Board of Advisors
The success of any company relies on the experience, energy, and talent of those spearheading the venture. It also requires a deep source of knowledge and experience from which the management team can draw. BioFactura has assembled a team of advisors, whose range of experience includes Science, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Business, Legal, and Management. The Board works closely with the management team to ensure BioFactura’s growth and success.
Stephen N. Keith, MD, MSPH
President and Chief Operating Officer
Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Keith assumed the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in 2006. Panacea is developing novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, along with drugs to treat a range of CNS disorders. Dr. Keith also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of NanoVec, Inc., an early-stage company seeking to develop next-generation vaccines and immunotherapeutics utilizing novel and proprietary nanobiomolecular delivery systems. From 2003 until 2006, Dr. was a Managing Director of Glocap Advisors, an investment bank based in New York, and a Senior Consultant with the Biologics Consulting Group. During 2002-2003, Dr. Keith was a General Partner with Emerging Technology Partners, an early-stage life sciences venture capital firm in Maryland. Dr. Keith has held a range of senior management positions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Just prior to joining Emerging Technology Partners, he held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer, Antex Biologics Inc. From 1995 to 2000, Dr. Keith served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales, at North American Vaccine, Inc. From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Keith held various positions at Merck & Co., Inc., including Senior Director, Health Care Delivery Policy in Corporate Public Affairs, Senior Customer Manager in the U.S. Human Health Division, and Senior Director, Health Strategies, in the Merck-Medco Managed Care Division. Dr. Keith completed his undergraduate work at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973, and he received the M.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1977. Dr. Keith completed a three-year residency in Pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for the Health Sciences in 1980. From 1980 to 1982, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at UCLA, during which time he received a Masters in Science in Public Health from UCLA and completed a majority of the courses toward a Masters in Business Administration at the UCLA Graduate School of Management. During this same period he conducted research at the Rand Corporation in health manpower policy analysis. From 1982 to 1987, Dr. Keith served on the faculty of the Charles Drew Medical School and the UCLA School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics. From 1987 to 1990, Dr. Keith served as a Health Policy Advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, under Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Robert F. Garry, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Tulane Medical School
Dr. Robert Garry has been a collaborator with and advisor to BioFactura since 2005. He leads the Lassa consortium in development of new diagnostics for Lassa Fever and is principle investigator with BioFactura on new efforts to develop a Lassa vaccine. Since 1993, he has been Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane Medical School. In 2006, he was appointed Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies in the BioMedical Sciences at Tulane. Research in the Garry laboratory focuses on a number of aspects of viral pathogenesis. He led the molecular characterization of an isolate of HIV from a patient who died of AIDS in 1969. This is the earliest confirmed case of AIDS in the United States. In addition, work in the Garry laboratory led to the discovery of a retrovirus named human intracisternal A-type retroviral particle (HIAP), which appears to be involved in systemic autoimmune diseases and idiopathic CD4 T-lymphocytopenia. More recently, the Garry laboratory obtained evidence for the existence of a human endogenous retrovirus, named human mammary tumor virus (HMTV), which is a close homolog of a virus that causes breast cancer in mice. He has also been involved in collaborative studies that lead to the determination that entry proteins of enveloped viruses form at least two distinct structural classes. This work was the foundation for the development novel antiviral peptide drugs, of which Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) is the first-in-class. Current efforts focus on development of peptide inhibitors against flaviviruses, myxoviruses and other viruses. Development of diagnostic assays and vaccines against Lassa virus is being performed in collaboration with scientists at Tulane, the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, Autoimmune Technologies, LLC, Corgenix, Inc and BioFactura, Inc. Dr. Garry received his B.S in Life Sciences with a minor in Chemistry from Indiana State University at Terre Haute. He then carried out doctoral studies in Microbiology at The University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Dr. Marilynn R.F. Waite. He received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology at The University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Dr. Marilynn R.F. Waite in 1978. Dr. Garry has published over 150 papers, book chapters and reviews in virology and related areas
Robert Gillette
Vice-President, Software Engineering
Cross Match Technologies, Inc.
Mr. Gillette assists BioFactura with business and technology issues. Rob Gillette has over 23 years in the technology market and was recently Vice President, Engineering and Chief Technology Officer at Evolve, a maker of enterprise project and resource management software. Previously, Mr. Gillette served as Senior Vice President of Engineering and CTO at Callidus Software, an enterprise incentive management software company. At Callidus, he conceived and delivered the company’s first products and technology platform. Mr. Gillette was instrumental in building the company into the leading provider of compensation management software, with customers such as Nike, Dun & Bradstreet, Sybase, Cadence, and Netscape. Mr. Gillette has also served in key technical and management positions with Sybase, Comsat/Contel, and MCI. He is the author of Physical Database Design for Sybase SQL Server, Prentice-Hall, 1995, ISBN: 0131615238.
William G. Hearl
Chief Scientific Officer/Founder
Capital Genomix, Inc.
Dr. Hearl has over twenty years of industry-related experience in biochemistry, immunochemistry, immunodiagnostics, and molecular biology. He has held positions at Electro-Nucleonics, Pharmacia, and Igen as Senior Scientist and as Section Leader of the Immunochemistry Group at Life Technologies. Dr. Hearl led the research and development activities at Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories before assuming the role of CEO for Capital Genomix in 2000. Dr. Hearl received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Tennessee for studying the molecular interactions of key neurochemistry-related enzymes. He has also worked on the 2-5A interferon-related system during his post-doctoral fellowship at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Fazal Khan, Ph.D.
Consultant
Dr. Khan served as Vice-President of Manufacturing Operations at Human Genome Sciences, Inc. Dr. Khan was responsible for the oversight of Process Development, Technology Transfer, Formulation Development, Quality Systems (QC/QA), Materials Management, Engineering and Facilities, Validation, and manufacturing of plasmid DNA, protein therapeutics and monoclonal antibodies for pre-clinical and clinical trials. In addition, he was also responsible for the design and construction of cGMP manufacturing facilities, used for producing therapeutics for clinical trials and commercial supply. Prior to joining HGS, Dr. Khan was Director of Biopharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing at Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc. in Nutley, NJ, where he managed process development, scale-up, and cGMP manufacturing of biotechnology products including interferon alpha 2a, interleukin-2, pegylated interferon, and humanized anti-tac monoclonal antibodies. Interferon Alpha-2a (Roferon-A), Humanized Anti-tac (Zenapax), and PEG-Interferon (Pegasys) are approved by the FDA and are available commercially. He developed international experience working with Roche, Celltech, Nippon Roche, and Kyowa Hakko. Dr. Khan has extensive experience in document preparation and review. He has prepared IND, PLA/BLA, and ELA submissions in addition to presenting proposals to the FDA (CBER) and MCA, England.