Management
Maxine Gowen, Ph.D.
President and CEO
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.
Michael W. Lark, Ph.D.
CSO and Senior Vice President, Research
Dr. Lark joined Trevena as Senior VP and Head of Research in February 2008. Prior to this, he was Vice President of Biology at Centocor R&D where he was responsible for the therapeutic discovery strategy and execution in immunology, oncology, tissue remodeling and biomarkers. In this role, Dr. Lark managed a portfolio of approximately 15 drug discovery projects as well as supported the development of 14 new molecular entities (two in late stage clinical development) and one product. He was previously Director of Musculoskeletal Diseases at GlaxoSmithKline, where he managed a portfolio of drug discovery projects targeting osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Before joining SmithKline Beecham in 1996, Dr. Lark was a Senior Investigator at Merck Research laboratories, where he led a drug discovery team targeting matrix metalloproteinase-3 for the treatment of osteoarthritis. He has published over 115 peer reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters. Dr. Lark received his B.S. in Microbiology from the Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from the Case Western Reserve University Medical School. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pathology at The University of Washington.
David Soergel, M.D.
Vice President and Head, Clinical Development
Dr. Soergel joined Trevena in November 2009 as VP and Head of Clinical Development. Previously, he was Senior Director, Clinical Development at Concert Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for clinical strategy and operations across diverse therapy areas, including infectious diseases and diabetic nephropathy. Prior to Concert, Dr. Soergel was Director of Discovery Medicine at GlaxoSmithKline in the Cardiovascular/Urogenital Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery where he was responsible for leading compounds from the bench to the bedside in the areas of women’s health and urology. At GSK, he served on multiple interdisciplinary working groups, including the Internal Cardiac Safety Panel and Pediatric Network. After completing an NIH-funded post-doctoral fellowship and receiving the Fellow’s Award for Basic Research from the Society for Pediatric Research, Dr. Soergel completed his clinical training in Pediatric Cardiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He underwent additional training in Heart Failure and Transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.