Leadership

Ronald G. Martell — Chairman

For more than 25 years, Ronald Martell has built and managed unique businesses in the biotech industry. Mr. Martell is a founder and Executive Chairman of Indapta Immuno Therapeutics. He is a founder of Encellin, ORCA BioSystems and Cetya Therapeutics, and Executive Chairman of HAVAH Therapeutics. Mr. Martell is currently a board member of Cytori Therapeutics. Most recently he was the founder and CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, where he merged the company with Oncogenex. He was CEO of Sevion Therapeutics and Executive Chairman of KaloBios. Prior to Sevion he was President and CEO of NeurogesX and sold the company’s assets to Acorda Therapeutics. Prior to NeurogesX he was Chief Executive Officer of Poniard Pharmaceuticals.  Before joining Poniard he served in the capacity of the Office of the CEO and as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at ImClone Systems. He built ImClone Systems’ Commercial Operations and field sales force to market and commercialize Erbitux® with partners Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck KGaA.

Robert M. Williams, Ph.D. — Scientific Founder & Director

Dr. Williams is the University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University and Chair of the Company’s Scientific/Medical Advisory Board.  He received the Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products from the American Chemical Society in 2011.  Dr. Williams received his B.A. in Chemistry from Syracuse University in 1975 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1979.  He joined the faculty at CSU in 1980.

David Stevens, Ph.D. — Director

Dr. Stevens has participated in the Life Science industry since 1978, in positions of increasing responsibility including executive management- VP, COO and CEO.  He served as an advisor to Bay City Capital from 2000 to 2006, and has subsequently served on the boards of several public and private biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, including Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: AMPE) and Micro-Imaging Solutions, LLC.

Dean  Wenham, Ph.D. — Director

Dr. Wenham is a pharmacologist and entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of InSymbiosis and InSynchrony Ventures. He obtained his PhD from University College London in receptor pharmacology followed by a post-doc in Pennsylvania. He then worked as a drug discovery and development scientist at Pfizer and AstraZeneca before moving on to the biotech industry where he spent a few years at a Cambridge UK start up. In 2005 Dean founded InSymbiosis in Montreal and since then he has grown the company to become a recognized global leader in strategic drug development outsourcing for the biopharma industry. In 2016 Dean established InSynchrony Ventures, a strategic early stage biotech investment boutique. Dean serves on the board of multiple companies as well as leading InSymbiosis and InSynchrony into new territory. 

Terry Opgenorth, Ph.D. — Board Observer

Dr. Opgenorth is VP at CSU Ventures, and Ex Director of CSUV’s NewCo Launchpad.  He was formerly DVP with Abbott (now AbbVie) Drug Discovery, served 6 years as CEO of Vidasym, a drug discovery and development company, and is CSO/Founder of VetDC, a veterinary drug development company.

Clifford L. Hendrick — CEO, Director

Robert M. Williams, Ph.D.  — Chairman

Dr. Williams’ research focuses on the interplay of synthetic organic chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. His research interests have included the total synthesis of natural products, studies on drug-DNA interactions, design and synthesis of antibiotics and DNA-cleaving molecules, combinatorial phage libraries and biosynthetic pathways.

Douglas V. Faller, M.D., Ph.D. –Medical Hematologist/Oncologist

Dr. Faller received his Ph.D. from MIT and his M.D. from Harvard. Faller’s research focuses on the identification of novel pathways and proteins to serve as targets for directed therapeutics in cancer and blood diseases. These targets include oncogenes and non-oncogene dependent pathways and oncogenic viruses. Dr. Faller has founded 3 biotechnology companies, including Phoenicia Biosciences where he serves as Chief Scientific Officer.

Olaf Wiest, Ph.D. –Theoretical Chemist, HDAC modeling expert

Professor Wiest obtained his Diploma (M.S.) in 1991 and his Dr. rer. nat (Ph.D.) in 1993 from the University of Bonn in Germany for his work on synthetic and mechanistic studies of radical cation Diels-Alder-Reactions.

Andrew J. Phillips, Ph.D. — Synthetic Chemist

Dr. Phillips is the director of the Center for the Development of Therapeutics at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Dr. Phillips began his career by establishing himself as a world-class synthetic chemist. He has developed novel methods and strategies for the construction of complex molecules and has applied these ideas to the total chemical synthesis of some of the most complex natural products known.

Douglas H. Thamm, V.M.D. –Veterinary Oncologist

Dr. Thamm received his Bachelors and V.M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a Residency in Medical Oncology at the University of Wisconsin, and was employed as a postdoctoral researcher there for 5 additional years.  Dr. Thamm has been on the faculty at Colorado State University since 2004.  He is the author of over 115 peer-reviewed publications, 20 book chapters and 150 research abstracts in the field of veterinary oncology and cancer research.

Daniel L. Gustafson, Ph.D. –Pharmacologist

Dr. Gustafson received his B.S. from Santa Clara University and his Ph.D. from in Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology from the University of Nevada.  He did postdoctoral training in Radiation Biology and Pharmacology at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Susan P. Perrine, M.D. –Hematologist/Oncologist

Dr. Perrine obtained her M.S. from the Harvard School of Public Health and her M.D. from Tufts University.  She has served on the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine since 1994, specializing in pediatric hematology oncology, and is considered a blood disease specialist.  Dr. Perrine has founded 3 biotechnology companies, including Phoenicia Biosciences where she serves as President and Chief Medical Officer.