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David Allen, PhD

Associate Vice President, Technology Transfer, University of Colorado

Dave became the University of Colorado’s Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer in February 2002. In June 2003 he was promoted to associate vice president. As AVP, he has responsibility for intellectual property and technology licensing matters across the three CU campuses. Previously, Dave was the Assistant Vice President for Technology Partnerships at Ohio State University. In this role, he had responsibility for the Offices for Technology Licensing, Technology Partnerships and Business and Industry Contracts. Before joining Ohio State in 1997, Dave was Assistant Vice President for Technology and Economic Development at Ohio University, Athens. From 1991 to 1997, he managed two OU technology development programs: the Innovation Center Program and the Technology Transfer Office. Additional duties were assumed from July 1992 to October 1995 when he was the director of Ohio University’s Edison Biotechnology Institute. Prior to working at Ohio University, he was a public policy and business administration professor at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. While at Penn State he was a consultant to a seed venture capital firm. He earned a PhD from Indiana University, Bloomington, in political economy in 1980.
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Vanessa Appleby

Position Title

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Ralph (Chris) Christoffersen, PhD

General Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures

Chris joined Morgenthaler Ventures in 2001. Based in Boulder, Colorado, he is focusing on new biotechnology investments. Previously, he was the President and CEO of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Morgenthaler portfolio biotechnology company with a mission to commercialize the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of ribozymes for use as human therapeutics. He currently serves on seven corporate boards, having achieved successful exits with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Avidia Biosciences, and most recently Morphotek. He has also served as the Senior Vice President of Research at SmithKline Beecham, Vice President of Discovery Research at The Upjohn Company and President of Colorado State University. Chris received an honorary doctor of law degree from Cornell College in 1983, the “Outstanding Research of Year” Award from the International Society of Quantum Biology in 1981, the “W. E. Upjohn Award” for contributions in biotechnology in 1988, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 from the Colorado Biosciences Association. He attended Cornell College (BS in Chemistry and Mathematics, Honorary JD) and Indiana University (PhD in Chemistry).
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Christian Cortis, PhD

Principal, Advanced Technology Ventures

Christian joined Advanced Technology Ventures in 2006 and focuses on healthcare investments, specifically in the biotechnology, life science and diagnostic sectors. His background spans life sciences, biopharmaceuticals, venture capital, business development and consulting services. Prior to ATV, Christian was Senior Director of Business Development for Gemin X Biotechnologies, where he was responsible for partnerships, licensing and M&A. Prior to joining Gemin X, Christian worked for International Real Returns, a diversified investment fund, as the member of the VC team focused on healthcare sector investments. Christian is an observer on the Catabasis Board of Directors and is actively involved with Hydra Biosciences. Christian was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from Columbia and a B.Sc. from McGill University.
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Lauren Costantini, PhD

Vice President, Research and Development, Sierra Neuro

Lauren has led several groups in successfully translating CNS research through clinical trials and market launch. Prior to joining Sierra in 2009, she was Vice President of Clinical Development at Accera, Inc. where she directed the Clinical and Regulatory departments through clinical trials and commercialization of Accera’s product for Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to Accera, she was Director of Product Development at Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and focused on development of novel treatments for CNS disorders including drug delivery, gene therapy and cell therapy platforms. She has worked in roles of increasing responsibility including preclinical development, pivotal international Phase III clinical trials, and regulatory affairs. Previously she was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital where she investigated mechanisms and treatments for neurodegeneration. Lauren has published extensively, including research articles, book chapters, and patents, and is a frequent invited lecturer on CNS therapeutics. She serves on the review boards for several journals and grant foundations, and also serves in the Neurotechnology Industry Organization (NIO) working to help connect neurotechnology to policymakers. Lauren received her BS in Biology from Purchase College and PhD in Neuroscience from Albany Medical School.
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Bill Dalke

Device Technology and Business Development, Peak Biosciences

Bill has been in the medical device industry for more than 21 years in research and development as well as business development. He has provided leadership in numerous product development programs resulting in the commercialization of several medical products. Examples include the Angel™ and activAT™ autologous platelet concentration and thrombin systems for enhanced healing, the Revolution™ blood pump replacing heart function during cardiac surgical procedures and the Synergy™ miniature cardiac bypass system that reduces the adverse effects of cardiopulmonary bypass. With a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado at Denver, Bill began his medical career as a quality engineer with Cobe Cardiovascular, now a part of the Sorin Group. He then moved into research and development where he spent many years developing products for cardiac surgical procedures and leveraging existing company technologies in emerging, non-cardiac therapies. Bill is an inventor on a number of issued and pending patents related to cardiac perfusion and nanometer scale radiosurgery (NanoZome). During his career at Cobe and Sorin, Bill has held positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently he served as Vice President of Business Development and prior to that as Vice President of Research and Development.
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Rick Duke, PhD

President and CEO, Colorado Institute for Drug, Device & Diagnostic Development

Dr. Duke is a biotechnology executive, inventor, biomedical researcher and serial entrepreneur with fifteen years of experience in building, financing, and managing start-up biotechnology companies based on inventions made in Colorado’s non-profit research institutions. He is currently Co-scientific Founder, President and CEO of ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Duke is a Co-scientific Founder and former CEO, President and Director of GlobeImmune, Inc. and was involved in the formation of Sierra Neuropharmaceuticals where he was an initial Director. These Colorado-based companies have raised more than $150 million in financing and have multiple products in phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials. In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Dr. Duke has over twenty-five years of experience in cutting-edge biomedical research and is a tenured faculty member in the Departments of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Immunology at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Duke has provided independent 3rd party life research analysis in the life sciences sector to Janus Capital and to venture capital firms.
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Woody Emlen, MD

President and Cofounder, Taligen Therapeutics

Dr. Emlen has more than 10 years experience in the biotechnology industry. He has served as vice president of exploratory medicine at Connetics and vice president of scientific affairs at InterMune Pharmaceuticals. While with InterMune, Dr. Emlen was one of the members of senior management team from the company’s founding through its IPO. Prior to this, Dr. Emlen was a professor of medicine and immunology at the University of Colorado, where his research focused on inflammation and autoimmune diseases. He also served on the faculty at the University of Washington. Dr. Emlen received his M.D. from the University of California, San Diego, and a B.S in biology from Stanford University.
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Michael Gerber, MD

Director and Scientific Advisor, Peak Biosciences

Mike has 17 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Research at Gilead Sciences. Prior to the acquisition of Myogen by Gilead, he served as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Regulatory affairs at Myogen. His experience includes the global development and accelerated NDA approval of Letairis® (ambrisientan) in June 2007 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and the development of enoximone for chronic heart failure and darusentan for hypertension. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Allos Therapeutics and was responsible for the development of efaproxiral as a radiosensitizer for various cancers, including malignant glioma and metastatic brain cancer. Earlier, he served as the Executive Director of Somatogen, a biopharmaceutical company developing recombinant human hemoglobin as a blood substitute. Mike has extensive drug development experience with numerous regulatory submissions to the FDA and EMEA. As a corporate officer, he has participated in a number of IPOs and helped raise several hundred million dollars in private and public equity offerings. He has participated in numerous in-licensing and out-licensing activities for cardiopulmonary and oncology products as well as the acquisition of Myogen by Gilead in November 2006 for $2.5 billion. Mike received his medical degree from the University of Colorado, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology, and is board certified in internal medicine and pulmonary and critical care medicine. He is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado.
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Emmanuel Hilaire, PhD

Manager, Technology Transfer, National Jewish Health

Emmanuel is the Manager of the Intellectual Property & Technology Commercialization Program at National Jewish Health. He has several years experience in technology transfer and has worked extensively with faculty, patent attorneys and business executives to commercialize National Jewish technologies. Prior to joining National Jewish, Emmanuel was an intern at the Kansas State University Technology Transfer Office. He earned his BS in biology from the University of Nice, France and received his PhD in space biology from Kansas State University where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Emmanuel has worked extensively with NASA and was responsible for the training of several astronauts as well as the design of various biological experiments flown aboard twelve space shuttle flights.
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Chau Khuong

Principal, OrbiMed Private Equity

Chau is a Principal on the OrbiMed Private Equity Team. He joined OrbiMed in 2003. Mr. Khuong has experience in start-up operations and business development at Veritas Medicine, Inc. and in basic science research at the Yale School of Medicine and at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a summer Associate in the New Ventures technology transfer group at Columbia University. Mr. Khuong holds a BS in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology with a concentration in biotechnology and an MPH with a concentration in infectious disease, both from Yale University. At OrbiMed, he was principally involved with investments in Arius Research, Inc. (acquired by Roche in 2008), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson, Inc., in 2005), Cerexa, Inc. (acquired by Forest Laboratories, Inc., in 2007), Adiana, Inc. (acquired by Cytyc Corporation in 2007), Biodel, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOD), and Inhibitex (NASDAQ: INHX). Currently Mr. Khuong serves on the Board of Directors at Cerapedics, Inc., and is a Board Observer at Biolex Therapeutics, Glaukos Corporation, Igenica, and Pieris AG.
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Kyle Lefkoff

General Partner, Boulder Ventures

Kyle is a Founder and General Partner of Boulder Ventures Ltd., a Boulder, Colorado-based venture capital fund with over $300 million in committed capital in five separate partnerships. In his twenty-three year career as a venture capitalist, Kyle has invested in 58 Colorado companies, resulting in twelve IPOs and fifteen trade sales. Kyle’s representative life science investments include Hauser Chemical Research (NASDAQ: HAUS), NeXstar Pharmaceuticals (sold to Gilead Sciences), Array BioPharma (NASDAQ: ARRY), Dharmacon (sold to Fisher Scientific), Genomica (sold to Exelixis), ARCA Biopharma (NASDAQ: ABIO), Miragen Therapeutics and Barofold. Kyle is the Chairman of the Boards of Array BioPharma and Barofold Inc. He is a Director of Centerstone Technologies, Metabolite Laboratories, Miragen Therapeutics and Trust Company of America. He is the past Chairman of the Venture Capital Association of Colorado and is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. Kyle received his BA in Economics from Vassar College (summa cum laude) in 1981. In 1980, he completed a Fellowship in Economic History at the London School of Economics. In 1985, he completed his MBA in Finance at the University of Chicago.
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Wei Li, PhD

Principal, Fidelity Biosciences

Prior to joining Fidelity in 2005, Wei focused his effort on healthcare and life science investment opportunities at Baird Venture Partners, the venture capital arm of R.W.Baird. Prior to Baird, he led drug discovery projects and technology licensing due diligence at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a small-molecule therapeutic company based in Cambridge, MA. He also worked in strategic marketing at Serono International S.A., a biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva, Switzerland. During his scientific career, Wei first-authored numerous scientific publications in journals including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. Wei received a B.S., with distinction, in Chemical Physics from University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Mammalian Genetics from Harvard University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he was elected Beta Gamma Sigma, with a concentration in Finance, Accounting and Marketing. Dr. Li serves on the Board of Directors of TCT Medical.
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Mark Lupa, PhD

Principal, High Country Ventures and Tango Group

Mark holds a BS from Northwestern University, an M Phil from the University of Sussex (England) in Biomedical Engineering and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Lund, Sweden. He conducted neuroscience research for fifteen years at institutions worldwide, including the University of Colorado and the University of California at San Francisco. Mark’s business experience came first in the brewing industry as Founder, CEO and CFO of Tabernash Brewing Company, which was formed in 1993 and merged with Left Hand Brewing in 1998. In 1998, Mark moved to Tango to focus on Technology and Life Science investments. He has served as founding member of the Board of Directors of Taligen Therapeutics, Surginetics, Oberon and Theratogs.
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Dan Mitchell

Partner, Sequel Venture Partners

Dan is a Founding Partner of Sequel Ventures, a Boulder, Colorado firm that provides venture funding for early stage technology businesses. Sequel manages $400 million in capital, and specializes in Healthcare, IT, and Clean Technology investments. Prior to Sequel, Dan co-founded Capital Health Venture Partners in 1985, a health care focused venture capital firm based in Chicago and Denver. As a Partner with Capital Health, Dan focused primarily on early-stage investments across healthcare. Dan has served on the board of directors of numerous public and private companies and is currently a director of Kalypto Medical, GlobeImmune, and IntelliDX. Dan majored in finance and accounting at the University of Illinois and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. He received an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley in 1981.
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Terry Opgenorth, PhD

COO, NeoTREX, Colorado State University

Terry is a former executive at Abbott Laboratories, and is widely regarded as an accomplished drug discovery scientist and leader. He was instrumental in identifying a number of clinical candidates for treatment of type 2 diabetes, obesity, hepatitis C, and cancer – most notably, atrasentan, a drug with promise for treating advanced prostate cancer that achieved a NDA filing with FDA. He also was a driving force behind several of the company’s important collaborations with biotechnology companies around the world. Terry received his PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Illinois and a BA in Biology from Calvin College.
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Harry Ross, MD

Partner, Aweida Venture Partners

Harry joined Aweida Venture Partners in 1995, and currently utilizes his medical background to focus on science-based technology companies. Since 1988 Aweida Ventures has invested in data storage, software, and the life sciences. As a $100 million evergreen fund, the firm is flexible enough to invest in seed through mezzanine rounds, encompassing the lifespan of a company. As a managing partner, Harry holds board positions at several Aweida portfolio companies, included RxKinetix, Inc., Interferometrics, PermaCharge Corporation, and netHesive, Inc. Prior to joining the firm, he was a staff emergency physician at Rose Medical Center in Denver and at Longmont United Hospital in Longmont, CO. Harry received his medical degree from Oregon Health Sciences University. He went on to receive post-graduate training in Surgery and Emergency Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center, with National Board Certification in Emergency Medicine.
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Beni Rovinski, PhD

Managing Director, Lumira Capital

Beni’s investment focus is primarily on mid- to late-stage private and public companies involved in drug discovery and development, biological and small molecule therapeutics, drug delivery, specialty pharmaceuticals, and diagnostic devices. With 25 years of investment, operational, managerial and research experience in the biotechnology sector, Beni has helped build life sciences and biotechnology companies at all stages of development in the Mid-Atlantic and Pacific regions of the United States. Located in Lumira's Toronto office, Beni joined the firm in 2001. Prior to joining Lumira Capital, Beni held several senior management positions in the biotechnology sector, including 13 years at Sanofi Pasteur (formerly Aventis Pasteur) where he was a senior scientist and director of molecular virology, with a particular focus in the areas of virology, vaccine development, recombinant protein production, and functional genomics. While at Aventis, Beni led global R&D programs in the areas of HIV/AIDS and therapeutic cancer vaccines, bringing several of them through to clinical-stage. Beni received a PhD in biochemistry from McGill University in Montréal, Québec and did post-doctoral studies in molecular oncology and retrovirology at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. He obtained his BSc in biochemistry from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Beni’s current or past board roles and investment responsibilities include: Aegera Pharmaceuticals, Avalon Pharmaceuticals [Nasdaq: AVRX], Cervelo Pharmaceuticals, Health Hero Network [acquired by Bosch], Immunicon [Nasdaq: IMMC; recently acquired by Veridex, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company], Inovise Medical, Inc., KAI Pharmaceuticals, Morphotek [acquired by Eisai], Protana, Signature Biosciences, and SGX Pharmaceuticals [Nasdaq: SGXP; acquired by Eli Lilly].
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Rick Silva, PhD

Director of Technology Transfer at University of Colorado, Denver

Rick has over 8 years research experience and 6 years experience in biomedical commercialization. He works directly with TTO staff, CU faculty, and business leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to commercialize promising new biomedical products and technologies. His responsibilities include: general daily direction of the UCD biomedical commercialization enterprise; negotiation and review of UCD licensing and collaboration agreements, other IP related contracting activities like MTAs and sponsored research; working with CU business development in HSC startup company formation, development, financing and strategy. Rick’s areas of business/commercialization interest are preclinical drug development; inflammation and immunity; vaccine development; oncology; biomarkers and pharmacodiagnostics; translational medicine; seed financing and venture capital; business development. Previously, he served as Interim Director of Fitzsimons BioBusiness Partners. He received an MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a PhD in Physiology from Colorado State University and a BS in Agriculture from New Mexico State University.
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Kevin Smith

COO, COlorado Institute for Drug, Device & Diagnostic Development

Kevin was a member of the group that developed the business plan and State Grant proposal which resulted in the creation of CID4. Prior to joining CID4, Kevin was Managing Director of Act Three Consulting, LLC. Act Three was formed in July 2007 to provide consulting services to management teams and their advisors during times of dramatic change. Prior to founding Act Three, Kevin spent nine years as President of Gambro, Inc., the US holding company for the publicly-traded, Swedish-based Gambro Group, until its acquisition by private equity investors in 2006. The US operations of Gambro included the manufacture and distribution of cardiovascular (CV), blood separation and renal dialysis products and the operation of US and international kidney dialysis centers. Before joining Gambro, Kevin was an audit partner in the Denver and New York offices of Ernst & Young, specializing in entrepreneurial services and led the formation of E&Y’s Denver Life Sciences Practice. Kevin graduated from Kansas State University in 1970 and worked in New York until his relocation to Colorado in 1988.
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Jonathan Thorne

President & CEO, Edgeport Corporation

Jonathan is an experienced executive in the medical devices arena, having served previously as President & CEO of Silverglide Surgical Technologies, a medical device manufacturer serving the neurosurgery and otolaryngology markets, which he founded and grew to profitability, successfully completing the acquisition of Silverglide by Stryker Corporation in 2006. Prior roles include Manager, Surgical Products and Technologies Group at Battelle, where he managed medical product development and marketing teams for outside clients and Senior Project Manager for Datex-Ohmeda, overseeing the technical development of medical devices from conception through product release and market introduction. He received an MBA in Marketing & Finance from the University of Denver - Daniels College of Business and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
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Gordon Van Dusen

Advisory Partner, CoCap Group

Gordon has over twenty years of experience in business development, marketing, product management and strategic planning in the healthcare industry. His business experiences encompass large and small, earlier staged healthcare companies including Baxter Healthcare, Myogen, Somatogen, Hiberna and RxKinetics. Gordon has been on the founding management team of four healthcare startups, most recently as a founder and CEO of Hiberna Corporation and Vice President of Business Development for Myogen. He has been an angel investor, advisor and consultant to several startup businesses. Gordon holds a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
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Dan Watkins, PhD

Managing Director, DFJ Mercury

Dan has experience in operating and investing roles with start-up companies, particularly in life sciences and advanced materials. Prior to co-founding DFJ Mercury, Dan was the founder and Managing Partner of A3 Associates, L.P., a Houston-based investment firm focused on seed-stage investments and advisory services for start-up companies. In this capacity, Dan co-founded both Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc. and X-EMI, Inc. (VizionWare). He has also been awarded three National Science Foundation grants as Principal Investigator for life sciences research. Prior to A3 Associates, Dan was a Vice President at Schnitzius & Vaughan, a Houston-based investment-banking firm; and served as a worldwide manager for operations and control systems for Scientific Software Intercomp, Inc. (acquired by Baker Hughes). Dan is a co-founder of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University where he teaches a course on venture capital. Dan currently serves on the Board of Directors for DNAtriX, Illumitex, GlycosBio, Vertos and Marval Biosciences; and is on the advisory boards of BioHouston, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, the Rice Alliance, the UT-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Technology Review Committee and the Rice Bioengineering Department. Dan received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rice University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
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The FBBp Advisors are a group of life science investors and executives who meet on a regular basis to hear client companies present. This provides a unique opportunity for companies to test their “pitch” in front of an audience that is well equipped to provide substantive, actionable feedback.