Advisors
Our Advisory Board includes thought leaders, industry experts and executives with diverse and deep experience across a range of disciplines and industries - from medicine and pharmacology to medical devices and regulatory affairs. Our Advisors provide invaluable perspectives and insights on our research projects and our companies, helping inform and shape our strategy and future direction.
- Dennis Ausiello, M.D., Professor, Harvard Medical School; Chief of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Ausiello has served as Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital since 1996. Dr. Ausiello's experience includes President of the Association of American Physicians in 2006, Member of the Institute of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Director of TARIS BioMedical, Inc. Currently, Dr. Ausiello serves as a Director on Pfizer's Board since December 2006; he is also a member of Pfizer's Audit Committee, Corporate Governance Committee and Science and Technology Committee.
- Duke Collier, CEO of Arsenal Medical; Senior Advisor, Polaris Venture Partners
Duke Collier currently serves as CEO of Arsenal Medical and is a Senior Advisor with Polaris Ventures. Prior to his role at Polaris, Mr. Collier was Executive Vice President at Genzyme where he managed and built several of Genzyme's newer businesses, including its oncology and cardiovascular business units. During his tenure at Genzyme, Mr. Collier was responsible for building the biosurgery business and oversees the company's efforts in multiple sclerosis and other immune disorders. He has also led some of Genzyme's significant acquisitions and the formation of MG Biotherapeutics, Genzyme's joint venture with Medtronic Inc., which is focused on cardiac cell therapy.
Mr. Collier has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare. From 1991-1995, he was president of Vitas Healthcare Corp., the largest provider of hospice services in the United States. Between 1981 and 1991, Mr. Collier was a partner at Hogan & Hartson law firm in Washington, D.C. He served as deputy administrator for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) in Baltimore, MD, during the Carter Administration. From 1977 to 1979, Mr. Collier was deputy administrator of the New York State offices of Health Systems Management. He was an associate at Covington and Burlington law firm in Washington, D.C., from 1974 to 1977. Mr. Collier began his legal career in Washington as a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Mr. Collier sits on the boards of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Pervasis Therapeutics, and Beacon Hospice, and is a member of the Director's Council of the MIT Center for Cancer Research. He is also a Senior Advisor to Polaris Venture Partners. He earned a B.A. at Yale University and a J.D. at the University of Virginia Law School.
- Bruce Given, M.D., CEO, Leonardo Biosystems
Dr. Given is CEO of Leonardo Biosystems, serves as a Healthcare Products Consultant as the Principal of Bruce Given Consulting and is Chairman of the Board for ICON, plc. (Nasdaq: ICLR). Until June of 2007, Dr. Given served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of Encysive Pharmaceuticals, which he joined in 2002. Prior to joining Encysive Pharmaceuticals, he was with Johnson & Johnson for 9 years, serving in several capacities including as President, International, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics and as Group Vice President, Head of U.S. Marketing & Sales, Research & Development for Janssen Pharmaceutica. He has held various executive and senior management positions at Sandoz Pharma Ltd., Sandoz Research Institute and Schering-Plough Corporation. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, he was on the medical faculty at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Given obtained his bachelor of sciences degree from Colorado State University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.D. degree with honors from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his medical training at the University of Chicago and at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he was a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in internal medicine and endocrinology and metabolism and has authored 33 scientific publications.
In addition to his work with Leonardo and ICON, Dr.Given serves on the Boards of Directors for Calando Pharmaceuticals, for BioHouston, where he is Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Board and the Texas Life Science Center. He is a member of the CPRIT Commercialization Committee, a member of the inCube Scientific Advisory Board, served on the Technology Review Committee of MD Anderson Medical Center, and is past Chairman of the Rider University Scientific Advisory Board.
- Peter Barton Hutt, Senior Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP
Peter Barton Hutt is a Partner specializing in food and drug law in the Washington, D.C. law firm of ovington & Burling. He served as Chief Counsel for the FDA from 1971-1975 and is the co-author of a casebook used to teach food and drug law throughout the country.
Mr. Hutt currently serves on the Boards of Directors of several public and privately-held biotechnology companies, including CV Therapeutics, Inc. and Cognetix, Inc., and venture capital advisory boards, including Polaris Venture Partners and the Sprout Group. He has previously served as a director of other companies, including IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation (now Biogen IDEC Inc.) during its development of Rituxan®.
Mr. Hutt has served on many advisory committees including the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NIH Advisory Committee to Review the Guidelines for Recombinant DNA Research, and five Office of Technology Assessment advisory panels.
Washingtonian magazine has named Mr. Hutt one of Washington D.C.'s 50 best lawyers (out of more than 40,000) and one of Washington D.C.'s 100 most influential people. The National Law Journal has named him one of the 40 best health care lawyers in the United States and the European Counsel has called him the best FDA regulatory specialist in Washington, D.C. Mr. Hutt graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School and earned a Master of Laws degree in Food and Drug Law from New York University Law School.
- Richard McCormick, Ph.D., President, Rutgers University
Dr. McCormick is the president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He began his academic career on the Rutgers faculty and returned as president in 2002 after serving as provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and president of the University of Washington.
Seeking to advance Rutgers to the top tier of American public research universities, Dr. McCormick has promoted interdisciplinary research initiatives in several areas including advanced materials and devices, nanotechnology, nutrition, homeland security, stem cells, climate change, and renewable energy. During his tenure, Rutgers has made substantial gains in research funding. For example, Rutgers and the Cleveland Clinic are leading a consortium that won a $42.5 million grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to develop biomaterials and regenerative medicine technologies to address traumatic battlefield injuries. Dr. McCormick also oversaw record levels of research funding at the University of Washington.
Among Dr. McCormick's most notable innovations at Rutgers is a major restructuring and reinvigoration of undergraduate education on the university's New Brunswick campus. The plan reconnects the faculty to the work of undergraduate education and offers all New Brunswick undergraduates equal access to Rutgers' high-quality academic programs, participation in the intellectual work that characterizes the university, and access to learning communities of students with similar interests.
The author of three books and numerous articles, Dr. McCormick earned a B.A. in American studies from Amherst College in 1969 and a Ph.D. in history from Yale University in 1976.
- Michael A. Mussallem, Chairman and CEO, Edwards Lifesciences
Michael A. Mussallem, age 56, has been chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences, Inc. since 2000. Prior to 2000, Mussallem held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility in engineering, product development and senior management at Baxter International Inc., including Group Vice President of its CardioVascular business from 1994 to 2000 and Group Vice President of the Biopharmaceutical business from 1998 to 2000. From 1996 until 1998, he was the Chairman of Baxter's Asia Board overseeing Baxter's operations throughout Asia. Mr. Mussallem is chairman of the board of directors of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), and serves as a member of the board for Advanced Medical Optics. He is also on the boards and executive committees of the California Healthcare Institute and OCTANe, and is a trustee of the University of California, Irvine Foundation. He received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1974 and an honorary doctorate in 1999 from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.
- Stephen N. Oesterle, MD, Senior Vice President of Medicine and Technology, Medtronic
Stephen Oesterle, M.D., joined Medtronic in 2002 as Senior Vice President for Medicine and Technology. In this role, Steve provides executive leadership for scientific research, technological strategies and continued development of strong relationships with the world's medical communities, technical universities, financial institutions and emerging medical device companies.
Previously, Steve served as Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard University Medical School and as Director of Invasive Cardiology Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. A teacher and innovator in the field of cardiac catheterization, he has also directed interventional cardiology programs at Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, at Georgetown University, and Stanford University.
Steve is a 1973 summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College and received his medical doctorate from Yale University in 1977. He completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and also served a fellowship in interventional cardiology at Stanford.
- Edmund "Ned" Olivier, Senior General Partner, Oxford Biosciences
Mr. Olivier has a profitable record of financing and managing biotechnology and healthcare investments over the last 20 years. He has been Chairman, President or Director of more than twenty life science companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He is a Founding General Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners. Prior to entering venture capital with Fairfield/Steuben Venture Partners, he managed domestic and international operations for Diamond Shamrock, Corning Glass Works and Conoco Chemicals. At Diamond Shamrock, he served as Vice President of Technology and Planning in charge of Corporate Research, Engineering, Venture Capital, Planning, and Mergers and Acquisitions. At Corning, he was Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Worldwide Scientific Products Division and Vice President, Commercial Development where he initiated Corning's entry into industrial biotechnology. At Conoco Chemicals, he was Managing Director, Europe. Mr. Olivier received his MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business (Baker Scholar, High Distinction) and his BS in chemical engineering cum laude from Rice University. He is a Life Fellow and Member of the International Council of the Salk Institute; a member of the Board of Regents, Harris Manchester College, Oxford University; and a former Chairman of the Biotechnology Venture Investors Group, Trustee of the Union Theological Seminary and Director of the South Coast Repertory Theatre.
- Bill Ringo, Former Executive Pfizer and Lilly
Mr. Ringo served as the Senior Vice President Strategy and Business Development at Pfizer from 2008-2010. Mr. Ringo currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Barclays Capital and executive in residence at Sofinnova. In addition, Mr. Ringo serves as Chairman of the Board for Sangamo BioSciences, which is focused on research and development of novel DNA-binding proteins for therapeutic gene regulation and modification, and holds a Board seat for Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company committed to improving the lives of people with cancer. Mr. Ringo also serves on the Board of Directors of BioCrossroads, a public-private collaboration of corporate, university, government and entrepreneurial leaders that supports Indiana's life sciences research and corporate strengths in life sciences while encouraging business development in the region.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Mr. Ringo served as an executive in residence at Warburg Pincus and Sofinnova Ventures. From 2004 to 2006, he was President and CEO of Abgenix, Inc., a biotechnology firm focused on developing human antibodies as agents to treat cancer and other serious diseases. At Abgenix, he led efforts to transform the organization into a more focused product company by strengthening the senior management team and enhancing an existing partnership with Amgen, which purchased Abgenix in 2006.
Mr. Ringo began his career at Eli Lilly & Company in 1973 and during his 28-year tenure there he held a number of senior positions, including Product Group President for Oncology and Critical Care, President of Internal Medicine Products, President of the Infectious Diseases Business Unit, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for U.S. Pharmaceuticals. He retired from Lilly in 2001. Mr. Ringo holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.B.A. from the University of Dayton.
- Doug Rasor, President, Rasor Advisors
Mr. Rasor has over 30 years' experience in technology startups and the semiconductor businesses. His current company, Rasor Advisors, works with startup companies and venture capital firms to develop marketing and funding strategies. He is recently retired from a 25+ year career at Texas Instruments where he was Vice President, Emerging Medical Technologies. In this role, Mr. Rasor was responsible for establishing relationships with universities, venture capital investors and innovative start-up companies in the medical device sector.
From 1995-2005, Mr. Rasor was Vice President of Strategic Marketing at Texas Instruments. In this role, he ran an organization responsible for scouting, and incubating TI's entrance into new high-growth markets. Examples of successful businesses that were bootstrapped through Doug's strategic marketing organization were TI's chipset businesses for MP3 players, digital still cameras, digital audio, wireless smartphone/PDA, and DSL modems. These businesses employ over 3,000 people and account for over 20% of TI's revenue today. He was also responsible for spearheading TI's external venture fund activities (partnerships with Granite Ventures, Seven Rosen, Austin Ventures, STARTech, etc).
Previous experiences include multiple field sales and business unit marketing assignments at TI, as well as sales and marketing management roles at Sierra Semiconductor. Before his entry into the semiconductor industry, Doug was director of engineering at SIMUTECH where he led the development of real-time simulation hardware/software for the avionics network on the F-16 fighter aircraft.
Mr. Rasor obtained his degree in Systems Engineering from Wright State University, with postgraduate work in Computer Science.