Management

Kenneth R. Brouwer, Ph.D., RPh., Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Brouwer has 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.  Prior to joining Qualyst, Dr. Brouwer served as Executive Director, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at PPD Discovery, where he had responsibility for overseeing metabolism, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, absorption technologies, and Pharmazyme groups.  Prior to this he served as Director, Preclinical Development, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at GlaxoSmithKline. At GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Brouwer held positions of increasing responsibility, and was responsible for the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics strategy leading to candidate selection, review of candidate project plans prior to candidate selection, and developing and implementing process to ensure a smooth transition from candidate selection to full development.  Dr. Brouwer has over 25 publications in peer reviewed journals, is the holder of 2 patents, serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and is an adjunct faculty member in the Division of Drug Delivery and Disposition at the School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina.

Robert L. St. Claire III, Ph.D., Vice President Chemistry

Dr. St. Claire has 25 years of experience in the fields of bioanalytical and analytical chemistry within the pharmaceutical industry. As a senior technical leader at Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome, Triangle Pharmaceuticals, and most recently at Gilead Sciences, his primary focus has been in novel technology development, methods development, and teaching.  His most notable accomplishments have been in the development of technology supporting analysis of intracellular metabolism. He has bachelors and masters degrees in biochemistry and a doctorate in chemistry. His dissertation research, directed by Professor Jim Jorgenson, UNC-Chapel Hill, produced the first liquid chromatography microcolumns used in the analysis of the chemical composition within a single cell.

Dan Routhier, Controller

Mr. Routhier has focused his efforts on startup organizations since 1995, when he served as the Director of Finance and Operations for Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Routhier helped build the administration from the ground up, including financial reporting, budgeting, human resources, operations and information systems. Inspire had a successful IPO early in 2003. Most recently, Routhier was Director of Finance and Operations with Magnetic Imaging Technologies, Inc. (MITI), which was acquired by Nycomed Amersham Imaging, Inc. in July of 1999.

William Wofford, Corporate Counsel & Assistant Secretary

Mr. Wofford is a Member of Hutchison Law Group PLLC and brings to Qualyst extensive corporate and transactional experience in the fields of high technology. Mr. Wofford assists biotechnology and drug discovery clients with raising capital, licensing technologies, collaborating and mergers and acquisitions.

 

Board of Directors

Mr. Sacha DeMicheli, BSI SA

Mr. De Micheli graduated in econometrics at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. Mr. De Micheli is a senior analyst and manager of private equity investments in the biotechnology sector at BSI SA, a privately held Swiss bank. In addition, Mr. De Micheli is also the manager of BSI - New Biomedical Frontier fund (SICAV), an open-end fund which invests globally in public companies in the biotechnology sector.

Jean-Pierre Kinet, M.D., Professor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kinet is presently Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Prior to Harvard, Dr. Kinet spent 13 years as an investigator with the National Institutes of Health, eventually rising to the position of Section Head at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Kinet has authored over 170 publications, holds 10 issued patents, and is renowned for his discovery and characterization of the genes and proteins that encode the high affinity IgE receptor, a key to triggering allergic reactions. His work in immunology has lead to the generation of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic approaches.

Dhiren R. Thakker, Ph.D., Qualyst Co-Founder & Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Thakker is a Co-Founder of Qualyst, and is the Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Division of Drug Delivery and Disposition, and Associate Dean, Graduate Education and Scholarship, School of Pharmacy. Dr. Thakker holds a joint appointment in the Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Thakker's research focuses on the mechanisms and structure-activity relationships of drug transport across intestinal epithelium, cytochrome P450-mediated drug metabolism reactions, the use of combinatorial libraries for optimizing drug disposition properties, and pro-drug design for enhanced and targeted drug delivery. Dr. Thakker is a former Director of the DMPK Department at Glaxo, Inc.