Jim was a co-founder and serves as Chairman at Promedior. Jim is a co-founder and Chairman at Ra Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company developing a new class of drugs with the diversity and specificity of antibodies, coupled with the bioavailability of small molecules. Jim was the founding CEO and currently serves as a Board member at SetPoint Medical, a company developing implantable neurostimulation devices to treat inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis as an alternative to drug therapy. He is an investor and board member of several other novel biotech and medical device companies, including OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, the leader in the field of drugs targeting cancer cell pathways, and Spine Wave, a commercial stage company selling multiple innovative devices for spinal surgery. Jim is a graduate of MIT (Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering) and University of Massachusetts (Doctor of Medicine).
Dr. Bruhn joined Promedior in May 2012 from Shire plc, where she was the Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Program Management in the Human Genetic Therapies business. While at Shire and Transkaryotic Therapies (acquired by Shire in 2005), she was responsible for the development of multiple protein therapeutics with annual sales today of over $1 billion. During her 13 year tenure she held significant roles driving strategy, portfolio management, program management, and global regulatory affairs for the rare disease portfolio. Prior to that she was at Cytotherapeutics, Inc., with a key role developing the encapsulated cell technology platform for ophthalmic delivery. Dr. Bruhn is a member of the Board of Directors of Raptor Pharmaceuticals, a public company focusing on treatments for orphan diseases, and the Crittenton Women's Union. She has a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. from Iowa State University.
Amir Nashat, Ph.D., is a General Partner in the Boston office of Polaris Venture Partners. Prior to joining Polaris, Dr. Nashat completed his Ph.D. as a Hertz Fellow in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in Biology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. His doctoral research focused on information flow through neurons, neural implants, and neural tissue engineering. Dr. Nashat currently represents Polaris as a Director of aTyr Pharmaceuticals, BIND Biosciences, Fate Therapeutics, Living Proof, Pervasis Therapeutics, Promedior Pharmaceuticals and Selecta Biosciences. Amir played an instrumental role in the inception of Living Proof, Pervasis and Sun Catalytix Corporation, serving as the founding President of all three companies. Additionally, Amir has served as a Director of Avila Therapeutics (acquired by Celgene), Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), Athenix Corporation (acquired by Bayer), and Hydra Biosciences, and as an Observer of GI Dynamics and Advion.
Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. at MIT, Dr. Nashat earned both his M.S. and B.S. in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Gus Lawlor has been a managing director of HealthCare Ventures (HCV) since 2000. Mr. Lawlor has over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology industry in finance, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and general management. Prior to joining HCV in 2000, he was previously chief operating officer of LeukoSite, Inc., a HealthCare Ventures III, IV, and V company, which was aquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Before joining LeukoSite, he was chief financial officer and vice president of corporate development for Alpha-Beta Technology. He held similar positions at BioSurface Technology and Armstrong Pharmaceuticals. He was previously a management consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Lawlor is a member of the board of directors of the Slater Center in Providence, Rhode Island. He received a Master's degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University.
Geert-Jan Mulder, General Partner at Forbion Capital Partners (formerly ABN AMRO Capital Life Sciences.), is an M.D. and accredited Pharmaceutical Physician. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, he gained his clinical experience at the University Medical Center of Utrecht (UMC) in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He then joined Searle (now Pfizer) as Medical Adviser in the field of arthritis and pain (COX-2 technology) and worked on the local and European positioning of celecoxib. After working at Searle, he joined Byk Gulden (now Nycomed) where his department was responsible for clinical development in The Netherlands dealing with the design and execution of numerous corporate clinical trials in the fields of Gastroenterology, Respiratory (asthma and COPD), Intensive Care Medicine and Imaging. On corporate level, he served as a member of the Global Medical Marketing group of the Respiratory franchise. Besides taking an active role in the Forbion Capital Partners investment process, he serves on a number of boards and assists portfolio companies in their clinical development programs and overall strategy.
John H. Friedman is the Founding and Managing Partner of Easton Capital Group. Prior to founding Easton Capital, Mr. Friedman was the founder and Managing General Partner of Security Pacific Capital Investors. Security Pacific Capital Investors was a $200-million private equity fund geared towards expansion financings and recapitalizations. Prior to joining Security Pacific, Mr. Friedman was a Managing Director and Partner at E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., Inc., where he spent eight and a half years. During his tenure, Mr. Friedman was involved in Warburg's investments in Computerland, Tweeds, Babbages' and US Healthcare. Previously, John was an attorney with Sullivan and Cromwell. He holds a JD degree from Yale Law School and a BA degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College. Mr. Friedman currently serves on the Boards of Promedior, Experimed, Trellis Bioscience, Cardiovascular Systems, Xoft, iTherX, PlaySpan. He was also co-chairman of the President's Council at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and serves as a Trustee of The New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter.
Dr. Goldenheim is trained as a pulmonary physician and is currently working as a director and consultant in the field of biotechnology, serving on the boards of directors of several companies. He has a long history in pharmaceutical research, development, and management, most recently as President of TransForm Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hypnion (acquired by Eli Lilly). Dr. Goldenheim has authored numerous scientific publications and been an inventor on a number of pharmaceutical patents. He also serves on several non-profit boards. Dr. Goldenheim obtained both his A.B. and M.D. degrees from Harvard.
Hanns A. Pielenz, President of Fibrotec Ventures, LLC, graduated from the Academy Hohenstein in 1963 in Textile Management – Engineering after having worked at a regional bank for some years. From 1968 until his retirement in 2005, Mr. Pielenz was Chairman and CEO of the Amann/Ackermann group of companies in Europe which he grew from a local manufacturing unit into a global textile corporation. From 1981 to 1998, he was also Chairman of URS, a US group of refrigerated warehouses based in Atlanta. Currently, Mr. Pielenz is actively leading investments in both start-up companies and real estate development in the US.
Armand currently serves as Vice President, Technical Assessment at Shire Pharmaceuticals where he is responsible for leading the technical evaluation of M&A and licensing opportunities within the Research and Development (R&D) organization. He has over two-decades of pharma/biotech experience encompassing R&D, Business Development and Project Management responsibilities at the following institutions - Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals, Pro-Virus, Strakan Life Sciences and Shire Pharmaceuticals. Most notably, during his 12-year tenure at Shire, Armand played an instrumental role in the acquisition of Transkaryotic Therapies (2005) and Ferrokin Biosciences (2012), licensing of Daytrana (2004) and research collaborations with Genepod Therapeutics (2011) and Sangamo Biosciences (2012). Armand holds a M.B.A from St. Joseph's University and B.A. from Lehigh University.
