform for the industry" and Member "Biotechnology Hall of Fame": 2001 Election by biotech CEOs.

Mr. Feldbaum received a bachelor's degree in Biology from Princeton University and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  

 

Melinda Moree

Melinda Moree, Ph. D., served as Executive Chair of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) from February - June 2012. Dr. Moree served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BVGH from July 2009 – January 2012 and has been a member of the board of directors since the company’s inception in 2004. Before joining BVGH, she 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). MVI is 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, she 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.   

 

G. Steven Burrill

CEO, Burrill & Company

G. Steven Burrill has been involved in the growth and prosperity of the biotechnology industry for over 40 years. An early pioneer, Mr. Burrill is one of the original architects of the industry and one of its most avid and sustained developers. He currently serves as Chairman of the Boards of Pharmasset (NASDAQ: VRUS) and Abunda Corporation, and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Catalyst Biosciences, Depomed (NASDAQ: DEPO), NewBridge, Proventys, Targacept (NASDAQ: TRGT) and XDx. 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 a biotech investment visionary by the prestigious Scientific American magazine (The Scientific American 50), and in 2008 he received the BayBio Pantheon 2008 DiNA lifetime achievement award for his worldwide biotech leadership.

Robert B. Chess

Chairman, Nektar Therapeutics

Robert B. Chess is chairman of Nektar Therapeutics, one of the world’s top drug delivery companies. He joined Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar Therapeutics) in 1991 as its first non-founder employee and served as the company's CEO and then co-CEO until 2000. Previously, Mr. Chess was co-founder and president of Penederm, Inc., a dermatological pharmaceutical company focused on improved topical delivery. He has held management positions at Intel Corporation and Metaphor Computer Systems (now part of IBM) and served as a member of the first President Bush's White House staff.

Mr. Chess serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and is chairman of BIO's Emerging Companies Section. Mr. Chess is a member of the boards of directors of Pharsight Corp. and CoTherix, Inc. and is a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. Mr. Chess is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he teaches courses on the Health Care Industry and on Entrepreneurship. He received a B.S. degree in engineering from the California Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Jennifer Dent

President, BIO Ventures for Global Health

Jennifer Dent joined BIO Ventures for Global Health in September 2011 and was promoted to the position of President in November 2012 when she became a member of the board.  She has 20+ years of broad-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience, including negotiation and structuring of deals and management of global discovery and commercial alliances.  Jennifer began her career as a sales representative working for Parke Davis, now Pfizer, in Canada.  She worked for Genentech Canada in various sales and marketing positions.  Following the aquisition of Genentech Canada by Roche, Jennifer held a number of senior management positions in marketing, global product strategy, business development and alliance management at Roche and Genentech in Canada, Switzerland, New Jersey and South San Francisco.

She co-founded Sound Biotechnology, and prior to that served as Vice President, Business Development, Marketing and Sales at CombiMatrix Corporation in Washington. Jennifer graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BSc, and she received her executive MBA at Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business.
 

James Geraghty

Senior Vice President and Officer, Genzyme Corporation

James Geraghty is Senior Vice President and an Officer of Genzyme Corporation. He was President of Genzyme Europe from 1998-2002, and in 2004 became General Manager of Genzyme’s cardiovascular business. He serves as a Director of GTC Biotherapeutics (formerly Genzyme Transgenics Corporation), where he was Chairman from 1998 to 2001, and President and C.E.O. from its founding in 1993. He is also a member of the boards of Myosix SA, and Genetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr. Geraghty also oversees Genzyme’s Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases program, under which Genzyme helps develop innovative therapeutic programs on a non-commercial basis. He has structured Genzyme’s partnerships with The Broad Institute and MMV, with DNDi, with Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute, and with India’s ICGEB. He served as Co-Chair of the executive committee for BIO 2007 and as an Advisory Board member of the Partnering for Global Health Forum, and of BIO-India.

A graduate of the Yale Law School, he has published articles in the Yale Law Journal, Health Affairs, and other publications. He holds a masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

James C. Greenwood

President, Biotechnology Industry Organization

James C. Greenwood is President of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C. BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

Mr. Greenwood represented Pennsylvania's Eighth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 through 2004. As a leader on healthcare issues, he authored numerous bills signed into law including legislation to promote pediatric labeling for pharmaceuticals, reform medical device review and approval, and expand research and establish innovative programs to address traumatic brain injury. His legislation to reform medical liability insurance passed the House several times but stalled in the Senate.

From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Greenwood served as Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation with oversight authority over all issues in the full Committee's vast jurisdiction. He held hearings on topics ranging from bioterrorism to corporate governance to the safety of nuclear power plants.

Prior to his election to Congress, Mr. Greenwood served six years in the Pennsylvania General Assembly (1980-86) and six years in the Pennsylvania Senate (1986-1993). He specialized in health, environment, and children's issues.

Mr. Greenwood graduated from Dickinson College in 1973 with a BA in Social Work. From 1977 until 1980, he worked as a social worker with abused and neglected children at the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Service Agency.

Donald R. Joseph

Chair, BIO Ventures for Global Health, Board of Directors

Donald R. Joseph was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) from February 2012 til November 2012. Mr. Joseph served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for BVGH from April 2010 – January 2012.  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.

Vaughn M. Kailian

General Partner, MPM Capital

Vaughn M. Kailian joined MPM Capital as General Partner in May 2005. Mr. Kailian previously served as vice chairperson of the Board of Directors of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and was head of the Millennium commercial organization, where he oversaw the integration of the COR Therapeutics commercial organization, expanded the cardiovascular sales effort and lead the establishment of the Millennium commercial group which successfully launched VELCADE.

Prior to joining Millennium, Mr. Kailian served from 1990 until 2002 as CEO, president and director of COR Therapeutics, Inc. He became the CEO of COR shortly after the company was founded, took the company public in 1991, raised almost $1 billion in public market capital, and led the merger with Millennium in 2002.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kailian held various international and U.S. general management, marketing and sales positions at Marion Merrell Dow, Inc. and its predecessor companies including president and general manager, Merrell Dow USA; and corporate vice president of Global Commercial Development, Marion Merrell Dow, Inc.

He is the Chairman of the Board of ViaCell, Inc.(NASDAQ:VIAC), Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ikaria, Inc. He is also a director of NicOx, S.A. and Windhover Information, Inc. He is currently a member of the board of the Pharmaceutical Foundation Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Kailian earned his B.A. degree at Tufts University.

J. Leighton Read, M.D.

General Partner, Alloy Ventures

J. Leighton Read, M.D., joined Alloy Ventures as a General Partner in October, 2001, after 14 years as a biotechnology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded Affymax NV, under the direction of Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni. He founded Aviron, a biopharmaceutical company focused on vaccines for infectious disease, where he served as Chairman and CEO until 1999 and Director until its acquisition by MedImmune in 2002. Dr. Read was also a partner in Interhealth Limited, an investment partnership.

He received a BS from Rice University in Psychology and Biology (1973), an MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (1976) and completed internal medicine training at Duke and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston where he held appointments at Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health. He is a director of Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Avidia, Inc., Cambrios Technologies, Opal Therapeutics, and Seriosity, Inc., and has served as director for a number of other biotechnology companies, on the executive committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and has won several awards as co-inventor of technology underlying the Affymetrix GeneChip™. His current trustee/advisory responsibilities include the Santa Fe Institute, the UC Berkeley Foundation, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Benetech.