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bios Back to the PMC leadership page Edward Abrahams, Ph.D. Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a non-profit educational and advocacy group representing diverse members with a interest in advancing medical progress through the adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products, brings extensive experience in industry, academia, and government to the position. As former Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, Dr. Abrahams managed all aspects of the Association, including public advocacy, media relations, and educational programs, tripling its size and revenues in three years. He also spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's investment of $200 million to commercialize biotechnology in that state. Previously, he had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, and also held a senior administrative position at Brown University. Before becoming a university administrator, Dr. Abrahams worked seven years for the United States Congress, including as a legislative assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen and as an economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Congressman Lee Hamilton. In addition to articles in both popular and professional journals, he is the author of The Lyrical Left: Randolph Bourne, Alfred Stieglitz and the Origins of Cultural Radicalism in America. Mara G. Aspinall Mara Aspinall is the President of Genzyme Genetics, a leading worldwide provider of testing and consultative services. Genzyme Genetics is a division of Genzyme Corporation, one of the world’s largest biotechnology firms with more than 8,500 employees and more than $3 billion in revenue. Under Ms. Aspinall’s leadership, Genzyme Genetics successfully completed and integrated four acquisitions, expanded its research and development programs, and initiated new programs for community outreach and education. Ms. Aspinall is a frequent speaker in the area of personalized medicine and convergence of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. In addition to her current role, she has also served as president of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals and as Genzyme's vice president of corporate development. Prior to joining Genzyme, she was Director of Client Services at Hale and Dorr LLC, and was responsible for the firm’s worldwide practice and development, strategic planning and marketing. She started her business career at Bain & Company, an international strategic consulting firm. At Bain, she specialized in developing and implementing business strategies for healthcare product and service companies Ms. Aspinall is also actively involved in the Boston community, with a focus on the fight against cancer and expanding educational opportunities for young children. She serves as Trustee on the Board of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She earned her undergraduate degree at Tufts University and her MBA from Harvard Business School. Randy Burkholder Randy Burkholder is Associate Vice President of Policy at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. In this position he directs work on issues related to evidence and healthcare decision-making. Areas of focus include cost-effectiveness, quality, health technology assessment, health outcomes research, and Medicare coverage policy. He also oversees work to advance public awareness and public policy in support of pharmaceutical innovation and the value of medicines. Mr. Burkholder has over 14 years experience in healthcare policy, advocacy and communications in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to joining PhRMA Mr. Burkholder was Associate Vice President, Public Affairs and AdvaMed, the leading association of the medical device and diagnostics industries. Brett J. Davis Brett Davis is a Global Solutions Executive for Healthcare in IBM’s Healthcare and Life Sciences business unit. In this role, Mr. Davis works closely with leaders in healthcare and life sciences, including healthcare providers, payers, academic medical centers, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies, to help them leverage IBM capabilities to innovate and grow. Prior to assuming this role, he was a Global Marketing Manager in IBM’s Information Based Medicine emerging business organization. In this role, he was involved in helping shape IBM’s strategy for clinical genomics, high performance scientific computing, biobanking and translational medicine. In addition to his role at IBM, Mr. Davis is on the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, is on HRSA’s Genetic Services Advisory Panel, and has been an invited speaker at industry meetings on information technology’s transformative role in the health sciences. Prior to joining IBM, he led business development and marketing efforts at Genstruct, Inc., a Cambridge, MA based biotech. Previously he served as Senior Product Manager and Director of Marketing for Viaken Systems, Inc., where he helped develop and market bioinformatics and knowledge management solutions for pharmaceutical research. Mr. Davis is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University where he was enrolled in the accelerated Science BS/MBA Program, and graduated as the Eberly College of Science Student Marshall. Geoffrey Ginsburg, M.D., Ph.D. Geoffrey Ginsburg, M.D., Ph.D., received his M.D. and Ph.D. in biophysics from Boston University. He completed an internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Subsequently, he pursued postdoctoral training in clinical cardiovascular medicine at Beth Israel Hospital and in molecular biology at Children’s Hospital as a Bugher Foundation Fellow of the American Heart Association. In 1990 he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School, where he was Director of Preventive Cardiology, and led a laboratory in applied genetics in cardiovascular disease. In 1997 he joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as Senior Program Director for Cardiovascular Diseases. In 2000, Dr. Ginsburg was appointed Vice President of Molecular and Personalized Medicine where he was responsible for developing biomarkers for disease, pharmacogenomic strategies for therapeutics and their implementation in drug development process. In September 2004, he assumed his current position at Duke University where is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pathology and Director of the Center for Genomic Medicine in the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. In 2006, he was appointed as Co-Director, Duke Clinical Translational Science Institute. He has received a number of awards for his research accomplishments including the Innovator in Medicine Award from Millennium in 2004 and the Basic Research Achievement Award in Cardiovascular Medicine from Duke in 2005. He is a founding member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. He has been an international expert panel member for Genome Canada and was recently nominated to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Advisory Council on Genomic Medicine. Paul Landauer Paul Landauer is Senior Director, Global Commercial Planning and Development for Abbott Molecular. His organization tracks, analyses and influences Public and Private Healthcare Policies that impact the integration and adoption of new and emerging molecular technologies into the daily practice of medicine. Mr. Landauer also leads teams devoted to Strategic Planning and Pipeline Management as well as Commercial and Leadership Training and Development In the policy arena, for the last seventeen years, he and his Washington team have contributed significantly to the interests and concerns of Abbott's U.S.-based customers in areas as diverse as…"Coverage, Coding, and Payment for Clinical Laboratory tests," "Medicare Payment Reform,” and "Establishing and Communicating the Value of Clinical Laboratory Test Information and the People who provide it." Mr. Landauer is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a non-governmental, non-profit group established to foster discussion and advance the understanding and the adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products for the benefit of patients. PMC's membership encompasses a broad spectrum of academic, industrial, patient and healthcare provider constituencies. He is also a founder member of the "Laboratory Healthcare Coalition," a group dedicated to educating payers, providers, and the public about the value of laboratory information and services and the people who provide them. He is a member of CLMA and ASCLS and is a frequent speaker at national, state, and regional Laboratory Professional Association meetings and nationally at Washington G2 Reports Lab Institutes, most recently at the February, 2007 G2 meeting, “Integrating MDx into your Lab.” He has served on CLMA’s Industrial Relations and Strategic Planning Committees and in 1996 was honored by the CLMA Board with a personal recognition award. At ASCLS' Annual Conference in 1995, he was presented with the society's prestigious President's Award, and he has received the ASCLS Board of Director's Recognition for "outstanding support of the laboratory profession.” at national and state levels in 1998 and 2005. Mr. Landauer joined Abbott in 1981 and has held Senior Management Positions in Europe, the Far East and the United States; he has a degree in modern languages from the University of Liverpool and a teaching diploma from the International Language Center in London. Joseph D. McInerney, M.A., M.S. Joseph D. McInerney, executive director of the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG), holds an MS in genetic counseling from SUNY Stony Brook. He joined the coalition on 1 September 2000. Prior to that, Mr. McInerney spent 22 years on the staff of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), in Colorado, where he was director from 1985 to 1999. He was a member of the information and education committee of the American Society of Human Genetics from 1988-1999 and is a member of the editorial boards of the Quarterly Review of Biology and Community Genetics (The Netherlands). Mr. McInerney is a former president of the 8,000-member National Association of Biology Teachers (U.S.) and in 1989 was awarded lifetime membership in that organization. In 1996, he was elected a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a charter member (1979) of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC). In 2005, Mr. McInerney received the award for excellence in genetics education from the American Society of Human Genetics and the Natalie Weissberger Paul Award for national achievement from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. J. Brian Munroe Brian Munroe is a twenty-year veteran of government relations and public policy in the healthcare innovation and payor sectors. He has represented clinical laboratories, diagnostic companies, pharmacy benefit managers, home infusion therapy operations, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and most recently the nation’s largest health insurer. Mr. Munroe’s representation of these interests has been before state regulatory and legislative bodies, the U.S. Congress, the federal Administration and agencies, and, for a limited time, developing public policy initiatives in Europe. He began his political career in 1982 in the U.S. Senate. Mr. Munroe’s expertise is understanding the intersection between the business interest of a client company and the government. He has a long track record of success in developing initiatives that leverage the government (at all levels) to help companies reach their objectives and then importantly – implementing winning strategies for maximum impact. He is an accomplished lobbyist who resides in the Washington, DC area with his wife and children. Wayne A. Rosenkrans, Jr., Ph.D. Wayne A. Rosenkrans, Jr., Ph.D., is currently Scientific and Medical Strategy Director for External Scientific Affairs at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. In that role he has responsibility for long-range strategy development supporting AstraZeneca’s external scientific influencing policy. He is a recipient of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) Fellows Award, and a former President of the Society. Previous positions include Global Director, Intelligence Affairs at AstraZeneca, Director – U.S. Intelligence at AstraZeneca, Competitive Technical Intelligence Group Leader and Research Planning Analyst at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Director of Strategic Intelligence Systems for Windhover Information, Director of Drug Intelligence Systems Sales and Marketing for Adis International, and Associate Director and Head of Strategic Intelligence for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals R&D. He has presented at various forums on aspects of strategy development, strategic early warning, and strategic intelligence. He holds an S.B. in Biology from MIT, a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston Univ., and received post-doctoral training in Cancer and Radiation Biology at the Univ. of Rochester. Other interest areas include martial arts (Tang Soo Do), antique/classic cars, and aviation history. Gualberto Ruaño, M.D., Ph.D. Gualberto Ruaño, M.D., Ph.D., is President and Chief Executive Officer of Genomas, Inc. Dr. Ruaño has been an entrepreneur in the biotechnology industry for 20 years. He is a pioneer in the technology and business of personalized medicine. He was educated at Yale University, where he obtained M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, and at Johns Hopkins University, where he obtained his baccalaureate degree, and he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Ruaño founded GENOMAS in 2003. He is also Director of Genetics Research at Hartford Hospital. Dr. Ruaño had founded Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1997 as the pioneer company in pharmacogenomics. He served as Genaissance's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer. As CEO, he led the IPO of the company in 2000 (NASDAQ: GNSC), which successfully raised $90 million, and to R&D partnerships with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. As CSO, he developed fundamental technology for genetic associations based on gene haplotypes. Prior to that, at Bios Laboratories since 1992, he invented the Coupled Amplification and Sequencing (CAS) System (U.S. patent 5,427,911) for the rapid determination of sequence variation and now used for infectious disease pharmacogenomics. Marketed worldwide by Bayer Diagnostics as Trugene™, this technology was the first pharmacogenomic diagnostic system approved by the FDA and is a leading example of personalized medicine in practice. Dr. Ruaño's clinical research interests revolve around physiogenomics and nanotechnology. His public policy activities center on the implementation of genomics in personalized medicine from both regulatory and reimbursement perspectives. He was elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering in April 2004, noted for his contributions to personalized medicine at the national level, and serves as the Chairman of the Academy's Health Care and Medical Technology Board. He is senior editor of the journal Personalized Medicine. Dr. Ruaño serves on advisory committees of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry and of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry instituting guidelines for pharmacogenetic testing in the clinical laboratory. He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry and received the Beacon Alliance Medical Technology Award in 2005. He is also a founding Director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition in Washington, DC. Over the last five years he has served in various steering committees working with the Food and Drug Administration on pharmacogenomic guidelines for drug development and is a member at the Manhattan Institute’s 21st Century FDA Task Force. A patron of the arts, he is a trustee of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT. Nancy Simonian, M.D. Nancy Simonian, M.D., joined Millennium in 2001 as VP of Clinical Development, and in 2006 was appointed Chief Medical Officer. She is responsible for Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs, Pharmacovigilance, and Development Project Management at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Simonian joined Millennium's Management Team in 2007 and chairs the company's Portfolio Review Committee. She is a board member of Arqule Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Simonian was a Vice President of Clinical Research at Biogen where she was responsible for the clinical development of AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a), Tysabri (natalizumab), and their oncology programs. She is a graduate of Princeton University and received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She did her medical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Neurology and was an Assistant Clinical Professor at MGH and at Harvard Medical School and is board-certified in Neurology. Patrick Terry Patrick F. Terry is an entrepreneur who has founded a series of innovative philanthropic, research, and commercial organizations based on the life sciences, applied technology, and social-network theory. In 2000, he and a group of leaders in the fields of genomics, drug development, and biotechnology founded Genomic Health, (NASDAQ: GHDX), a pioneering applied clinical genomics company based in California. His perspective is forged from personal and family experiences with genetic disease, cancer, and extensive work in the patient advocacy community. He is a lay person – his scientific, technical, and medical knowledge is all self-taught, and he’s published dozens of peer-reviewed scientific papers. Some of his activities include leadership positions on numerous trade associations, professional societies, coalition groups, and he sits on a number of international and U.S. governmental advisory bodies. He has experience doing hands-on genetics bench science, coordinating human genetic research programs, conducting basic research on rare genetic diseases, and he manages multiple life science patents. He has received many honors and awards in the business, medical, and scientific communities in the U.S. and internationally. He has dedicated his career to helping people and advancing a patient-centered perspective in disease research and translational medicine. Denny Van Liew Denny Van Liew has twenty-five years experience in helping European and U.S. organizations in increasing innovation, developing new business/organizational models and improving processes. He has a strong reputation in leading projects, which translate visions into operational reality. His career has spanned management consulting, senior staff and management positions within and for organizations involved in ethical life sciences and healthcare delivery, financing, policy and education. Through this work he has developed special expertise in leading new initiatives including new healthcare models, intellectual property strategy, strategy realignment, change management programs, organizational development, and restructuring projects. Mr. Van Liew is currently responsible for providing strategy advice and goals setting support to Pfizer research and development leadership with a particular emphasis on drug safety, lean product development, pharmacogenomics, nanomedicine and healthcare information technology issues. Prior to joining Pfizer in 2001, he worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers as leader in the healthcare services strategy practice in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Board of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, Washington, DC and a Fellow in The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (UK). Mr. Van Liew earned an M.S. and B.S. in Industrial Engineering with concentrations in Health Systems Design, Decision Support and Operations Management from Iowa State University, Ames, IA. He has also taken a postgraduate course in pharmaceutical drug development at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.Robert Wells Robert C. Wells is Vice President for the International Markets Group and Corporate Affairs for Affymetrix, Inc. In this role, he directs the company’s commercial activities in a group of countries ranging from Asia to Europe to Latin America to the Middle East. He also directs the Affymetrix federal and international government relations program, covering a wide range of life sciences issues in the ethics, social policy and business development arenas. These issues range from genetic privacy and nondiscrimination to intellectual property to supporting the company’s GeneChip® technology for use in clinical genomics. Mr. Wells also directs the company’s China market strategy and does extensive work on projects in biodefense, infectious disease and microbial ecology. Prior to joining Affymetrix in 2002, Mr. Wells was Vice President for International Government Relations with Citigroup for more than twelve years. Mr. Wells holds a B.A. (History) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from Wake Forest University. He and his wife and daughter reside near Boston, MA.
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