Board of Directors
Andrew Pecora, MD
Chairman and Director
Dr. Pecora currently serves as Vice President of Cancer Services and Chief Innovations Officer of the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center and co-Managing Partner of the Northern New Jersey Cancer Center (NNJCC), which is a private physicians practice group affiliated with HUMC. Leading up to its merger with NeoStem, Dr. Pecora was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Progenitor Cell Therapy, a client-based cell therapy services company supporting the development and commercialization of cellular therapies. He is also the co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Amorcyte, Inc., a privately funded biotechnology company developing cell therapy products to treat cardiovascular disease. Dr. Pecora is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles, abstracts, books, chapters and monographs and is a frequent lecturer in the field of cancer. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Seton Hall University and his Medical Degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He completed both his postdoctoral internship in internal medicine as well as his residency in the Department of Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital, and completed a fellowship in hematology-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Brenda Gavin, DVM
Director
Dr. Gavin is a Founding Partner of Quaker BioVentures. Previously, she was President of S.R. One, Limited, GlaxoSmithKline's bioscience venture capital investment company, and a general partner of EuclidSR Partners, an independent venture capital limited partnership focused on health care and information technology. Dr. Gavin has been responsible for dozens of venture and strategic investments, and serves as a board member for many portfolio companies including Celator Pharmaceuticals, Tengion, and Tranzyme Pharma; as well as the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern PA, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, Innovation Philadelphia, BioAdvance, and the Penn State University Research Foundation. Dr. Gavin received her B.S. from Baylor University, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Missouri, and a MBA from the University of Texas - San Antonio.
John Gill
Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Gill was Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (3DP) until May 2003. He joined 3DP in May 2001 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Gill was Vice President and Director, Operations and Finance, SmithKline Beecham Research and Development, now GlaxoSmithKline plc, where he was a member of the R&D Executive Committee and Chairman of the R&D Operating Committee. From 1985 to 1995 Mr. Gill served as a founding member and partner in SR One, Limited, SmithKline Beecham's Life Sciences Venture Capital Fund. Mr. Gill currently is a Board member of public and private companies and BioAdvance, the Biotechnology Greenhouse of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1975 with a BA in accounting and economics after having served in the United States Marine Corp.
Douglas Reed, MD
Director
Dr. Reed is a General Partner of Hatteras Venture Partners. Prior to Hatteras, Dr. Reed had 14 years of venture investing experience with two healthcare-focused funds, Vector Fund Management and S.R. One. He has been involved in venture investment transactions for over 30 healthcare and life science companies and currently serves as a director of Viamet, SpineAlign, Embrella and TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals. In addition to his venture investing experience, Dr.Reed also has prior operational experience, having served as Vice President of Business Development for two publicly-traded biotechnology companies, NPS Pharmaceuticals and GelTex (acquired by Genzyme). Dr. Reed earned a BA in biology and an MD from the University of Missouri and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a board certified neuro-radiologist and has held faculty positions in the Department of Radiology at the University of Washington and Yale University.
Paul Schmitt
Director
Paul Schmitt has served as Managing Director of Novitas Capital in Wayne, Pennsylvania since 1999. As Managing Director, he oversees Novitas Capital's interests in early stage life sciences companies. Most recently, Mr. Schmitt assumed an additional role of Acting CEO of Amorcyte, a Novitas portfolio company, developing cell therapies for Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). Prior to Novitas, Mr. Schmitt was most recently Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chrysalis International Corporation (NASDAQ: CRLS). Chrysalis was formed in 1996 through the merger of DNX Corporation (NASDAQ: DNXX) and BioClin International. Chrysalis was a leading supplier of pre-clinical and clinical drug development services, including the utilization of transgenic animal science technologies to identify and validate new human genetic targets of disease emerging from worldwide genomic initiatives. While as CEO of DNX, Mr. Schmitt formed Nextran, a joint venture with Baxter Health Care focused on genetically engineered organ and blood substitute products. Baxter acquired Nextran in 1995. Prior to joining DNX, Mr. Schmitt was President of Biolectron, Inc., which developed therapeutic devices for treating a variety of debilitating orthopedic disorders. He also has 8 years of experience with the BOC Health Care Group where he served as Vice President, General Manager of Ohmeda and as Corporate Manager of Strategic Planning and Corporate Group Finance Manager. Mr. Schmitt currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Wistar Institute and the Board of Managers of the Penn State Research Foundation. He serves on the Boards of Directors of 4 Novitas Capital portfolio companies: Amorcyte, Logical Therapeutics, Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals and GelMed. Mr. Schmitt received his BS in Finance at Lehigh University ('74), and his MBA from Rutgers University ('79).
Michael Steinmetz, PhD
Director
Dr. Steinmetz has been Managing Director of Clarus Ventures since the firm's inception in 2005. He has over 24 years of direct industry and investment experience within the healthcare sector, including being a General Partner in a healthcare venture capital firm since 1997. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Steinmetz was an executive at Hoffmann-LaRoche where he held various positions including Vice President of Preclinical Research and Development, and Global Head of Biotechnology. Dr. Steinmetz obtained his PhD summa cum laude from the University of Munich and held positions at the California Institute of Technology and the Basel Institute for Immunology.
Harold Werner
Director
Mr. Werner is a Managing Director and Co-founder of HealthCare Ventures and has over twenty-five years of experience in planning, development and financing of healthcare technology. Previously, he served as Director of New Ventures for Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation where he was responsible for corporate venture capital and strategic planning activities. These responsibilities included outside investments and licenses for Johnson & Johnson in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, vision care, diagnostics and other high technology areas of healthcare. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Werner was Senior Vice President of Robert S. First and was responsible for managing its European and, later, U.S. healthcare management consulting business. Mr. Werner received his BS (high honors) and MS degrees from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
James Woody, MD, PhD
Director
Dr. Woody is a General Partner of Latterell Venture Partners (LVP). Dr. Woody brings more than 25 years of biomedical research and management experience to the board. Dr. Woody was formerly President of Roche Bioscience in Palo Alto, CA. where he had responsibility for all bioscience research and development, ranging from genetics and genomics to clinical development of numerous new pharmaceuticals. Previously, Dr. Woody served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of R & D for Centocor, where he was responsible for the discovery and early clinical development of antibody and peptide-based therapeutic products. While at Centocor, Dr. Woody developed Remicade, the first of the TNF inhibitor biologics, as well as ReoPro, a novel platelet blocking drug used in conjunction with angioplasty. Prior to Centocor, Dr. Woody served as Commanding Officer and Director, US Naval Medical Research and Development Command in Bethesda Maryland. Dr. Woody holds an M.D. from Loma Linda University, trained in Pediatric Immunology at Duke University and Children's Hospital in Boston (Harvard), and holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of London, England. Dr. Woody has authored or co-authored over 140 publications.