Board of Directors

Scott Pancoast - President & CEO

 

Jeffrey Ferrell

Background: Mr. Ferrell currently serves as the Managing Member of Athyrium Capital Management, LLC, a life sciences focused investment and advisory company with offices in New York City. From 2001 to 2008, Mr. Ferrell served in a number of capacities at Lehman Brothers. Most recently he oversaw public and private life sciences investments for Global Trading Strategies, a principal investment group within Lehman. Prior to that he was a Vice President in Lehman Brothers Private Equity division. Prior to joining Lehman in 2001, he was a principal at Schroder Ventures Life Sciences in Boston. Mr. Ferrell graduated with an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University.

Dan Kisner, M.D.

Background: Dr. Kisner has over 30 years of experience with public and private companies focused on biopharmaceuticals, oncology and biotechnology. Most recently, Dr. Kisner served as a partner at Aberdare Ventures and, prior to that, he was president and CEO of Caliper Technologies, leading its development from a start-up focused on microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology to a publicly-traded, commercially successful organization. Prior to Caliper, he was president and COO of Isis Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kisner served as division vice president of pharmaceutical development for Abbott Laboratories and vice president of clinical research and development at SmithKline Beckman Pharmaceuticals. He has also held a tenured position at the Division of Oncology at the University of Texas, San Antonio School of Medicine, and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He serves as chairman of the board for Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and is also a director of Dynavax Technologies. He holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.D. from Georgetown University.

Charles Mathews

Background: Mr. Mathews is an active private investor, most recently having served as the past president of the San Diego Tech Coast Angels, part of an affiliation of over 200 accredited "angel" investors active in the life science and technology industries. From April 2002 until January 2004, Mr. Mathews served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of DermTech International, a privately held contract research organization focused on dermal and transdermal drugs. From 1996 to April 2002, Mr. Mathews was an independent management consultant, providing CEO-level consulting services to various public and private companies. During his career, Mr. Mathews has held general management responsibilities for companies operating in nine countries on three continents, and has served on boards of directors of over twenty companies in seven countries. Mr. Mathews is actively involved in community service and is a member of the Chairmen's Round Table of San Diego. He was recognized as the 2003 Director of the Year for Corporate Governance by the Corporate Directors Forum, San Diego.

Daniel Petree (Chairman)

Background: Mr. Petree has over 20 years of experience in the biotedchnology industry, serving in a variety of roles including investment banker, senior operating manager and corporate and securities lawyer. Currently, Mr. Petree serves as a director of Cypress Biosciences, Inc. a company that provides products for the treatment of patients with Functional Somatic Syndromes and other central nervous system disorders, a position which he has held since 2004. Mr. Petree also is a member and co-founder of P2 Partners, LLC, which provides transaction advisory services to small and medium sized life science companies. Before co-founding P2 Partners in 2000, Mr. Petree was President and Chief Operatiing Officer of Axys Pharmaceuticals, a structure-based drug design company in South San Francisco.

Donald Swortwood

Background: Mr. Swortwood has served as Chairman and CEO of Western States Investment Corporation since its founding in 1977 and has been an active investor in California business for nearly thirty years. His investments have ranged from a business that developed novel technologies for the detection and treatment of gastro-esophageal reflux disease, which was sold to Medtronic; to a leader in SAN network-management-software solutions, which was sold to EMC; to a business that developed the first ear thermometer, which was sold to Wyeth. Currently, the Western States portfolio of holdings includes a number of biotech and life science companies. Mr. Swortwood is a graduate of Stanford University.