Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., MBA – Founder, President & CEO

Dr. Lawrence Blatt has spent the last 28 years working in drug research and development with a specific focus on biology of the immune system, antiviral therapies and relevant therapeutic interventions. From 2002-2008, Dr. Blatt was the Chief Scientific Officer of InterMune, Inc. and led the discovery and development of Danoprevir®. From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Blatt was Vice President of Research at SIRNA (formerly Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals). From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Blatt served as Vice President, Product Development at National Genetics Institute, (currently a division of LabCorp). Dr. Blatt began his career at Amgen where he was ultimately Head of Interferon Research and also Development Team Leader for the consensus interferon product leading to an FDA approval of the drug Infergen®. Dr. Blatt earned his B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University, a Master's in Business Administration at the California State University, Northridge and a Doctorate in Public Health at the University of La Verne, La Verne, Calif.

Jack Nielsen – Chairman of the Board
Jack Nielsen, Partner, joined Novo A/S in 2001 and is located in San Francisco, CA.

From 1990 to 2001 Mr. Nielsen held various positions in the Novo Nordisk business area which in 2000 became Novozymes A/S. Before joining Novo Ventures, Mr. Nielsen was for four years deeply involved in designing the R&D strategy for Novozymes’ activities in the cereal food area, resulting in the development and launch of novel recombinant lipase and amylase enzymes. Jack has furthermore been involved in collaborations with Procter & Gamble, Danisco, and Quest International to identify new enzymes for the detergent and cereal food industry. Prior hereto, he held positions in marketing and technical services in the textile and personal care area, and started his career in the field of large-scale manufacturing of enzymes. Mr. Nielsen serves on the board of directors of Cell Biosciences, Inc., MediQuest Therapeutics, Inc., Protein Forest, Inc., Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and NeoMend, Inc., and he is a former director of Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Nuevolution A/S, and CardioOptics, Inc. Jack Nielsen obtained his MSc in 1990 from the Technical University of Denmark, and his Master in Management of Technology from the Center for Technology, Economics and Management in Copenhagen in 2000.

Dr. Campbell Murray, MD. – Board Member
Dr. Murray is a Managing Director of the Novartis Venture Funds in Cambridge, MA, USA.

Prior to joining the venture fund in 2005, he worked at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research as the director of special projects reporting to the president & CEO. Campbell, is a trained physician, Kauffman Fellow and holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and an MPP (public policy) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government where he was a Knox Fellow and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Dr Murray serves as a director on the boards of Aileron Therapeutics, Akebia Therapeutics, BioRelix, and ProCertus BioPharm and as an observer on the board of MicroCHIPS and Tepha.

Kent Gossett, DVM, Ph.D. - Board Member
Dr. Gossett is a Partner of SR One in Conshohocken, PA, USA.

Kent joined SR One in 2003. He is a member of the Board of Directors of CalciMedica and Locus Pharmaceuticals and an Observer for Scynexis Pharmaceuticals. He was previously Director of Protez Pharmaceuticals, Algeta ASA, and Alere Medical and Observer for Morphotek. Kent has 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry in safety assessment, drug development, business development and venture capital. Kent received his DVM and MS from Purdue University, his PhD in Veterinary Clinical Pathology from Louisiana State University, and his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter Hirth, Ph.D. – Board Member

Dr. Hirth co-founded Plexxikon in December 2000, and has 20 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical discovery and development experience. Previously, he was president of Sugen, Inc. until the sale of the company to Pharmacia Corporation in 1999. At Sugen, he helped build the company from its inception and advanced several kinase inhibitors through clinical trials for the treatment of oncology. Prior to Sugen, Dr. Hirth was a vice president in research with Boehringer Mannheim where, among other responsibilities, he successfully led the company's erythropoietin program. Previously, he also was a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute, following the completion of his post doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Hirth received his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany.