Venue
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
1000 Marsh Road
Building 1100
Menlo Park, CA 94025-1015
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Speakers Bios
Andrew McMillan, Ph.D., Principal, 5AM Ventures
Andrew McMillan, Ph.D. joined 5AM Ventures in 2005 from NASA, where he was a Principal Investigator in the Bioengineering Branch and the Center for Nanotechnology at the Ames Research Center. Dr. McMillan's research contributions in the areas of nanotech and biomaterials have resulted in five patents and nineteen publications in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Materials, JACS and PNAS, and have been featured in US News & World Report, Scientific American, New Scientist, and AIChE Journal. Dr. McMillan represents 5AM working closely with the following portfolio companies: Achaogen, Ambrx, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Pearl Therapeutics, PhaseRx, Rennovia and Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Dr. McMillan holds a B.S. in Chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Emory University, where he earned department honors for his research in biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering. Dr. McMillan is based in the Menlo Park, CA office.
Rowan Chapman, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Rowan Chapman joined MDV in 2001 to focus on life science investments. Her interests lie in the translation of complex data and technology to innovative products that impact drug and biofuel discovery, personalized medicine and healthcare decision making. Leveraging her business and technical experience as well as industry relationships she partners closely with entrepreneurs to help develop successful businesses. She partners with entrepreneurs in a "hands on" role to help get companies started and financed.
Rowan is a board member of MLC Dx and a board observer at Artemis Health, Pacific Biosciences, Adamas Pharmaceuticals, ParAllele BioScience (acquired by Affymetrix) and Tethys Biosciences. Rowan is also a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition.
Prior to joining MDV Rowan held the position of director of business development at Rosetta Inpharmatics (acquired by Merck) where she established collaborative partnerships with organizations in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and biotech fields as well as among various research institutions. Previously, Rowan held the position of marketing manager at Incyte Genomics.
Rowan holds a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge University, UK where she also earned a bachelor's degree with first class honors in Biochemistry. She served postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge. Prior to her work in industry, she authored or co-authored more than a dozen articles and patents.
Wendye Robbins, MD President & CEO, Limerick BioPharma
Wendye Robbins has distinguished herself as an innovator, entrepreneur, scientist, team builder, leader, and educator. She is a frequent advisor and lecturer to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and mentor to entrepreneurs. Dr. Robbins holds an ongoing appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Robbins was scientific founder of NeurogesX, Inc. (NASD:NGSX), a biopharmaceutical company developing pain management therapies, where she held the positions of President, Chief Medical Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board. Dr. Robbins received her BS from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed post graduate training in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in anesthesiology and pain medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions. She is board certified in anesthesiology.
Anthony P. Ford, Ph.D., Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Afferent Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Ford is co-founder and chief scientific officer of Afferent. An accomplished pharmacologist and former vice president of research at Roche, Dr. Ford initiated and drove the P2X3 program, a first in class approach in the area of pain therapeutics, for over a decade: he brings to Afferent 20 years of research and development experience from Roche and Syntex, having led the progression of several novel drug candidates into early clinical development, focused particularly in the areas of pain and genitourinary therapeutics.
Dr Ford negotiated the license of Roche�s P2X3 program, discontinued following strategic focus decisions, and successfully raised a $23M Series A, which closed in Dec 2009.
Mickey S. Urdea, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Tethys Bioscience
Dr. Urdea was one of the first employees at Chiron where he directed the nucleic acids chemistry group and began the molecular diagnostics efforts. He led the development of quantitative RNA and DNA assays, including the introduction of the first HIV and HCV viral load tests. He became head of the Nucleic Acid Diagnostics business unit at Chiron. In 1998, he joined Bayer Diagnostics as Senior Vice President of Nucleic Acid Diagnostics and acting-Chief Scientific Officer of Bayer Diagnostics. He left Bayer in 2000 and co-founded Tethys Bioscience in 2002. Dr. Urdea received a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Washington State University and held an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF with William J. Rutter. He has published more than 185 articles and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 100 issued and pending patents.
Scott M. Iyama, Corporate Senior Associate, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Scott Iyama, a corporate managing associate in Orrick's Silicon Valley office, is a member of the Emerging Companies Group, which advises emerging companies and venture capital firms. Mr. Iyama's practice focuses on the representation of emerging growth life science and high tech companies, as well as public offerings, private venture financings and technology transactions.
Some of Mr. Iyama�s current and former clients include:
� AcroMetrix (funded by Telegraph Hill Partners).
� CELLective Dx (funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures and others).
� Facebook (funded by Accel Partners, Greylock, Meritech, Peter Thiel and others).
� Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).
� Greenplum (funded by Meritech, Sierra, Mission and others).
� Halcyon Molecular (funded by Founders' Fund).
� Laserscope (acquired by American Medical Systems Holdings).
� LS9 (funded by Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners).
� Meebo (funded by Sequoia Capital).
� Medsphere (funded by Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, Azure Capital, and Wasatch Venture Fund).
� Micrus Endovascular (NASDAQ: MEND).
� PathoLase (funded by Nexus Medical Partners).
� Sharpcast (funded by Sigma, Selby and Draper Fisher Jurvetson).
� SquareOne (funded by Three Arch Partners, ONSET and others).
� Vendavo (funded by Sigma Partners, Doll Capital Management, InterWest Partners and others).
� VideoEgg (funded by August Capital and others).
Mr. Iyama has also represented Benchmark Capital, De Novo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Maveron, Montreux Equity Partners, Telegraph Hill Partners and other venture funds in various investments.
Prior to receiving his juris doctor from Stanford Law School, Mr. Iyama performed extensive biochemical research at the University of California, San Diego and Genentech, Inc.
Mr. Iyama frequently lectures on topics related to emerging growth companies at various forums and has given guest lectures at Stanford Law School and Stanford University.
