Board of Directors
C. Thomas Caskey, MD, FACP
Mr. Caskey is the director and chief operating officer of the Brown Foundation Institute
of Molecular Medicine and the executive vice president of molecular medicine and
genetics at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston. After graduating
from the University of South Carolina and Duke University Medical School, Dr. Caskey
began a career in medical research that has spanned more than 40 years. During that
time, he has held positions with the NIH, NHLBI, and the Baylor College of Medicine.
In 1994, he joined Merck Research Laboratories as senior vice president of research
and president of the Merck Genome Research Institute. He returned to Houston in
2000 to become founding director and chief executive officer of Cogene Biotech Ventures
and Cogene Ventures. Dr. Caskey serves on the boards of several corporations as
well as serving as a member of the Science Review Panel for the US Food and Drug
Administration. He belongs to numerous scientific organizations and has merited
a number of awards for his work and dedication to science.
Jeff Clark
Mr. Clark is managing general partner at The Aurora Funds, a venture capital firm
that he co-founded in 1994. Working primarily with Aurora's life sciences portfolio,
Jeff leads Aurora's healthcare team to identify new investment opportunities and
to support approximately 30 healthcare portfolio companies. Jeff currently serves
on the boards of several of Aurora's life science portfolio companies, including
Aldagen, Argos, Hyperbranch, and Regado, assisting in the strategic direction of
each. Prior to forming Aurora, Jeff spent thirteen years working in development
and external affairs for Duke University (including Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center,
Duke Medical Center and the School of Engineering). Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science
in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a MBA from the Fuqua School of
Business at Duke University. He maintains strong ties to Duke University, serving
on the board of directors of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Jeff also supports
the entrepreneurial efforts of greater RTP community by having served as Chairman
of the Board for North Carolina's Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
and by co-founding of the North Carolina Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(NCIIE).
Guy Fish, MD
Guy Fish, MD has over 25 years of healthcare, life sciences and biotechnology experience.
Guy also serves as a Vice President in the Healthcare Practice Group at Fletcher
Spaght, the firm’s consulting business. Previously, Guy served as VP of Business
Development and International at Collagenesis, a tissue engineering firm. He has
also worked as a securities analyst in the medical devices sector for Sanford Bernstein,
as a healthcare consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and was a solo-practice
physician. Guy holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, an MD from the Yale
School of Medicine, is board certified in Internal Medicine, and holds an AB in
Biochemistry from Harvard College.
Guy is a member of the Board of Directors of Phase Biosciences and BioTrove and
serves as an observer of the Boards of Decision Biomarkers, Othera Pharmaceuticals
and Proteus Biomedical. He is a Trustee of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
Chairman of the Licensing Board for Dubai Health Care city and former Chairman of
the Licensing Committee for the Board of Registration in Medicine for the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts.
Edward L. Erickson
Mr. Erickson is a consultant to life science companies and venture capital firms.
He has extensive experience in the medical and life science research products industries
having served as president, CEO or a director of over a dozen such companies, four
of which successfully completed IPOs during his tenure. He has raised a total of
approximately $500,000,000 in equity and debt capital in both the private and public
capital markets. Additionally, he has considerable experience gained earlier in
his career in defense, energy and information technology. Mr. Erickson holds a BS
with distinction in Mathematics with a minor in Physics and an MS in Mathematics
from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He received an MBA with high distinction
from Harvard University where he was elected a Baker Scholar and was awarded the
Loeb Rhodes Fellowship in Finance.
Carol A. Marino
Carol Marino is currently Vice President, Syngenta Ventures, responsible for investing
in and managing a portfolio of innovative agriculture science companies in the U.S.
Her investment focus is to make equity investments in privately held companies which
can provide both strategic value as well as financial returns to Syngenta. Carol
works closely with Syngenta R&D and business units to ensure strategic alignment
so that equity investments made by Syngenta Ventures can become an integral part
of Syngenta’s growth strategy.
Prior to joining Syngenta Ventures, Ms. Marino was Vice President of Venture Investments,
at Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, where her venture focus was on equity
investments in pharmaceutical and biotech companies at all stages of development.
Carol served as a Board of Director for several of her portfolio companies.
Prior to joining J&J, Carol was the Vice President of Business Development for Clinical
Development Capital LLC, a company which provides strategic investment capital to
pharmaceutical companies for clinical development. Prior to joining Clinical Development
Capital, Carol was a Vice President at Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation. Throughout
her tenure at BMS she held executive positions in Corporate Strategic Planning,
Business Development, e-Business Alliances, and Cardiovascular Marketing. As Vice
President of the Sanofi Pharma Alliance, Carol managed all aspects of the BMS/Sanofi
Joint Venture Alliance. Prior to joining BMS, she held various positions at Merck
& Co., Inc., including Strategic Planning, Business Intelligence, Business Analysis
and Global Marketing, where she was responsible for bridging the worldwide market
needs with R&D programs and priorities. Carol also held sales and marketing positions
at Squibb Corporation and Sterling Drug.
Carol holds a Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from the University
of New Hampshire, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Merrimack College. She is a member
of the Scientific Advisory Board of the New York City Investment Fund.
John Oxaal
Mr. Oxaal is a general partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. At SRF, John focuses in areas
of imaging, computing, photonics, RF communications, and semiconductors. Before
joining SRF in 1999, John co-founded and was CEO of Volumetrics Medical Imaging
and was on the founding team of the Digital Signal Processing Division of Analog
Devices. John holds several patents in the field of real-time volumetric ultrasound
imaging. In addition to continuing as the Chairman of Volumetrics board, John serves
on the boards of Ethertronics, Luminescent, Luxtera, Metabolon, and Scintera. Oxaal
holds an engineering degree from Duke University and a MBA from the University of
Chicago.
John Ryals, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Ryals received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at
Dallas. Prior to joining Metabolon, Dr. Ryals was CEO, president and founder of
Paradigm Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDGM). There, he raised over $100 million in equity
financing, including an Initial Public Offering in 2000 and a follow on offering
in 2001 and closed on R&D partnerships valued at over $200 million. Dr. Ryals has
20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry including senior research positions
at Novartis and Ciba-Geigy and currently serves on the Board of North Carolina State
University College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.