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Michael N. Chang, Ph.D. - President & CEO
Michael N. Chang is a co-founder of Optimer and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since our inception in November 1998.
Before joining Optimer, Dr. Chang was the Chief Scientific Officer of NuSkin Enterprises, Inc., a NYSE listed direct selling company based in Utah. Dr. Chang joined NuSkin Enterprises in 1998 upon its acquisition of Pharmanex, Inc., a natural healthcare company, which he co-founded and where he was employed since January 1995 as Senior Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Science Officer. Before Pharmanex, Dr. Chang worked for 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, at Merck & Co, Inc., a publicly traded research driven pharmaceutical company, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., which is now Sanofi-Aventis, a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company, and ArQule, Inc., a development stage oncology company. Dr. Chang holds 35 US patents and more than 60 publications. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Fu-Jen University in Taiwan, a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Brandeis University and post- doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT.
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Kevin P. Poulos – Chief Commercial Officer
Kevin Poulos has served as our Chief Commercial Officer since July 2006. Mr. Poulos has over 20 years of global and U.S. anti-infectives commercialization and product launch experience. Before joining Optimer, Mr. Poulos served as Senior Director of New Product Marketing and Business Development for Wyeth, a research-based, global pharmaceutical company. Prior to Wyeth, Mr. Poulos was an executive consultant for KPP Consulting, LLC, a strategic consulting firm. He worked for Cline, Davis & Mann, Inc., an advertising agency as a Senior Vice President. Prior to Cline, Davis & Mann, Mr. Poulos served in a marketing and sales capacity in various positions for Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., a pharmaceutical research and development company, Rhone Poulenc-Rorer Inc., now Sanofi-Aventis, Lederle Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company, and SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Plc, now GlaxoSmithKline Plc, a pharmaceutical company. During his career, Mr. Poulos has lead the global commercialization activities of novel anti-infective classes and products such as Oxazolidinones (Zyvox®), Beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations (Zosyn®/Tazocin®, Timentin®), Streptogramins (Synercid®), Quinolones (Zagam®, Penetrex®), and extended spectum Penicillins (Pipracil®).
Mr. Poulos received his Business Administration degree in Marketing Management from Old Dominion University and is a member of the American Society of Microbiology.
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Tessie M. Che, Ph.D. – Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice Pres., Corporate Affairs
Tessie M. Che, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, has been with Optimer since November 1999. Dr. Che has over 20 years of industrial and management experience at large companies including Exxon Mobil Corporation, a petroleum and petrochemical company, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, and EniChem S.p.A., a chemical company. Prior to joining Optimer, Dr. Che served as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of the M and D Precision Science Group, Inc., a biotechnology company. In 1994, Dr. Che also co-founded and headed Zhejiang Cinogen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a pharmaceutical company, which later merged with and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pharmanex, Inc. At Pharmanex, she served as Director of Quality Assurance and Senior Director of Ingredient Sourcing from 1995 to 1999. Dr. Che has numerous scientific publications as well as 18 U.S. patents in material synthesis and application. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Illinois State University, a Ph.D. in physical-inorganic chemistry from Brandeis University and did post doctoral work at Columbia University.
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Sherwood L. Gorbach, M.D. – Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice Pres., Medical Affairs
Sherwood L. Gorbach, M.D. has served as our Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer since November 2005. Since 1975, Dr. Gorbach has been at Tufts University School of Medicine serving as, among other things, a Professor of Public Health and Medicine and a Professor in the School of Nutrition and Social Policy. Dr. Gorbach also served as Chief of Infectious Diseases at New England Medical Center from 1975 to 1987. In 1990, he served as the President of the Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society, and in 1995, he was the President of the Society of Microbial Ecology and Disease. In 2007, Dr. Gorbach received the Alexander Fleming Award for Lifetime Achievement, Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Gorbach is a renowned authority on infectious diseases, having published 600 papers and 19 books, and he is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases. Dr. Gorbach received his M.D. at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.
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Francois-Xavier Frapaise, M.D. - Chief Scientific Officer & Senior Vice President
Dr. Frapaise joins Optimer with over thirty years of international drug development, strategic planning and marketing experience at major pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi, Bayer and Abbott. Prior to joining Optimer, Dr. Frapaise was the President and CEO of Asphelia Pharmaceuticals and served as the Chief Medical Officer at Ocera Therapeutics Inc. before Asphelia Pharmaceuticals. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Corporate Officer and Vice President of R&D at TAP Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Frapaise’s career also included positions of Vice President Scientific Affairs at Abbott International Division, Head of Medical Affairs at Bayer Europe, Medical Director at Bayer France, Vice President of R&D at Delagrange, Head of Anti-thrombotics Strategic Marketing at Sanofi, and Medical Director at Choay. His development and regulatory experience include anti-infectives, gastroenterology, anti-thrombotics, diabetes, and cardio-vascular products. Dr. Frapaise holds an M.D. degree from Faculte de Medecine Rene Descartes in Paris, France, and is an INSEAD alumnus.
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John D. Prunty – Chief Financial Officer & Vice President, Finance
John D. Prunty has served as our Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance since June 2006. Before joining us, Mr. Prunty held several key positions with Maxim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, for six years, including Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance, and Corporate Secretary. Prior to his employment at Maxim, Mr. Prunty served as Senior Director of Finance and Corporate Controller at Gen Probe Incorporated, a manufacturer of nucleic acid tests that diagnose human diseases, from 1997 to 2000. He also held senior management positions at I-Bus, currently known as I-Bus/Phoenix, Inc., a division of Maxwell Laboratories, Inc., an electronic device company. Mr. Prunty began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP, an accounting firm, where he spent seven years in public accounting. He is a certified public accountant and received a B.B.A. from the University of San Diego and an M.S. in management from San Diego State University.
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Youe-Kong Shue, Ph.D. - Vice President, Clinical Development
Youe Kong Shue, joined us in June 2000 as Senior Director of Chemistry and has served as Vice President, Clinical Development since January 2006. Dr. Shue came to us with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently from AstraZeneca Plc, a pharmaceutical research company, where he led a drug development program to identify novel therapies to combat H. pylori from 1996 to 2000. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, he worked for Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, as Director of Chemistry, leading research and development into anti-infective products. He started his career in 1983 at Abbott Laboratories, a broad-based health care company, where he conducted neuroscience research. Dr. Shue received his B.A. degree in chemistry from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, his M.S. degree in chemistry from National Taiwan University, his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and did his post-doctoral training at MIT.
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Yoshi Ichikawa, Ph.D. - Executive Director, Intellectual Property & Discovery
Yoshi Ichikawa has served as our Senior Director of Chemistry since September 2001. Before joining us, Dr. Ichikawa was an Associate Professor at Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at John Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1993 to 2001, where his group discovered a new class of extremely potent inhibitors of enzymes, which play essential roles in metabolism of DNA/RNA and glycoconjugates. He has over 20 years of experience in both organic synthetic chemistry and chemical biology of small molecules and complex oligosaccharides and their conjugates. He was one of the inventors who first developed a process for large-scale synthesis of sialylated oligosaccharides in one-pot. He has over 90 peer-reviewed publications and 8 patents. At Optimer, Dr. Ichikawa directs R&D programs using our proprietary OPopS drug discovery technology platform (glyco-Optimization and De novo glycosylation). These programs include discovery of new antiinfectives i.e., macrolides (OP-1068 and 1273) , aminoglycosides (OP-382 ), arthritis (OPT-66 and OPT-88) , adjuvant (OPT-821) and cancer vaccine (OPT-822) . He also plays a key role in a number of the company's licensing activities.
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Mitchell Che, M.S. - Executive Director, Operations and Information Technology
Mr. Mitch Che joined Optimer as Senior Director of Operations and IT in October 2003. Prior to joining Optimer, Mr. Che managed his own consulting firm from 1991 to 2003 working with small to mid-range companies as an independent IT/financial systems consultant to the telecommunications, technical services, software, and food manufacturing industries. From 1990 to 1991, he worked for Teknekron Transportation Systems as Director of Customer Support Services and directed the customer support organization for document imaging systems. From 1986 to 1990, Mr. Che held the title of Technical Director with Pacific Bell/AT&T where he managed and directed minicomputer development programs, quality assurance and systems planning. Mr. Che received his MS from the University of California at Berkeley, B.S. from Brown University, and is a Microsoft Certified Professional. Currently, Mr. Che is responsible for direction of operations and IT functions at Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. including facilities management, CRO, CMO and GMP manufacturing management, vendor contracts and performance, budgeting, data management, data security, and telecommunications.
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Pam Sears, Ph.D. – Executive Director, Biology and Pre-Clinical Science
Dr. Sears joined Optimer Pharmaceuticals in April 2002 with over 15 years of research experience in biochemistry and molecular biology. She received her Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute with Dr. Chi-Huey Wong. Her Ph.D. research focused on developing new enzymatic approaches to organic synthesis by engineering enzymes, and resulted in the discovery of optimized proteases as novel synthetic tools. As an Assistant Professor at the Scripps Research Institute, she was involved in a variety of projects including the biological evaluation and mechanistic studies of the action of several classes of antibiotics. At Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc., she is the Sr. Director of Biology and leads the OPT-80 development program. She is also responsible for directing the evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of new compounds, their in vivo efficacy, and the pharmacological characterization of lead molecules.
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Emmanuelle A. Hugentobler, M.D., Ph.D. - Senior Director, Medical Affairs
Dr Hugentobler has over 15 years of global and U.S. experience. As Senior Director, Medical Affairs, she is responsible for all medical development activities in preparation for the anticipated launches of the Company’s pipeline compounds, working closely with both the Clinical team and the Commercial team.
Dr Hugentobler’s last position was with the Medical Education division of McCann Healthcare as Medical Director. During her career, Dr Hugentobler held senior management positions in the US and in Europe, starting her career in anti-infectives with Aventis (Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals) where she worked on the first fluoroquinolone discovered, and later with Cipro at Bayer Pharma. Raised in Japan, Dr Hugentobler received her MD degree at the University Paris VII in Paris, France, where she also completed her residency and was a fellow in cardiovascular disease, while completing her PhD at the University Paris V.
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Diane McCarty - Director, Human Resources
When Diane W. McCarty joined Optimer in September, 2003, her skills included over 15 years of Human Resources experience. Ms. McCarty has worked in several industries and in large and small companies gaining key Human Resources training and knowledge. Prior pharmaceutical experience was at Ambit Biosciences Corporation, where Ms. McCarty served as the company’s Human Resources Manager. Before joining the biopharmaceutical industry, Ms. McCarty was the Human Resources Manager at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center for 7 years, during the center’s expansion. Additional experience includes positions as compensation analyst and human resources representative for Blue Cross of California in Los Angeles and at Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation in San Diego.
Ms. McCarty received a B.A. degree in Public Administration from San Diego State University.
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Howard J. Dreskin, M.S. - Director, Clinical Operations
Howard J. Dreskin joined Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2007 as Director of Clinical Operations. Mr. Dreskin has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Optimer, Mr. Dreskin served as Director of Clinical Study and Data Management at Pfizer, Inc., a global pharmaceutical research and development company, where he was responsible for the operational aspects of clinical trials in HIV/AIDS and oncology. Mr. Dreskin’s career began at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation where he functioned as a bench scientist conducting research in cancer and human immunology. Mr. Dreskin then transitioned into clinical research and development where he managed and monitored clinical trials of investigational new drugs and medical devices in a variety of therapeutic areas including women’s health, interventional cardiology, and HIV/AIDS, working for Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Interventional Systems Company, now Cordis Corporation, and G.H. Besselaar Associates, now Covance, Inc.. Additionally, Mr. Dreskin’s career includes serving as Associate Director of Worldwide Clinical Safety at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, now GlaxoSmithKline Plc, a pharmaceutical company, where he co-authored a book chapter entitled “Drug Surveillance” in Principles and Practice of Pharmaceutical Medicine. Mr. Dreskin received his B.S. degree in medical technology from the University of Akron, and an M.S. degree in microbiology from Rutgers University.
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