Alan Lewis, Ph.D. – CEO
Dr. Lewis has served on our Board of Directors and as our Chief Executive Officer since October 2012. Most recently he served as President, CEO and Chairman of Ambit BioSciences, and previously President and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Prior to that, he was President, CEO and Director of Novocell, Inc. Prior to Novocell, Dr. Lewis served as CEO and Director of Signal Pharmaceuticals before its acquisition by Celgene, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule drugs for cancer and immunological diseases, after which he served as President of the Signal Research Division at Celgene. Before joining Signal, Dr. Lewis held the position of Vice President of Research at Wyeth-Ayerst, where he spent 15 years leading research efforts in diabetes, CNS, cardiovascular, inflammatory, allergy, and bone metabolism diseases. Dr. Lewis currently serves as a Director of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., and American Stem Cell, Inc.. He holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Wales in Cardiff and completed his postdoctoral training at Yale University.
Thomas Ichim, Ph.D. – President and CSO
Dr. Ichim is a seasoned biotechnology entrepreneur with a track record of scientific excellence. He has founded/co-founded several companies including Medvax Pharma Corp, ToleroTech Inc, bioRASI, and OncoMune LLC. Dr. Ichim is a member of Vendevia Group, an innovative venture development organization focused on optimization of value in biotechnology ventures. He is scientific advisor to Orcrist Bio, Entest, and MBVaX. To date he has published 87 peer-reviewed articles and is co-editor of the textbook “RNA Interference: From Bench to Clinical Translation”. Ichim is an ad-hoc editor and sits on several editorial boards. Ichim is inventor on over 30 patents and patent applications.
Don Dickerson, MBA – CFO
Don has over 24 years of successful experience in senior business management leadership roles. Working in diverse business environments spanning Fortune 500 companies such as Boeing and Dell to smaller start-ups in the clinical trials arena, he has successfully launched domestic and international divisions and has re-engineered existing operations to accelerate sales and profit growth. From launching Dell in Brazil to growing sales channels at double digit rates to optimizing manufacturing and service operations using Six Sigma and activity-based costing techniques, Mr. Dickerson has an extensive track record of delivering sales and profit performance. Mr. Dickerson has a BS in computer science from Devry University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.