John E. Crawford
John Crawford has been an executive officer and director for more than a dozen life sciences firms. Five of these firms focused on cancer drug development programs. Starting in the biotechnology industry in 1981, he took two firms in the 1980s and 1990s as first executive employee through initial offerings of stock to the public. Now semi-retired, he has followed his service as co-chair of Clearity’s board by chairing Clearity’s Development Committee. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Crest Trail Association, another non-profit organization. Mr. Crawford holds a B.S. in mathematical sciences from Stanford University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Wendy Johnson, Chair
Wendy Johnson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Aires Pharmaceuticals and a Venture Partner at ProQuest Investments. Prior to joining ProQuest, she served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, at Salmedix Inc., where she led the effort to license their lead cancer therapeutic; the company was successfully sold to Cephalon in June 2005. Ms. Johnson has additional experience with device, diagnostic and drug discovery and development and regulatory affairs. She held senior business and corporate development positions at Women First, Prizm Pharmaceuticals, Cytel Corp., Symbiotics Corp., and Murex Corp. (Cambridge U.K.). Additionally, Ms. Johnson served as Assistant Director with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the Food and Drug Administration. She holds an MBA from Loyola University, an MS in Clinical Microbiology from the Hahnemann Medical School and a BS in Microbiology from the University of Maryland.
Dorian Hirth
As Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities Operations, at Nektar Therapeutics. Ms. Hirth is responsible for designing and implementing HR strategies and programs that attract, develop and retain talent for a high-performing workforce. Ms. Hirth’s experience spans 20 years at biotechnology companies leading strategic and tactical aspects of human resource functions, including managing issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Nektar in 2007, Ms. Hirth headed the human resource programs at Sirna Therapeutics, where she was part of the diligence team during the acquisition process by Merck. She was also part of the team that started SUGEN and transitioned it from start-up through two acquisitions initially by Pharmacia and then by Pfizer Inc. In addition, she served as Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities at Kosan Biosciences and Corgentech/Anesiva.
Linda Holland
Linda Holland is currently the Chair for Clearity Foundation’s Someone Lived Celebration as well as the Volunteer Chair for the Make the Hope Happen fundraising initiative for the Patient & Family Support Service (PFSS) at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Ms. Holland created and is implementing short- and long-term, tiered, sustainable fundraising initiatives for PFSS, which significantly relies on private philanthropy to maintain and expand its services for patients and their loved ones at the Cancer Center. She has a BA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and a MA in Healthcare Law and Policy from UC San Diego/California Western School of Law.
Jennifer Jarrett
Jennifer Jarrett is Managing Director in Citigroup’s Healthcare group and directs Citigroup’s West Coast healthcare effort. Ms. Jarrett joined Citigroup in 2010. Prior to Citigroup, Jennifer was the Head of U.S. Biotech at Credit Suisse where she spent 12 years. She has led numerous banking transactions in the healthcare sector, including initial public offerings, follow-ons, private placements, licensing deals and mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Jarrett received her BA from Dartmouth College and MBA from Stanford University.
Kerry Kelly, JD
Kerry Kelly has more than 25 years as an attorney both in private practice and in the biotechnology industry. She currently serves as a consultant to a number of biotech companies. Ms. Kelly was most recently Vice President and General Counsel at Ambit Biosciences, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of small-molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. She came to Ambit from The Scripps Research Institute, one of the country’s largest non-profit research organizations where she served as Associate General Counsel. Prior to joining Scripps, Ms. Kelly served as the head of Corporate and Legal Affairs for the biotechnology company SUGEN which developed Sutent™ for renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. (SUGEN was later acquired by Pfizer.) Prior to SUGEN, Ms. Kelly was a partner in the Palo Alto law firm of Bialson, Bergen and Schwab. She received her J.D. from Santa Clara University and her B.A and M.A. from Stanford University.
Rachel Leheny, Ph.D.
Dr. Leheny is a Managing Director and founder of the Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in late-stage private and micro-cap public biotechnology companies. Prior to Caxton Advantage, Leheny headed the biotechnology research group at Lehman Brothers which provided research coverage for over 50 companies in the biotechnology industry. From 1998 to 2000, she was the senior biotechnology analyst at UBS, and from 1993 to 1998, she was a biotechnology analyst at Hambrecht and Quist where she was also a Managing Director. Leheny was named a Wall Street Journal All-Star Analyst in 1996, 1998, and 2002. In January 2001, Leheny was the author of a research report put out by the Lehman research department entitled “The Fruits of Genomics”. This report was based on a collaborative study done by Lehman research and McKinsey consulting. It predicted that genomics was approximately a decade away from providing significant breakthroughs in healthcare and that breakthroughs would come first to certain areas like cancer. Leheny has done extensive work with companies working in genomics and individualized medicine. Leheny holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Harvard College and a PhD in chemistry from Columbia University. She was an NIH postdoctoral fellow and a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Rachel currently lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with her husband and two sons.
David Nelson, Ph.D., Vice Chair
Dr. Nelson is Founder, President and CEO, Epic Sciences, Inc. He has over a decade of business experience in the life sciences industry, having founded multiple companies and served in executive roles in another three. He also has a robust scientific background, with extensive lab experience at the University of Minnesota, the National Institutes of Health, and Aurora Biosciences Corporation. With a doctorate in genetics and expertise in oncology and other diseases, Dr. Nelson is a member of the Molecular Diagnostics Technical Working Group at the Center for Medical Technology Policy, an organization that designs and implements prospective, real world studies to inform healthcare decisions.
Michael Pollock
Michael Pollock currently serves as the President of Reynolds Pollock & Associates, a health outcomes research and market access strategy consulting company. Immediately prior to founding Reynolds Pollock & Associates, Mr. Pollock was vice president of Global Health Economics at Biogen Idec, with worldwide responsibility for health economics strategy and research, across the entire portfolio of marketed and pipeline products. He began his career in Ireland and first became responsible for health economics 20 years ago at Glaxo Canada, where he was instrumental in founding the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada’s Healthcare Economics Committee.
Leonard Post, Ph.D.
Dr. Leonard Post is BioMarin's Vice President of Drug Discovery. Prior to joining BioMarin, he served as Chief Scientific Officer for LEAD Therapeutics, from time of its founding through acquisition by BioMarin. Previously, Dr. Post served as Senior Vice President for Onyx Pharmaceuticals and was responsible for the co-development (50:50 with Bayer) of Nexavar from IND through FDA approval for renal cell carcinoma. Prior to that, he served Vice President of Discovery Research at Parke-Davis where he led a multinational drug discovery organization. He has also held several positions at the Upjohn Company, including Director of Infectious Disease Research. During his industry career spanning more than 25 years, he has led numerous programs that have resulted in multiple clinical candidates across various therapeutic areas. Dr. Post is a virologist by training and received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Michigan.
Laura K. Shawver, Ph.D.
Laura Shawver views the field of oncology from the perspective of scientist, CEO and survivor. Following her own diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer in 2007, Dr. Shawver founded The Clearity Foundation to help women with ovarian cancer make more informed treatment decisions. Today, Clearity is the only501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing molecular profiling to help women with recurrent and refractory disease prioritize their treatment options. Dr. Shawver is an experienced biotech executive with more than 25 years of experience in the development of small molecule drugs for cancer and other serious diseases. She currently serves as CEO of Cleave Biosciences, Inc. Prior to joining Cleave in 2011, she was an Entrepreneur in Residence for 5AM Ventures. She served as CEO of Phenomix Corporation from 2002 – 20010 and as President of SUGEN Inc. from 2000 – 2002 after holding various positions there since 1992. SUGEN focused on understanding key molecular pathways of cancer cells and developed the drugs Sutent™ and Palladia™. Prior to SUGEN, she was employed at Berlex Biosciences, formerly known as Triton Biosciences. Dr. Shawver has served on a number of editorial boards and as an advisor to biotech companies. She is an active member of AACR and ASCO, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Stand Up 2 Cancer. Dr. Shawver received her PhD in Pharmacology and a BS degree in Microbiology, both from the University of Iowa.
