Subroto Chatterjee, Ph.D., Founder
Dr. Chatterjee is Professor, Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, and Director, Sphingolipid Signaling and Vascular Biology Laboratory.  He is the inventor of the Hopkins Gal T-2 technology, and has published extensively in the area of vascular disease and cell proliferation disorders.  His laboratory has done pioneering work on the neutral sphingomyelinase gene that is upregulated by inflammatory molecules such as Fas Apo1 (CD95), and tumor necrosis factor and apolipoproteinC-1 (a component of HDL) implicated in atherosclerotic plaque rupture.  His laboratory also studies Staphylococcus enterotoxin-B induced toxic shock and emesis.  His group has identified the peptide domain in SEB that specifically binds to a sphingolipid receptor in human kidney cells and induces apoptosis via activating the neutral sphingomyelinase enzyme.  Previously, Dr. Chatterjee has served on the SAB of Merlin Medical, Singapore, Lion Pharmaceuticals, Baltimore and has an on-going collaborative relationship with MerLion Pharmaceutical, Singapore.

Daniel Levitt, M.D., PhD.
Daniel Levitt is Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  He has over 20 years of experience at both biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  He was CMO and Head of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Dynavax, COO, Head of Research at Affymax, President of R&D at PDL, and Vice President at Geron.  Prior to this, Dr. Levitt was Chief Medical Officer at Sandoz Pharma Ltd., where he served as Worldwide Head, Oncology Drug Research and Development, and at Hoffmann-LaRoche, where he served as Director of Clinical Oncology and Immunology.

Jon Resar, M.D.
John Resar is an interventional cardiologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  He has extensive experience and publications in the area of percutaneous coronary interventions including stenting, laser ablation, rotational atherectomy, extractional atherectomy, and brachytherapy, as well as treatment of bypass graft disease with distal protection devices.  He is an expert consultant to several leading firms dealing with drug eluting stents.

Michael Palladino, Jr. Ph.D.
Michael Palladino is Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Scientific Co-founder of Nereus Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Palladino is a cell biologist who has made significant contributions to the understanding of the roles of cytokines in the development of serious inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Elizabeth Vadas, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Vadas is President of InSciTech Inc. and former Executive Director of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Merck Frosst.  Notable product development efforts include the leukotriene and Cox-2 programs leading to worldwide regulatory approval of SINGULAIR®, Merck’s new asthma therapy and VIOXX® in the Cox-2 class for the treatment of pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.  Her department also has developed ARCOXIA™.

Arnold Repta, Ph.D.
Arnold Repta is a Wisconsin native with BS, MS and Ph.D. degrees from the U. of Wisconsin-Madison.  His Ph.D mentor was Dr. Takeru Higuchi.  Dr. Repta was a faculty member at the U. of Kansas from 1967-1983, and subsequently, he took a position at INTERx Research Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck and Co., where he served as Executive Director and President leading a group of about 50 persons in the area of new drug delivery systems R&D.  In 1994 he joined DuPont-Merck as VP and Sr. VP of Pharmaceutical R&D.  After the acquisition of that firm by Bristol-Myers Squibb at the end of 2001, he joined Nektar Therapeutics as VP of R&D where he remained until 2003, when he retired.  He is now a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry.  Dr. Repta has published widely, is an inventor on numerous patents, and has extensive experience in pharmaceutical analysis, basic pharmaceutics, drug delivery, dosage form development, and related CMC issues.

Anthony Hickey, Ph.D.
Dr. Hickey is Professor, University of North Carolina, School of Pharmacy, and President and CEO of Cirrus Pharmaceuticals.  He is an expert in aerosol and nasal drug formulation and delivery, and has worked extensively on the development of aqueous and non-aqueous solution / suspension formulations for nebulizer and propellant-driven metered dose inhalers and dry powder formulations for topical delivery.

Ving J. Lee, PhD.
Dr. Lee is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Adesis Inc., a chemistry-based CRO.  Concurrently he is also Senior Vice President, Research for Limerick NeuroScience, Inc.  During over twenty-five years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry he has advanced numerous discovery and development programs, notably, bisantrene, tazobactam, cefixime, cefuzonam, beta-lactamase inhibitors, the glycylcyclines, gyrase inhibitors, oral carbapenems, and beta-lactams for problematic gram-positive pathogens.  He has held positions of increasing technical managerial responsibility at Lederle (Cyanamid), Microcide Pharmaceuticals, and Anacor Pharmaceuticals.

Burton Christensen, Ph.D.
Burt Christensen was co-founder and Executive Vice President, Research, Theravance, Inc., and Senior Vice President Chemistry, Merck.  He has consulted for a number of companies, including Amgen, Genetics Institute, Pharmacopeia, Infinity, Concurrent, and Essential.  Dr. Christensen spent the majority of his career at Merck Research Laboratories, where he held various positions before retiring in 1992.  Among his honors are the sixth Cecil L. Brown lectureship, the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, the Merck Directors Scientific Award, and the Chemical Pioneer Award.