Speaker Profiles

Speakers

Kewen Jin
General Manager
Charles River Laboratories Greater China

Kewen Jin is currently General Manager of Charles River Laboratories (CRL) China preclinical service company. He was founder/CEO of BioExplorer, a preclinical CRO that formed a joint-venture with Charles River in 2007.

Kewen has co-founded and served as CEO, CBO, and Founding Partner of three other companies in drug discovery, R&D outsourcing, and consulting. He served as advisor to Shanghai Pudong government and several global pharmaceutical companies. Previously, he was a marketing and international operation executive with Wyeth, first five years in the U.S., then two years in Beijing.

He was granted the 2005 Magnolia Award, which the Shanghai government grants to individuals making major contribution to the development of Shanghai. He chairs the Shanghai Pudong Biomedical R&D Outsourcing Committee, a group of 18 leading CROs in Shanghai. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Bayhelix and Sino American Pharmaceutical Association (SAPA), the two leading Chinese professional organizations in life science industry.

He was trained in medicine (Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine), molecular biology (Rockefeller), and finance (Columbia).

Dr Christopher Huang
Chairman & Managing Director
Pharmacons CRO

Dr. Christopher Huang, the founder of Pharmacons CRO, with his 25 years of experience in the industry in medical practice and research, pharmaceutical R&D, sales and marketing, and general manage- ment at country and regional management level in Australia, China and Singapore, Dr. Huang is leading Pharmacons’ way to success.

Previously Dr. Huang was the Medical Director of AstraZeneca Singapore, a global leading research based biopharmaceutical company, and Medical Director of Bayer China, a global biopharmaceutical company with core activities in the fields of pharmaceutical, health care, nutrition and high-tech materials, and Asia Pacific Regional BD Director of Covance Australia, one of the world's largest and most comprehensive CRO companies.

Dr. Huang is also an active speaker and chairperson in global and regional conferences on R&D topics.

Gene C. Hsu, Ph.D. DABT
Deputy Director, National Shanghai Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (NCDSER)

Previously, Dr. Hsu served as a Vice President at TaiGen Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Taiwan. His professional experience also includes positions at Merck & Co. USA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Taipei Medical University.

Dr. Hsu earned his B.S. from the National Taiwan University and Ph.D.in Toxicology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Hsu is board-certified in toxicology by the American Board of Toxicology.

He has published numerous professional papers, technical reports, book chapters, and recently served as a co-editor of the text book "Cancer Risk Assessment - Chemical Carcinogenesis, Hazard Evaluation, and Risk Quantification". Dr. Hsu also serves on the Editorial Board of two international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Joanne Jiang
VP, International Project Management
Fountain Medical Development

Dr Jiang has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for 14 years. She started her career in preclinical pharmacology area at Bayer pharmaceutical and Eli Lilly, working as research scientist, lab head and project leader. She further developed expertise in drug development and project management through her tenure as global project manager since year 2000. From year 2000 to 2007, at Aventis and then Daiichi Sankyo, she managed drug development and life cycle management projects, encompassing preclinical to phase IV activities. She especially focused on clinical trial planning and management, integrating marketing plans and regulatory strategy that enables optimal trial design. Dr. Jiang also has working knowledge of building and managing high performing project teams that deliver break-through results. Starting in 2007, Dr Jiang co-founded Fountain Medical Development, a contract research organization (CRO) offering a full range of ICH GCP compliant clinical research services for multinational clients conducting clinical research in Asia. As a full clinical service provider, Fountain Medical Development has become the leading CRO in China in delivering quality results for global clinical studies.

Dr. Jiang holds a PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from Indiana University, and an MBA from University of Michigan Dearborn.

Dr. Jiang was an Executive Council for Sino-American Pharmaceutical Association. She is also a member of Project Management institute and Drug information association.

Dr Kathryn Bayne,
Global Director for the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC International)

Dr. Bayne directs the accreditation program worldwide and travels extensively to advance AAALAC’s accreditation program and laboratory animal welfare. Prior to this position she worked at the National Institutes of Health leading a research program on nonhuman primate psychological well-being and environmental enrichment programs for primates, dogs, cats and swine.   She has published over forty articles on the subject, is a certified applied animal behaviorist, and is internationally renowned for her work in laboratory animal behavior.   She has also published extensively on accreditation of laboratory animal care and use programs.

Dr. Bayne is a past president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM), the Association of Primate Veterinarians, as well as the District of Columbia Veterinary Medical Association. She served on the boards of the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP), the National Association for Biomedical Research, Lab Animal editorial board and as Vice President of the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare. She is past Chair of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Committee and recently served as the laboratory animal medicine representative on the AVMA’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, charged with developing overarching animal welfare principles for the entire veterinary profession. She is also immediate past Chair of ASLAP’s Animal Welfare Committee and serves on the organizing committee for a specialty college in animal welfare planned for recognition by the AVMA. Dr. Bayne is a charter member and Vice Chair of the International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Dr. Bayne is a member of the National Academies’ Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) Council. She served on the National Academies’ committee to revise the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (1996) and the National Academies’ committees on Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates, Occupational Health and Safety in the Care of Nonhuman Primates and Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research. She was the recipient of the 1993 Henry and Lois Foster Award for high score on the ACLAM certifying examination, is the 2009 recipient of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Award and Washington Sate University’s 2009 Excellence in Research and Teaching Award. She is also a recipient of AALAS’s prestigious Garvey award.

Denise Clarke-Hundley
Senior Director Operations
George Clinical - The George Institute

Denise Clarke-Hundley joined George Clinical as Senior Director, Operations in 2009. George Clinical, the clinical trials implementation arm of the George Institute is active in the Asia Pacific region and around the world. In this role she is responsible for the approximately 100 clinical research staff based in a number of countries including Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India and China.

Prior to taking her current role at George Clinical, Denise was at Wyeth Research, Asia-Pacific Research Operations (AsPRO) as Sr. Director of Clinical Operations based in Shanghai, China for three years. Denise joined Wyeth in 1994, when clinical operations were based in Sydney Australia. While at Wyeth, Denise was responsible for the operational aspects of Wyeth Clinical Research & Development division (CR&D) in the Asia Pacific region, with staff located in Australia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. During Denise’s tenure, this CR&D organization grew from a unit that initially recruited 200-300 patients per year and monitored 500-600 patients, to one that recruited over 1200 patients in 2006 and monitored over 3000 patients in 2008.

Denise has more than 30 years industry experience, including extensive previous international experience in the Pharmaceutical industry including Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis, FIDEA Pharmaceuticals and Quintiles. She also has considerable experience in the broader healthcare arena having held research positions at: MD Anderson Cancer Institute in Houston, Texas and the Western Australian Health Department, (Epidemiology Branch). Denise has a B.Sc. from Eastern Michigan University (USA) and completed all course work for her Masters of Med. Sci. at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Western Australia.

Ole Mølskov Bech
Corporate Vice President
International Operations Clinical Development Centre, Novo Nordisk A/S

Dr. Mølskov Bech graduated from Medical Faculty, University of Copenhagen in Denmark in 1985.   From 1985-1987 he held a position as research fellow at Department of Pharmacology, University of Aarhus, with special focus on Clinical Pharmacology and a laboratory model of congestive heart failure. After postgraduate training at Hvidovre and Gentofte County Hospital) 1987-1990) he joined Novo Nordisk in 1990 as project manager for a development project (LMW Heparin).

In 2002, Dr. Mølskov Bech obtained his MBA from Scandinavian International Management Institute, Copenhagen.

Dr. Mølskov Bech has been working is Asia since 2002, when he was appointed Medical Director, Novo Nordisk Asia Pacific. Since November 2003, Dr. Mølskov Bech has been responsible for the clinical development activities for Novo Nordisk in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Middle East, East and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand. During this period the number of patients in clinical trials in the Region has more than tripled to around 6000 patients per year.

Dr. Bech is a member of Novo Nordisk Global Development Management Team.

Yining Qi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Executive Dir. of Client Services & Project Management
WuXi AppTec

WuXi AppTec is a China based leading R&D outsourcing service company with 4,200 employees.

Dr Qi has over 20 years’ experience in pharmaceutical, medical device industries, CRO and regulatory agency. Formerly a Research Fellow / Group Leader at Merck.

Worked at BD, Johns Hopkins University, SITEK Research Lab and SFDA Lab. M.D. and M.P.H. from Shanxi Medical University and M.B.A. from Rutgers University

Joan Huaqiong Shen, MD, PhD
Senior Medical Director, Pfizer Inc.

Joan began her career as a surgeon in China. She later earned her PhD at Indiana University, where she also obtained a psychiatry residency, fellowships in endocrinology, psychopharmacology and clinical pharmacology. Board certified in psychiatry and eligible in clinical pharmacology, Joan joined Eli Lilly in 2003. She simultaneously continued her clinical practice and research as an adjunctive professor, at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Joan later joined Wyeth as the medical director and global medical monitor where she was the clinical lead for CNS indications. Her contributions include achieving proof of concept for a compound with a brand new target, designing and conduction of a CNS study using adaptive trial design, initiating and leading Wyeth CNS initiatives in Asia, including CNS clinical trial assessment, interactions with the regulatory agents and KOLs, site and CRO selections, research personnel recruitment in China and etc. These contributions earned her the Wyeth GCT Leadership Priority Award 2009. Her accomplishments also include multiple scientific publications and as an invited speaker to national/international conferences.

Aside from the work, Joan has been actively involved in community and volunteer services, including serving as the chair of Indiana Chinese Medical Association, the board member of Lilly Chinese Culture Network, the EC member of SAPA-GP chapter. As the board member, Joan helped the successful launch of Wyeth Asian Network in 2008.

Now the Senior Director and global clinical lead in Pfizer, Joan continues to work on phase II/III drug development worldwide, especially in China and other Asian countries.

Dr. Jingsong Wang
Director, Discovery Medicine & Clinical Pharmacology
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMS)

In his current role, Dr. Wang serves as Exploratory Development Team (EDT) leader oversees a clinical development program with multiple assets targeting several diseases, and directs early to mid-stage clinical studies in Immunology Therapeutic Area.

Dr. Wang joined BMS from Wyeth where he served Associate Director, and later as the group leader for Translational Medicine and Biomarker Development in Inflammation and Rheumatologic Disease Area. Prior to that, Dr. Wang was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he was an attending rheumatologist and faculty member. Dr. Wang also completed a research fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Wang has published in numerous leading scientific journals and authored a number of textbook chapters related to inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Wang is board certified in rheumatology, a diplomate of American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Wang’s academic appointments include visiting professorships in China, and he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and an attending physician at the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania. He was on the Research Grant Review Committee on Immunology, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Dr. Wang has served as member of the expert panel for Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) congressional staff briefing on biotechnology and autoimmune diseases, Capitol Hill, Washington DC.

John Zhaolong Gong, Ph.D., M.D.
VP and Chief Technology Officer, JOINN Laboratories
CEO, JOINN Suzhou
Managing Director, JOINN USA

Dr. Gong joined JOINN Laboratories in March 2008 with ten years of US FDA regulatory experience in new drug development. He served as a Toxicology and Pharmacology Reviewer in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and conducted primary and critical reviews of numerous IND and NDA applications for both small molecules and biologics. These reviews covered various areas such as pharmacology, PK/PD, ADME, and toxicology studies. Since joined JOINN, Dr. Gong actively promotes and implements international standards at JOINN, leading to the AAALAC accreditation in 2008, and US FDA inspection in July 2009. JOINN’s study reports have been accepted to support clinical trials in the U.S. afterwards. Dr. Gong is a member of the Drug Safety Evaluation Committee of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association, and an ad hoc specialist of AAALAC. Dr. Gong received his Ph.D. in Toxicology from New York University in 1996 and a medical degree from Beijing Medical College in 1984.

Zuoxiang Yu, Pharm Ph.D
Alliance Project Team Director, based in ICC AstraZeneca (Shanghai) China.

She has more than 12 years of pharmaceutical industrial experiences in DMPK/Bioanalysis and GLP QA from AstraZeneca. Her GLP involvement in China started in 2005 as Global R&D GLP QA China Relations Manager. In August 2008 she took up the role of Alliance GLP QA Support Director and moved to Shanghai to support AZ’s alliance partner with the requirements of international GLPs. Prior to her China assignment she was Senior GLP QA advisor working in Safety Assessment Sweden.

Zuoxiang received her Bsc in Chemistry and MSc in Food Science &Technology in China, and PhD in Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Uppsala University Biomedical Center, Sweden.

Maria Song Ph.D.MD.R.pharmacist.MA.
Vice President, Venturepharm Group
President, VPS-CRO Group

Graduating from Peking Union Medical University in 1995, Dr Song was honored with an M.D. Before joining Venturepharm, Dr Song had undertaken important positions in a famous pharmaceutical company. She lead R&D for a series of national type1, type2 and type4 new drugs. Dr Song has enormous experience in the whole process of pre-clinical pharmacy, pharmacology and clinical research.

From 2000 Dr Song has been a director at Venturepharm Laboratory, which is the first publicly listed and China based R&D pharmaceutical company. Venturepharm has been maintaining its leading position in the pharmaceutical and R&D sectors in China.

Lead by Dr Song, Venturepharm CRO Services has become the largest clinical CRO in China in terms of its therapeutic areas. Venturepharm CRO Services is the only international CRO in China, which is publicly listed abroad. It is also recognized as one of the most authoritative CROs regarding clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine. In 2003, Venturepharm CRO Services is honored as one of the 10 best national foreign investor companies in China.

Claire Tan
Senior Director, Head of Biostatistics
Quintiles Medical Development (Shanghai)

Claire Tan achieved an M.S. in Statistics from Texas Technology University and an M. B. A. in Finance and Business Administration from the University of Connecticut Stamford, U.S.A.

She spent over 10 years at Pfizer, New York, rising to the position of Associate Director, Project Planning and Performance. A move to China then saw her take the position of Director, International Program Management, Product and Business Development at Bridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. and then Director, Clinical Data Management and Statistical Analysis at APEX International Clinical Research Organization before it was acquired by Parexel in Oct 2007.

Cliare Tan has been in her current role at Quintiles, Shanghai since the start of 2008. Her role involves a broad brief including business and people development, project management and global initiative and country organization development.

Dr. Yan Wu
Medical & Clinical Development Director
Biogen-Idec China

Dr. YAN WU has been in the Clinical Research Management for the last 15 years. He started to take the role as project manager for international trials in Astra. After that he joined Quintiles as both clinical manager and project manager, where he has successfully supervised many international trials and a few local trials and led the set up of CTS facility. After 8 year excellent work in Astra and Quintiles, he joined Boehringer Ingelheim as Head of Clinical Research where he led a team of regional project managers for global clinical studies in Asia. He was both the member of Steering Committee and Trial management committee for a global neurology mega trial. He has chaired many investigator meetings in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, India and Thailand. Under his leadership, Boehringer Ingelheim China turned to be the Asian hub of global clinical research. He has been also responsible for CRO selection for many trials and has rich experience in cooperating with CRO.

Dr. Wu joined Biogen Idec in 2008 to take the role as medical and clinical development director. He supports medical affairs and clinical trials in China and Asia meanwhile takes the lead for global clinical development in the field of hematology. He was invited as a speaker for 45th DIA annual meeting, China trial 2008 & 2009, Asia Pharma R&D Leader 2010 and many national meetings.

Dr. Wu graduated from School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University and also held Master's degree in hematology after studying in Shanghai Hematology Institute.

Dr. Fon Chang
Director Veterinary Affairs & Animal Welfare Asia
AstraZeneca

Fon Chang, DVM, is the Director of Veterinary Affairs and Animal Welfare Asia at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Based in Shanghai, he is responsible for animal welfare within and on behalf of AstraZeneca in Asia. He is a member of AstraZeneca’s Global Veterinary Council that governs the company’s global animal initiatives and strategy.

Dr. Chang received his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego and his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine). Subsequently, he completed two post-doctorate residency programs with specialties in laboratory animal medicine and animal behavior/welfare at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Chang joined AstraZeneca in 2006 as the Attending Veterinarian of the R&D site in Boston, MA, supporting cancer and infection discovery research. He has broad experience in the laboratory animal field having worked in both academia and industry, and as a consultant in the US and Asia.

Dr. Chang serves as an ad hoc consultant for the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC). He has served on several external organizations including the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research committee in the updated report Recognition and Alleviation of Distress in Laboratory Animals (NRC 2008) sponsored by the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences.

Wenchi Lin
Portfolio Director for Project Management
Parexel

Ms. Lin has almost 10 years experience in the drug development industry. She has gained multi-national clinical trial experience by working in different countries such as China, Australia and Taiwan for both Pharmaceuticals and CROs on various multi-national studies. Most of her therapeutic experiences are in oncology and infectious disease.

Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical industry – Ms. Lin was a registered nurse qualified in Australia. She has worked alongside investigators for more than 5 years, gaining knowledge and expertise of clinical practices from Emergency and critical settings.

For the past 5 years, Ms. Lin was responsible for leading PAREXEL China Clinical Operations; and functioned as Head of Contract Personnel Services covering Asia Pacific. Her current role is within Project management - primary responsibilities are providing strategic direction to both clients and the team.

Dr. Peter Halkjaer-Knudsen
Executive Director, Business Development
Shanghai ChemPartner

Peter Halkjaer-Knudsen is a chemist by training and worked a number of years in the field before making the transition into management and business development.

Peter Halkjaer-Knudsen has been in BD for Companies like Hewlett-Packard, Hydro and several CROs in both US and Europe.

He has started ChemPartner Europe, and today manages the European operation for ChemPartner in Shanghai

Dr. Qin Shi
Managing Principal
EdgeTech Law LLP

Qin Shi is currently the managing principal of EdgeTech Law LLP, a specialty law/advisory firm based in California with a global clientele. She is an intellectual property litigator and also advises her clients on transactional matters including cross-border partnerships and alliances in a range of technologies fields, particularly biopharmaceuticals and medical technologies. Before founding EdgeTech Law LLP, Dr. Shi has practiced law for over a decade with several large national and international law firms. She has represented established and emerging companies and institutions in the procurement, transaction, and enforcement of IP rights and has recognized expertise in all aspects of IP and technology law as well as with related regulatory compliance issues.

Dr. Shi obtained her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biochemistry from Loyola University Medical Center, her M.Sc. in mathematics & computer science from Loyola University Chicago, and her B.Sc. in biochemistry from Wuhan University, China. Her IP and technology law practice is informed by her in-depth scientific and engineering training, and her comprehensive field experience in research, technology management, product development and marketing in China and the U.S. She was one of the early bioinformaticians and remains close to the new fronts of genomics, pharmacogenomics (individualized medicine), and synthetic biology, among other things.

Dr. Shi has widely published and given presentations in law, business, and science, including on topics relating to China’s Biopharma and related sectors. She serves on a number of committees of the American Bar Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Intellectual Property Owners’ Association, Licensing Executive Society, and also is a member of the International Society for Computational Biology, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Endocrine Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Tina Huang, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Operation, Preclinical Services
Preclinical Services Laboratory
Pharmaron

Tina had over 16 years of experience in the life science and financial fields. In the past, Tina had successfully assisted more than a 30 life science companies going IPO in US, European and Asian exchange markets. She was also involved in multiple M&A and private equity deals. Total asset under management that she had been involved was over USD 600 millions.

At present, Tina serves as the Senior Vice President of Operation at the Preclinical Services Laboratory of Pharmaron in which she is responsible for the operation of the facility and the growth of the business. Before merger, the Pharmaron Preclinical Services Laboratory was formerly the Bridge Laboratories Beijing site, the 1st western quality preclinical CRO in China. This AAALAC accredited facility had been serving clients to meet their global filing needs successfully and had passed the US FDA inspection. Almost four year after full operation, the lab is widely recognized as the leading preclinical service provider in China under Tina’s leadership.

Prior to joining Bridge, Tina served as Senior Vice President of WI Harper Group, a prominent VC Group with extensive presence in both US and Greater China areas. Prior to joining WI Harper, Tina served as Assistant Vice President of the IBT Management Corp., which is 100% owned subsidiary of Industrial Bank of Taiwan Group (the 2nd largest investment bank group in Taiwan). During her years in the financial field, Tina is responsible for global life science related investment, portfolio management, fund raising,
maintenances of shareholder relationship, and fund management. She was also in charge of management company operation, including HR, finance, office management and VC activities. During her services in the investment field, Tina successfully participated in raising and managing multiple funds.

Tina Huang holds a Ph.D. degree from State University of New York in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a BS degree from the National Taiwan University in Chemistry.

Dr. Yi Yang
Director Preclinical Safety
Sanofi-Aventis

Dr. Yi Yang graduated from the Western China University of Medical Sciences in China and gained his PhD. from the University of Glasgow, UK, under Prof. John L Reid, with his research focused on non-invasive neuroimaging technology in cerebrovascular diseases. He had his postdoctoral training and clinical fellowship at Alberta University Hospital, Canada.

He has also overseen a stroke research experimental projects using neurodegeneration models to evaluate mechanism-based neuroprotoction and thrombolysis therapies. Dr. Yang has published over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapter in international scientific publications. He has been working in preclinical drug safety profiling and assessment area for over 10 years in both early screening and GLP settings. He has accumulated extensive hands-on experience in preclinical drug development.

He is familiar with pharmaceutical drug development process and related ICH guideline and USA/EMEA/sFDA regulations. He has worked in USA pharmaceutical companies including MPI Research, Schering-Plough, most recently, in Novartis as an associate director and US head of Safety Pharmacology responsible for early and late phase new drug safety profiling and IND-enabling studies. Prior to his joining sanofi-aventis, he worked for Frontage Laboratories Inc as a vice president heading its preclinical operation in China.

As a director of drug safety evaluation and dedicated project expert for Asia-Pacific, Dr. Yang is currently leading sanofi-aventis’s preclinical development in China and Asia-Pacific, in partnership with qualified CROs, to support both regional and global drug development.

Daniel R. Passeri
President and Chief Executive Officer
Curis

Mr. Passeri has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since September 2001. From November 2000 to September 2001, Mr. Passeri served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning of the Company.

From March 1997 to November 2000, Mr. Passeri was employed by GeneLogic Inc., a biotechnology company, most recently as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning. From February 1995 to March 1997, Mr. Passeri was employed by Boehringer Mannheim, a pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic company, as Director of Technology Management. Mr. Passeri is a graduate of the National Law Center at George Washington University, with a J.D., of the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of London, with an M.Sc. in biotechnology, and of Northeastern University, with a B.S. in biology.