employment experience includes leadership roles at InterMune, Amgen and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Katkin currently serves on a number of private company boards, and serves as director of several public companies, including Novus Therapeutics, Inc. (Chairman) and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Katkin has an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA and earned a B.S. in Business and Accounting from Indiana University. Mr. Katkin is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant. We believe that, among other experience, qualifications, attributes and skills, Mr. Katkins executive experience and his membership on the board of directors of several biotechnology companies qualify him to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Briggs W. Morrison, M.D.
– Dr. Morrison is a Class III director who has served as our Chief Executive Officer since June 2015 and as a member of our board of directors since July 2015. Dr. Morrison currently serves as a managing director of MPM Capital, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, since June 2015. Prior to joining us, he served as Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Chief Medical Officer at AstraZeneca plc, a publicly traded company, from January 2012 to June 2015, leading the companys global, late-stage development organization and serving as a member of the AstraZeneca senior executive team. He previously held a number of positions at Pfizer Inc., a publicly traded company, from 2007 to January 2012 that culminated in his appointment as Head, Medical Affairs, Safety and Regulatory Affairs for Pfizers human health business, and also served in roles of increasing responsibility at Merck Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., from 1995 to 2007, ascending to the role of Vice President, Clinical Sciences, Oncology, responsible for clinical development of all novel anti-cancer drugs. Dr. Morrison was chairman of the board of TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., an industry-funded company charged with improving aspects of clinical trials, from 2014 to 2015, a member of the executive committee of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) sponsored by FDA, and is on the board of ACRES (Alliance for Clinical Research Excellence and Safety), ImunoMet Therapeutics, Inc. and Oncorus, Inc. Dr. Morrison received a B.S. in biology from Georgetown University and an M.D. from the University of Connecticut. We believe that Dr. Morrisons experience as an executive officer of other successful companies in the pharmaceutical industry gives him the qualifications, skills and financial expertise to serve on our board of director.
Dennis G. Podlesak
– Mr. Podlesak is a Class III director who has served as chairman of our board of directors since December 2008. Since November 2007, Mr. Podlesak has served as a partner at Domain Associates, LLC, a life science-focused venture capital firm. While at Domain, Mr. Podlesak served as the Chairman of the board of Tobira Therapeutics, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by Allergan plc in November 2016. Mr. Podlesak also served on the board of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, through its acquisition by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals in January 2015 and was on the board of Rightcare Solutions, which was acquired by Cardinal Healths Naviheath division in December 2015. Mr. Podlesak was also the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Calixa Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, that was acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Mr. Podlesak was the Executive Chairman of Corthera, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Novartis AG. Earlier in his career, Mr. Podlesak served as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cerexa, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, Inc. after being acquired by Forest. Prior to Cerexa, Mr. Podlesak served as the Chief Executive Officer of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company, and led the sale of Peninsula to Johnson & Johnson's Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical subsidiary. Prior to joining Peninsula, Mr. Podlesak held various executive management positions at Novartis AG, a publicly traded healthcare company, Allergan, plc, a publicly traded healthcare company and Smith Kline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline plc, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company). Mr. Podlesak is the Chairman of Adynxx and serves on other private company boards. Mr. Podlesak received a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, and has completed postgraduate studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. We believe that Mr. Podlesaks experience in the venture capital industry, his experience as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of other successful companies in the biotechnology industry, his over 20 years of strategic, operational and commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and his service as a director of other publicly traded and privately held life science companies give him the qualifications, skills and financial expertise to serve on our board of directors.
Fabrice Egros, Ph.D.
– Dr. Egros is a Class I director who has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2013. Since October 2015, Dr. Egros has served as President, Asia Pacific and Japan of Lupin Limited, an Indian publicly traded pharmaceutical company. From November 2012 to September 2015, Dr. Egros served as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer of NovaMedica LLC, a privately held pharmaceutical company, and was its Chief Operating Officer and a member of its board of directors from July 2012 to September 2015. From February 2011 to July 2012, Dr. Egros served as the Chief Operating Officer of Xanodyne