BIOS
John Booth, PhD
Director (VP Business Development)
Dr. Booth has fourteen years of pharmaceutical research know-how with significant scientific and leadership experience in the Oncology and Inflammation Therapeutic Areas. John has specific expertise in project leadership and the science of kinase inhibition. More...
Alex Bridges, PhD
Director (Oncology, Metabolic Diseases)
Dr. Bridges has had a 25 year big pharma and biotech career following six years in academics. Prior to joining IDSC, Alex spent five years as the senior director of preclinical sciences at Quatrx Pharmaceuticals. In this role, Alex headed chemical development, managed outsourcing, evaluated in licensing opportunities, and designed pharmacology and PD studies. This came after a 20 year career at Parke-Davis/Pfizer where Alex headed up the preclinical oncology program and metabolic disease medicinal chemistry. In his 20 years at Parke-Davis/Pfizer, Alex was directly responsible for multiple clinical candidates and phase 1 clinical trial starts. Alex has 143 peer-reviewed publications and 32 granted patents.
Mark Creswell
President and CEO
Mark began his career at Warner-Lambert's Ann Arbor, Michigan facility. While working in many therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, antibacterials, oncology, and CNS, Mark held many positions of increasing responsibility. In 1998, Mark accepted the responsibility of building and managing Warner-Lambert's Discovery Chemistry Outsourcing Program. He and his team pioneered the art of managing a successful outsourcing program that brought tremendous value to Warner-Lambert. Following the Pfizer acquisition of Warner-Lambert, Mark was instrumental in forming a centralized global sourcing team. Following the closure of the Pfizer Ann Arbor facility, Mark founded IDSC. More...John Domagala, PhD
Director (Infectious Diseases)
After receiving his Ph. D., John joined Warner-Lambert in Ann Arbor in 1977 as a medicinal chemist in the Infectious disease TA. While gaining experience in penicillins, cephalosporins, and monobactams, he led Warner-Lambert into the quinolone field in 1981. John and his group were instrumental in defining the world wide quinolone activity and side effect SARs. He became group leader in 1986, TA leader in 1991, and the Pfizer Global TA head in 2000 leading over 100 scientists and managing over 30 projects at two sites. John also led Pfizer's Antibacterial in licensing efforts evaluating over 100 compounds per year. During his 30 plus year tenure in Infectious diseases, John had over 100 publications and more than 30 patents. John was associated with 31 clinical candidates with 8 entered into advanced human trials, and has had some experience in almost every antibacterial class of drugs. As Executive Director of the TA, John was intimately involved in the development of the Pfizer global TA strategy which included the defining of the medical/market needs, all product profiles, and an integrated market strategy. From various task forces and study groups John became expert in portfolio development and pharmaceutical attrition. John left Pfizer in September of 2007 to be the first of several Pfizer directors to join IDSC. More...
David J. Dooley, PhD
Director (CNS)
Dr. Dooley has over 27 years of research experience and project management in CNS drug discovery. He was Research Fellow in CNS Pharmacology at Pfizer prior to joining IDSC. As a neuropharmacologist, he contributed to the nomination of 12 clinical candidates, 6 being advanced to clinical testing. He has worked on both small molecule and peptide strategies targeting various psychiatric and neurological disorders. He has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and presented at more than 70 international scientific meetings. In 1990, he relocated to the Ann Arbor labs of Parke-Davis after being employed by European pharmaceutical firms. Dr. Dooley received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Washington in Seattle. More...
William (Bill) L. Elliot, PhD
Director (Oncology)
Dr. Elliott has more than 20 years of research experience in the field of oncology drug discovery and development. His extensive experience in the field of in vivo oncology drug evaluation encompasses a number of cytotoxic agents and signal transduction antagonists. Previously, Dr Elliott was a Senior Director at Charles River Discovery and Imaging Services, formerly MIR Preclinical Services in Ann Arbor Michigan. Prior to joining Charles River, Dr. Elliott was the In Vivo Group Leader for the Cancer Pharmacology effort at Pfizer's Ann Arbor Laboratories. Dr. Elliott joined Parke-Davis in 1987, assuming the group leader position in 1991. During his tenure at Parke-Davis/Pfizer, a number of compounds from several mechanistic classes were discovered, developed, and advanced to clinical trial. More...
Gail M. Farfel, PhD
Director (Clinical, Regulatory)
With 19 years experience in Clinical Development, Regulatory Strategy and Medical Affairs, Dr. Farfel advises companies on asset evaluation, clinical development program planning and regulatory strategy for new chemical entities, new indications, and new formulations. Formerly Vice President of US Neuroscience at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and a member of the PhRMA Clinical Research Subcommittee, her expertise spans many indications in Psychiatry and Neurology including affective disorders, substance abuse, neurodegenerative diseases and pain. Dr. Farfel has a proven track record in US, EU and Japanese regulatory approvals and new product/new indication launches during her career and is the author of over 50 publications and presentations. More...
Shelly Glase, PhD
Director (CNS)
Shelly Glase has 17 years CNS Medicinal Chemistry experience, covering both psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. While at Pfizer/Parke-Davis she developed expertise in all aspects of preclinical drug discovery, from evaluation and optimization of chemical leads to rational design of clinical candidates. Her experience also includes 6 years of project management, leading a large multi-disciplinary project team that advanced 5 drug candidates to preclinical development. Shelly received her postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester, PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Houston and B.S. in Chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University. More...
Joan Keiser, PhD
Director (Cardiovascular, Metabolic Diseases)
Dr. Keiser has 30 years of big pharma experience, 17 years concurrent experience as an adjunct Professor at University of Michigan, and 3 years post pharma consulting experience. She served as Vice President and Global therapeutic lead for Pfizer Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease (CVMED) Discovery including the responsibility for 5 research sites across the globe. Responsibilities included strategic direction, budget, and portfolio management of the CVMED portfolio from idea to Phase II proof of concept (POC). Joan led the research arm of an exploratory team to provide a better understanding of the clinical results observed in the phase III termination of ILLUMINATE. As Vice President for Research Joan led a short term global research initiative to identify and establish research partnerships in Asia for Pfizer. More...
Bill Kinney, PhD
Director (Virology, CNS)
Bill began his industrial career in the CNS group at Wyeth, where he invented the cyclobutenedione-containing NMDA antagonist perzinfotel (phase I, stroke; phase II, pain). At Magainin Pharmaceuticals, he directed projects on trodusquemine (phase II, obesity) and squalamine (phase I, oncology; phase II, eye disease), two shark-derived natural products. Bill was the chemistry leader on the IND project team, delivering drug substance to launch a Phase I clinical trial in oncology. The squalamine cGMP scale-up campaign required building and leading an internal research group of synthetic chemists, partnering with analytical chemistry on method development and stability studies, working with multiple domestic and international collaborators, and writing the CMC section of the IND. A more economical synthesis of squalamine was successfully executed under an SBIR Grant from the National Cancer Institute. In 2000, he joined Johnson & Johnson, where he pursued integrin antagonists and urotensin-II receptor modulators for cardiovascular indications. Bill directed the αVβ3 Integrin Project, which generated multiple chemical series and 8 publications. Notably, JNJ-26076713 demonstrated utility in preventing proliferative neovascularization and vascular leakage in the eye after oral administration. Bill identified the minimum peptide structural requirements for activation of the GPCR, urotensin-II receptor, and developed multiple series of small-molecule antagonists with single-digit nanomolar potency utilizing structure based drug design. He also made seminal discoveries with respect to self-assembling collagen-mimetic peptides that stimulate platelet aggregation. His scientific contributions include 70 publications, invited lectures, and oral presentations and inventorship on 33 issued U.S. patents. More...
Bradley J. Martin, PhD
Director (Cardiovascular)
Dr. Martin brings over 15 years of experience in the field of cardiovascular physiology and regenerative medicine. Much of his career has focused on the development of stem cell therapies for the treatment of myocardial infarction and heart failure. He has considerable experience in the development of preclinical models of disease and the generation of non-clinical safety and efficacy packages in support of successful IND submissions. He is a recognized leader in the field of translational research, and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research. He has a strong track record of leading projects and cross functional project teams in the completion of milestone driven goals. Prior to joining IDSC, Dr. Martin was the Director of Product Development at Aastrom Biosciences, and the Director of Cardiac Research at Osiris Therapeutics Inc. He also spent 3 years as a Principal Scientist with Pfizer's Esperion Division studying the anti-atherosclerotic properties of ApoA-I Milano, and other novel peptides. He received in PhD in Physiology in 1993 from the University of Michigan, and completed post-doctoral fellowships in the Depts. of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Physiology at the University of Wisconsin. More...
Mark Milad, Pharm.D.
Director (ADME)
Mark Milad brings 15 years of big pharma and biotech experience to IDSC. Mark is a seasoned expert in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis, clinical pharmacology, and drug development strategy. He brings to bare career experience in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, PK/PD modeling and simulation, translational medicine, clinical pharmacology, phase I & II study design, drug interactions study design, dose selection, and dose regimen design.
Over 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry has allowed Mark to develop and apply his clinical pharmacology skills. He has applied his expertise in project leadership, pharmacokinetic data analysis, population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis, modeling and simulation including computer assisted clinical trial design to influence several drug development programs. He has developed approximately ten compounds through Phase 1, four compounds through Phase 2, and one compound through Phase 3. In addition, he has preclinical experience with numerous compounds that were discontinued prior to filling the IND. Furthermore, Mark has evaluated compounds that were being considered for in-licensing.
David Moreland, PhD
Director (Molecular Modeling)
Dr. Moreland joined IDSC after gaining over 21 years of research experience in a large pharmaceutical environment. With broad expertise in molecular modeling, cheminformatics/QSAR, and structural bioinformatics, he has made key contributions to projects in several therapeutic areas, including CNS, cardiovascular, antiretroviral, and antibacterial. He has applied ligand-based, structure-based, and statistical techniques, helping teams identify numerous early clinical candidates, including one phase II compound. He has worked on GPCR, nuclear hormone receptor, protease, and RNA targets. Dr. Moreland obtained his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, then earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley in Prof. W. G. Dauben's group, where he studied the synthesis and properties of strained cage molecules before completing his thesis work on the application of conformational analysis and statistics to the understanding of reaction mechanisms. More...
TJ O'Donnell
Director (Informatics)
Dr. O'Donnell has 27 years of experience working with pharmaceutical and other chemical companies. His early work in computer graphics led to one of the first molecular modeling and graphics systems at a major pharmaceutical company. He has applied computational chemistry methods to implement algorithms for chemical modeling and to produce web-based applications for use by research chemists. He is also an expert in the design and use of relational databases in chemistry. More...
Richard Pariza, PhD
Director (API/CMC)
Richard Pariza received his PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from Purdue University. He has more than 30 years of leadership on major projects in the pharmaceutical industry. His experience includes Discovery and Development research, management or executive positions with Abbott Laboratories, Protarga, Natural Pharmaceuticals, OncQuest, and Cedarburg Hauser Pharmaceuticals. He has broad knowledge of API suppliers, auditing for safety and cGMP compliance and manufacturing competence. His specialty is designing and improving the processes to make new drugs. He is a former founding editor and now member of the Editorial Board of Organic Process Research & Development, a peer-reviewed Journal from the American Chemical Society, which publishes state-of-the-art manufacturing research from all major pharmaceutical companies. He also has an appointment as a Visiting Research Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. More...
Robert (Bob) Sigler, DVM, PhD, Dipl., ACVP
Director (Toxicology)
Dr. Sigler has more than 21 years experience as a drug development pathologist and study director at Parke-Davis, Pfizer and Esperion Therapeutics, a small cardiovascular company which was acquired by Pfizer. He received his DVM from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine (East Lansing), his ACVP board-certification while in residency at the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine (Knoxville) in 1983, and his PhD in Pathology from the University of Maryland Medical School (Baltimore) in 1987. As listed above, he has experience in large pharma as well as start-ups and small companies. Bob has served as a veterinary pathologist, designing the pathology endpoints and performing pathologic evaluation in numerous investigational, discovery and development projects for drug candidates and has co-authored several IND applications as well as safety assessments and FDA briefing documents. Drug indications have varied from anticonvulsant, antipsychotic, antiinfective, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and the treatment of atherosclerosis. Bob did extensive toxicology work supporting the safety package for Lipitor and Neurontin, marketed by Parke-Davis and Pfizer. From 2000 until 2007, he was Director of Pathology (Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, a start-up company acquired by Pfizer in February, 2004), managed a vivarium, chaired the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and designed new facilities for histology and necropsy laboratories at the Pfizer Plymouth Township Facility (Esperion Therapeutics), and worked as a study director and study pathologist.
Jeff Simpson
Director (Commercialization)
A skilled marketing and sales executive with proven accomplishments at The Upjohn Company, Pharmacia and Pfizer, Jeff advises biotech and pharmaceutical companies on business development, commercialization strategies, product assessments and valuations, portfolio planning, lifecycle planning, advisory boards, competitive intelligence, and launch planning for new products, indications and formulations, for both the US and non-US markets. During his 29 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Jeff's commercialization experience includes products for psychiatry, neurology, pain management, sleep disorders, womens health, infectious diseases, inflammation, metabolic diseases, urology, immunology, and dermatology. More...
Ken Tack, MD
Director (Clinical)
Kenneth Tack earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After completing his training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota, he took a position with the Michigan State College of Human Medicine. He then moved to the pharmaceutical industry, initially with Johnson & Johnson, and then with Upjohn, and Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert (acquired by Pfizer). He has had extensive clinical trial experience with quinolones, cephalosporins, and glycopeptides, and has worked with regulatory agencies in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has presented at the FDA Anti-Infective Advisory Committee, at IDSA, at the annual Superbugs and Superdrugsmeeting, and has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Since March 2008, he has been an independent consultant working with multiple companies developing antibacterial compounds for a variety of indications.
Charlie Taylor, PhD
Director (CNS)
Dr. Taylor brings to IDSC 27 years of big pharma expertise in CNS Biology. During his career at Parke-Davis and Pfizer, Charlie lead discovery programs in the areas of neurological diseases, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, stroke, anxiety, sleep disorders, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia. Charlies preclinical work on pregabalin was key to the development of Lyrica®. Charlie has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and books with 59 as first or senior author. Charlie also has over 30 invited seminars and symposia. More...
Haile Tecle, PhD
Director (Oncology)
During my tenure at Pfizer, I and my teams advanced five compounds to clinical trials; two of the clinical candidates were directed towards the cholinergic receptor(s) for treatment against Alzheimer's disease. The remaining three clinical candidates were directed towards kinase targets. Two of these latter candidates were the first ever small molecule MEK inhibitors to be synthesized and advance to the clinic as anticancer drugs. I and my MEK project team were the first to successfully crystalize the MEK protein, a fit that hitherto had eluded many attempts by several investigators. The third kinase inhibitor, Acomitinib, a pan-erbB inhibitor, is currently in Phase III clinical trials for cancer, NSCLC in particular, treatment.
Jim Zeller, PhD
Director (API/CMC)
Dr. Zeller brings to IDSC 25 years of big pharma chemical development, CMC, and manufacturing expertise. Jim most recently headed process development and manufacturing for Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this Jim was Senior Director of chemical R & D for Pfizer's Holland, MI pilot plant. Jim led a department of 100 organic chemists, chemical engineers, analytical chemists, and pilot plant personnel. More...