Safi R. Bahcall, Ph.D.
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President and Chief Executive Officer
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Dr. Bahcall co-founded Synta and has been Chief Executive Officer since July 2001. Dr. Bahcall has led Synta from inception through multiple acquisitions, financings, an initial public offering, and the establishment of integrated, multi-product drug discovery and development organization. Prior to founding Synta, Dr. Bahcall was a consultant at McKinsey & Company advising investment banks and pharmaceutical companies on strategy, technology, and operations. Dr. Bahcall also co-founded a drug discovery company focused on novel ion channel research, now part of Synta. Dr. Bahcall received his B.A. summa cum laude in Physics from Harvard University, was awarded his Ph.D. from Stanford University in theoretical physics, and was a Miller postdoctoral fellow in condensed matter physics at U.C. Berkeley. In 2008, Dr. Bahcall was named Ernst & Young New England Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur of the Year. He is currently a member of a working group on the future of the U.S. science and technology research enterprise, which consults with the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST).
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Keizo Koya, Ph.D.
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Senior Vice President, Drug Development
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Dr. Koya led the research and development of numerous investigational cancer and autoimmune drugs as the VP, R&D at Shionogi BioResearch. A synthetic chemist by training, Dr. Koya was the Director, Drug Discovery and Development at Fuji ImmunoPharmaceuticals, and the Head of Pharmaceutical R&D at Fuji Photo. He also was involved in the development of MKT-077, the first mitochondria-based anticancer agent. Dr. Koya has more than 34 issued and pending U.S. patents. Dr. Koya earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Kyushu University.
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Amar Singh
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Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer
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Mr. Singh joined Synta in December 2010 from Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as Chief Operating Officer, and previously as SVP and Chief Commercial Officer. At Spectrum, he led the commercial and business development teams responsible for the successful re-launch of Zevalin and completed major partnerships for Zevalin (Cell Therapeutics) and Belinostat (TopoTarget). Prior to joining Spectrum, Mr. Singh was VP and Chief Commercial Officer at Novacea where he was responsible for securing major partnerships for the company’s lead compound, Asentar. Prior to Novacea, Mr. Singh led the launch of the proprietary division of American Pharmaceutical Partners-Abraxis Oncology and provided leadership in all aspects of commercial, and strategic development of the company’s flagship product, Abraxane. Prior to Abraxis, Mr. Singh held multiple leadership positions in the oncology franchise at Hoffman-La Roche, where he led the launches of several oncology and supportive care products including Xeloda and Kytril. Mr. Singh holds an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina.
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Vojo Vukovic, M.D., Ph.D.
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Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
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Dr. Vukovic joined Synta as Vice President, Clinical Research in January 2009. Dr. Vukovic has over 17 years experience in oncology drug development. Prior to Synta, he was Global Medical Lead for Sutent® and axitinib in a number of cancer indications at Pfizer. Prior to Pfizer, he served in key medical and regulatory roles at Aventis Pasteur, Ortho Biotech, ILEX Oncology, and BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals. Over the course of his career, Dr. Vukovic has been responsible for over 100 Phase 1 to Phase 4 clinical studies in cancer indications including melanoma, tumors of the lung, pancreas, breast, colorectal, ovarian, brain, as well as NHL and certain leukemias. Prior to his industry career, Dr. Vukovic was a post-doctoral fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto in Ontario and Institute for Cell Biology in Essen, Germany where he conducted basic and translational research in solid tumor microenvironments and oxidative stress. Dr. Vukovic received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto and his M.D. degree from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Eric Rowinsky, M.D.
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Scientific Advisor
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Eric Rowinsky, MD is a leading authority in the areas of cancer drug development and registration strategies. Dr. Rowinsky is currently an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at New York University and a member of the Board of Directors of Biogen-Idec. From 2005 to 2010, Dr. Rowinsky was Executive Vice President, Clinical Development and Regulatory and Chief Medical Officer of Imclone Systems. Prior to joining ImClone, Dr. Rowinsky was Director of Clinical Research and later Director of the Institute for Drug Development of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio, Texas. He was also Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 1996 to 2006. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Rowinsky served as an Associate Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was a longstanding NCI principal investigator and integrally involved in pivotal clinical and preclinical investigations for paclitaxel, docetaxel, topotecan, irinotecan, erlotinib, gefitinib, sorafenib, panitumumab, and temsirolimus, among others. Dr. Rowinsky's honors include receipt of the career development award of the American Cancer Society and the 6th Annual Emil J. Freireich Award for outstanding achievement of a young researcher in clinical cancer therapeutics. He is Editor-in-Chief of Investigational New Drugs, Deputy Editor of Cancer Research and is on the editorial board of Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Rowinsky received his B.A. degree from New York University; his M.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; and completed his fellowship training in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins.
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Suresh R. Babu, Ph.D.
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Vice President, Drug Product Development
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Before joining Synta in January 2006, Dr. Babu was employed at Pfizer Global R&D with responsibility for discovery formulation, preformulation, and formulation development. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Babu worked for Johnson & Johnson identifying and implementing new technologies for drug delivery. Dr. Babu has extensive pharmaceutical industry experience in the areas of preformulation, enabling dosage forms, drug delivery, and the development of immediate and controlled release dosage forms. Dr. Babu has several years of teaching experience in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He earned his B.S. in Pharmacy (India) and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
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Keith S. Ehrlich, C.P.A
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Vice President, Finance and Administration
Chief Financial Officer
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Before joining Synta in March 2004, Mr. Ehrlich was Vice President-Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer at Argentys Corporation. Previously, Mr. Ehrlich was Vice President-Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer at Dyax Corp. and OraVax Inc. (now Acambis) and Director of Finance at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He had financial responsibility for the initial public offerings of OraVax and Vertex. Previously, Mr. Ehrlich was a Senior Audit Manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Ehrlich holds a B.A. in Biology from Drew University and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University.
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Iman El-Hariry, M.D., Ph.D.
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Vice President, Clinical Research
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Dr. El-Hariry is an oncologist with 13 years global pharmaceutical oncology development experience. She is leading the development of the Company’s most advanced oncology product candidates – STA-9090 and elesclomol. Dr. El-Hariry joined Synta in December 2010 from Astellas Pharma where she served as Astellas’ first Global Head of Oncology. Prior to Astellas, Dr. El-Hariry served in key clinical development roles at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where she oversaw over 50 Phase 1 through Phase 4 clinical trials, led multiple European and U.S. regulatory agency submissions resulting in successful product approvals, and initiated and led a broad network of academic and medical community collaborations in support of GSK oncology drug candidates. Dr. El-Hariry holds an M.D. (Hons) from Alexandria Medical School, Alexandria, Egypt and a Ph.D. in Clinical Oncology from the Imperial College of Science and Medicine, London, UK.
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Rob Kloppenburg
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Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
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Before joining Synta in November 2006, Mr. Kloppenburg was Senior Vice President and head of the Boston Life Sciences practice of Fleishman-Hillard, Inc., where he provided strategic communications counsel to a variety of clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Mr. Kloppenburg was Senior Director of Corporate Communications with Millennium Pharmaceuticals from 2001 to 2003, where he was responsible for product and pipeline communications. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Kloppenburg held increasingly senior roles in communications and public affairs at Bayer Corp., first in Canada and later at the North American Pharmaceutical Division headquarters in West Haven, CT. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Healthcare Communications. Mr. Kloppenburg received his BA in Political Science and Economics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
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Arthur J. McMahon
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Vice President, Human Resources
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Before joining Synta in January 2007, Mr. McMahon served as Senior Director of Human Resources for Cabot Corporation, a publicly traded specialty chemical company. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. McMahon was Vice President of Human Resources for Osprey Systems, Inc., a privately owned software and information technology services company. Mr. McMahon’s past experience in the field of human resources also includes positions with Broadway and Seymour, Inc., Wang Laboratories, Inc. and Raytheon Company. Mr. McMahon earned his B.S. from North Carolina State University and his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.
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Wendy E. Rieder, Esq.
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Vice President, Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs
General Counsel
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Before joining Synta in December 2002, Ms. Rieder served as the co-founder, COO and VP, Business Development and Intellectual Property of Microbiotix, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company developing small-molecule anti-infectives. She is a registered patent attorney with experience in all aspects of business and intellectual property law relating to private and public companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Ms. Rieder was also the VP, Business Development and Intellectual Property at CereMedix, Inc. and LipoGenics, Inc., a patent attorney at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, and a patent agent at Fish & Neave. Ms. Rieder holds an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Columbia University and a J.D. from Fordham University.
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Andrew J. Sonderfan, Ph.D., DABT
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Vice President, Drug Disposition and Preclinical Safety
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Before joining Synta in December 2006, Dr. Sonderfan spent five years at Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., during which time he served as Senior Director, Toxicology and Safety Pharmacology. From 2000 to 2001, Dr. Sonderfan was the Director of Toxicology and Product Safety at BioChem Pharma (today, Shire Pharmaceutical Development Inc.). Dr. Sonderfan began his industry career at Syntex, Inc. as Nonclinical Leader, Palonosetron Program. Dr. Sonderfan earned his B.S. in Toxicology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (today, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia) and his Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
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Ilker Yalcin, Ph.D., M.B.A.
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Vice President, Biostatistics & Data Management
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Prior to joining Synta in May 2011, Dr. Ilker Yalcin was Research Advisor/Group Leader of the Global Oncology Business Unit at Eli Lilly and Company where he was responsible for helping design innovative clinical trials, leading development of multiple oncology compounds, performing pharmacogenetics analyses and managing a team of statisticians. Over his 15 year tenure at Eli Lilly, Dr. Yalcin held increasingly senior leadership positions including Director – Statistics, where he managed the statistical team in Endocrine, Oncology, Women’s Health, Urology, Reproductive Medicine, Cardiovascular and Critical Care in Lilly USA. Prior to joining Eli Lilly, Dr. Yalcin served as Biostatistician/Epidemiologist for the World Health Organization, Division of Mental Health in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Yalcin received his Ph.D. in Statistics from Iowa State University, and his M.B.A. from Indiana University, Kelly School of Business.
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David Noskowitz
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Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs
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Before joining Synta in March 2005, Mr. Noskowitz was Director of Regulatory Affairs at Genzyme Corporation, where his efforts contributed to U.S., E.U., and international approvals of Aldurazyme® (laronidase), a treatment for Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I). While at Genzyme, Mr. Noskowitz served as team leader for interdisciplinary project teams and provided regulatory perspective on in-licensing/acquisition due diligence activities. Prior to joining Genzyme in 2000, Mr. Noskowitz was Associate Director and Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Wyeth-Ayerst Research/Genetics Institute, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Noskowitz served as Regulatory Affairs Manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Mr. Noskowitz received an M.Eng. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and earned both a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and a B.A. in Chemistry at the University of Rochester.
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