Board of Directors
Farah Champsi
Managing Director, Alta Partners
Ms. Champsi joined Alta in 2000, prior to the formation of Alta BioPharma II. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Aerovance, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Myocor, Portola Pharmaceuticals, Sanarus Medical, and Trevena, and serves as the Chairperson of the Board for Zelos Therapeutics. Ms. Champsi also led Alta's investment in Agensys and prior investments include Cytokinetics, Esperion, Orphan Medical and Renovis. She focuses her efforts on biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. Prior to Alta, Ms. Champsi was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Company between 1987 and 1999, where she focused on biotechnology and other life sciences companies. She was elected a General Partner in 1992 and head of the global life sciences investment banking group in 1995. During that time, she was responsible for building one of the most successful life sciences investment banking franchises on Wall Street. She holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. in Economics from Smith College.
Robert Garland, M.D.
Partner, NEA
Dr. Garland joined NEA in 2003 and invests in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. He is a director of 3-V Biosciences, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Trevena, Inc., and Zyngenia, Inc. Prior to NEA, in addition to clinical practice at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), he was with McKinsey & Company’s Pharmaceutical & Medical Products and Corporate Finance & Strategy practices. At McKinsey, Dr. Garland worked with biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics, and private equity clients to evaluate investments, formulate product and corporate strategies and build businesses. Dr. Garland completed his Residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at UCSF and received his M.B.A. and M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley, his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, and his B.S. in EE/Bioengineering from Rice University.
Maxine Gowen, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Trevena
Dr. Gowen is the founding President and CEO of Trevena. Prior to this Dr. Gowen held a variety of leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over a period of fifteen years. As Senior Vice President for the Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD), she developed an innovative new approach to externalizing drug discovery in big pharma. Dr. Gowen was previously President and Managing Partner at SR One, the venture capital subsidiary of GSK, where she led its investments in and served on the board of directors of numerous companies. Until 2002 Dr. Gowen was Vice President, Drug Discovery, Musculoskeletal Diseases at GSK, responsible for drug discovery and early development for osteoporosis, arthritis and metastatic bone disease. Dr. Gowen held a tenured academic position in the School of Pharmacology, University of Bath, UK from 1989-1992. She has authored more than 100 refereed scientific publications.
Dr. Gowen graduated with a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK, received a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Sheffield, UK, and received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gowen is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) and the Board of Directors of the biotechnology industry association, Bio. She chairs an advisory board at GSK.
Terrance G. McGuire
Co-founder and Managing General Partner, Polaris
Prior to starting Polaris, Mr. McGuire spent seven years at Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. investing in early stage medical and information technology companies. He began his career in venture capital at Golder, Thoma and Cressey in Chicago. Mr. McGuire has co-founded three companies: Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH); AIR (Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.), acquired by Alkermes (ALKS); and MicroCHIPS. Terry represents Polaris on the boards of directors of Acceleron Pharma; Biolex Therapeutics; Life Line Screening; Microbia; MicroCHIPS, Inc.; and Remon Medical Technologies Inc. He has also represented Polaris on the boards of Akamai; Aspect Medical Systems; Cubist Pharmaceuticals; deCODE (DCGN); GlycoFi; and Transform Pharmaceuticals. Mr. McGuire holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.S. in engineering from The Thayer School at Dartmouth College, and a B.S. in physics and economics from Hobart College.
Christopher K. Mirabelli, Ph.D.
Managing Director, HealthCare Ventures
From August 2000 to the present, Dr. Mirabelli has served as a Managing Director of HealthCare Ventures. From December 1999 to July 2000, Dr. Mirabelli served as President of Pharmaceutical Research and Development and a member of the board of directors of Millennium Pharmaceuticals. From July 1993 to December 1999, Dr. Mirabelli served as Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of LeukoSite, Inc., a biotechnology company. In 1988, Dr. Mirabelli was a founder of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served until July 1993 in several positions, including Executive Vice President. Dr. Mirabelli holds a B.S. in Biology from SUNY-Fredonia and a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine.
Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr, Ph.D.
Former President R&D, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., is a Retired President of R&D at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he spent seven years and still acts as a consultant. He joined Wyeth after 17 years at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK) and six years at Lilly Research Laboratories. During his celebrated career in Pharmaceutical R&D, Dr. Ruffolo played a leading role in the discovery and/or development of a number of now marketed products, including carvedilol (Coreg®/Kredex®/Dilatrend®) for the treatment of congestive heart failure, acute MI and hypertension, dobutamine (Dobutrex®) for heart failure, ropinerole (Requip®) for Parkinson's Disease, and eprosartan (Teveten®) for hypertension. Dr. Ruffolo received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy in 1973, and his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology in 1976, both from The Ohio State University. He has authored nearly 500 full-length publications, and has edited 17 books. He was the Editor-in-Chief of three international pharmacology journals, has served on the editorial boards of 28 other international scientific journals, and on the boards and committees of several industry organizations. Dr. Ruffolo has won numerous prestigious awards honoring his outstanding contributions to the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he received the 2008 Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Discoverer’s Award for the discovery and development of carvedilol (Coreg®).
Ralph Snyderman, M.D.
Former President & CEO, Duke University Health System
Chairman Emeritus, Duke University
Dr. Snyderman joined NEA in 2006 as Venture Partner focusing primarily on biotechnology investments. He works closely with NEA portfolio companies and serves on the board of Liquidia Technologies, Targacept, Inc. and Trevena, Inc. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Cardioxyl. Dr. Snyderman is Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine. He served as Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine from 1989 to July 2004. He also oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System and served as its first President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Snyderman played a leading role in the conception and development of Prospective Care, a novel approach to personalized health and an evolving model of national health delivery. In 1987, Dr. Snyderman joined the biotech firm Genentech, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President for Medical Research and Development. He is often called upon by Congress, the Institute of Medicine, the NIH and national policy makers to contribute to the debate on health care reform, particularly his concepts concerning prospective care. Dr. Snyderman played a prominent role in the leadership of such important national organizations as the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine and the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Additionally, Dr. Snyderman is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors as well as a major contributor to nearly 375 scientific manuscripts.
