Board of Directors
Dr. George M. Milne, Jr., PhD
Director, Chairman of the Board
Dr. George Milne has over 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and product development, including over 20 years of experience as a board member and lead director of multiple biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Milne currently serves on the boards of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLX), a pharmaceutical company, where he is the Chair, and Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE CRL), a laboratory services company, where he is the lead director. He retired from Pfizer Inc. in 2002 where he served as Executive Vice President of Global Research and Development and President, Worldwide Strategic and Operations Management. He joined Pfizer Inc. in 1970 and held a variety of positions conducting both chemistry and pharmacology research. Dr. Milne became director of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Pfizer Inc. in 1981, was its executive director from 1984 to 1985, and was Vice President of research and development from 1985 to 1988. He was appointed Senior Vice President in 1988. In 1993, he was appointed President of Pfizer Central Research and a Senior Vice President of Pfizer Inc. with global responsibility for human and veterinary medicine research and development. Dr. Milne has also previously served on multiple corporate boards including Mettler-Toledo, Inc. (a manufacturer of laboratory instruments), MedImmune, Athersys, Biostorage Technologies, Aspreva and Conor Medsystems. Dr. Milne received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Yale University and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Joseph P. "Jay" Hagan
Director, Chair of the Compensation Committee
Joseph Hagan is President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Regulus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLS). Jay joined Regulus Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2016 as Chief Operating Officer, Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer and was appointed to President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2017. Jay’s career includes roles as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., Managing Director of Amgen Ventures and head of corporate development for Amgen Inc. Jay has led numerous strategic and financing transactions including the acquisitions of Immunex and Tularik and the spinout of Novantrone and Relyspa, as well as many other business development efforts totaling over $15 billion in value. Before joining Amgen, Jay spent five years in the bioengineering labs at Genzyme and Advanced Tissue Sciences.. He received an MBA from Northeastern University and a BS in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego.
R. Hector MacKay-Dunn, J.D., K.C.
Director, Chair of the Governance & Nomination Committee
Mr. MacKay-Dunn has over 30 years of practice experience providing legal advice to high growth public and private companies, many of which achieving valuations exceeding $1billion over a broad range of industry sectors including life sciences, health and technology, advising on corporate domestic and cross border public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and international partnering and licensing transactions, and Boards of Directors and independent board committees on corporate governance matters. Mr. MacKay-Dunn has been recognized by Lexpert® as being among the top 100 Canada/US cross-border corporate lawyers in Canada, in the 2021 Lexpert® Special Edition of Technology; in the 2020 Lexpert® Special Editions of Global Mining and Infrastructure, and in the 2022 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory, by Best Lawyers in Canada in the areas of Biotech, M&A, Corporate & Securities and Tech for 2022 and Lawyer of the Year 2020 in Biotech. Mr. MacKay-Dunn received the King’s Counsel designation upon recommendation by the Attorney General of British Columbia for exceptional merit and contribution to the legal profession, the "AV” preeminent legal ability rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and is regularly recognized as a Leading lawyer Nationally by Chambers Canada within the Life Sciences Category. Mr. MacKay-Dunn as served as Board Member or Officer with Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Arbutus Biopharma Corp., XBiotech Inc. and QLT Inc., the BC (British Columbia) Tech Association, Lifesciences British Columbia, Genome British Columbia and Tennis Canada.
Jill Leversage
Director, Chair of the Audit Committee
Prior to Ms. Leversage’s retirement in January 2016, she was a senior investment banker with over 30 years of experience in investment banking and private equity. She was a Managing Director, Corporate and Investment Banking for TD Securities Inc. from May 2002 to May 2011 and Former Managing Director at Highland West Capital Ltd. from June 2013 to January 2016. She currently serves on several public and private company boards, including MAG Silver Corp. (TSX/NYSE A: MAG) (a mining company) and RE Royalties Ltd. (TSXV: RE) (a finance company specializing in renewable energy). She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and also a Chartered Business Valuator (ret.) of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators.
Dr. Brinda Balakrishnan, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Balakrishnan has been at BioMarin Pharmaceeutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) since 2016, currently serving as Senior Vice President, Chief Business Development Officer. Prior to joining BioMarin, Dr. Balakrishnan was the co-founder and Vice President of corporate strategy and product development at Vision Medicines, Inc., a start-up focused on developing treatments for rare ophthalmic diseases. Before Vision Medicines, she spent two years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in the healthcare practice, serving clients across small biotech, large pharma, and healthcare provider groups on topics related to corporate strategy, corporate and business development, and operations. Prior to McKinsey, Dr. Balakrishnan was in business development at Genzyme.
Dr. Balakrishnan earned a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. from MIT in biomedical engineering and chemical engineering. She also earned her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School and conducted her medical training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a Harvard hospital.
Dr. Daniel G. Billen
Ph.D., Director
Dr. Daniel Billen has over 40 years of experience in commercialization of pharmaceutical and biotech products both in Europe and North America. He started with Janssen Pharmaceuticals in its Belgian headquarters in cardiovascular global marketing in 1979. Dr. Billen became head of marketing and sales for Janssen Pharmaceutica’s newly formed affiliate in Canada in 1983 launching multiple products into the Canadian market. In 1991, Dr. Billen moved to Amgen Inc. to lead its Canadian operations as their first General Manager. He moved to Amgen’s headquarters in California in 2011 where he led the U.S. Commercial Operations Business Unit and later the combined Nephrology and Inflammation business unit as their VP/GM. In 2017, Dr. Billen took on the role of VP of Global Commercial initiatives with focus on the evolving US payer landscape. Dr. Billen received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Louvain in Belgium.
Peter Greenleaf, MBA
Director, President and CEO
Peter Greenleaf currently serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board since April 29, 2019. From March 2018 to April 2019, Peter served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Cerecor, Inc. (NASDAQ: CERC). From March 2014 to February 2018, Peter served as CEO and Chairman of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMP), a company that focused on the development and commercialization of medicines to meet major unmet medical needs of patients worldwide until it was sold in February 2018 to U.K. pharmaceutical giant Mallinckrodt plc. Peter also served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Histogenics Corporation, a regenerative medicine company. From 2006 to 2013, Peter was employed by Medlmmune LLC, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, where he most recently served as President. From January 2010 to June 2013, Peter also served as President of Medlmmune Ventures, a wholly owned venture capital fund within the AstraZeneca Group. Prior to serving as President of Medlmmune, Peter was Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations of MedImmune, responsible for its commercial, corporate development and strategy functions. Peter has also held senior commercial roles at Centocor, Inc. (now Janssen Biotechnology, Johnson & Johnson) from 1998 to 2006, and at Boehringer Mannheim (now Roche Holdings) from 1996 to 1998. He is also currently a member of the board of directors of Antares Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRS), and was the Chairman of the board of directors of BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc (NASDAQ: BDSI) until its sale to Collegium Pharmaceuticals in March 2022. Peter earned an MBA degree from St. Joseph’s University and a BS degree from Western Connecticut State University.
Dr. David R.W. Jayne, MD FRCP FRCPE FMedSci
Director
Dr. David Jayne has been a Professor of Clinical Autoimmunity in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK since 2017. Dr. Jayne received his MBBChir in Surgery and Medicine from Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. He received postgraduate training at several London hospitals and Harvard University. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Edinburgh, and the Academy of Medical Science. He is a certified nephrologist and an Honorary Consultant Physician at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge UK. Dr. Jayne is a medical advisor to UK, U.S. and EU regulatory bodies, patient groups and professional organizations. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and reviews. He was elected the first President of the European Vasculitis Society in 2011 and is a member of the ERA-EDTA immunopathology working group and he co-chairs the EULAR/ERA-EDTA task force on lupus nephritis. Dr. Jayne’s research includes investigator-initiated international trials and the introduction of newer therapies in vasculitis and SLE with collaborators on five continents.