Board of Directors

William Goolsbee, Chairman

Bill has served as a director of the Company since October 2007 and its chairman since June 2010. He was founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Medical Inc. from 1987 until its acquisition by a unit of UBS Private Equity in 2002. Bill was a founding director of ImmunoTherapy Corporation in 1993, becoming chairman of the board in 1995, a position he held until overseeing the successful acquisition of the company by AVI in 1998. Experience prior to 1987 includes a series of increasingly responsible executive positions with CooperVision Inc. and Cooper Laboratories Inc. Bill serves as chairman of privately held BMG Pharma LLC, a product development and licensing company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

M. Kathleen Behrens, PhD

Kathy has served as a director of the Company since March 2009. From 2001 to early 2009 she served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) was Chair of PCAST’s Subcommittee on Personalized Medicine. She has served as a public market biotechnology securities analyst as well as venture capitalist focusing on healthcare, technology and related investments. Kathy worked for Robertson Stephens & Co. from 1983 through 1996, serving as a general partner and managing director. She continued in her capacity as a General Partner for selected venture funds for RS Investments from 1996 through 2009. She is a director of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Kathy holds a PhD in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis.

Anthony Chase

Tony has served as a director of AVI BioPharma since April 2010. He is currently Chairman of ChaseSource, L.P. and is actively involved in funding and leading new business ventures. Tony is lead director of Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE: CRN) and a member of the Board of Directors of Western Gas Partners, LP (NYSE: WES), Texas Medical Center, Greater Houston Partnership, Northern Trust Bank of Texas, and the Houston Zoo Development Board. He recently served as Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Tony is a tenured professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and is an honors graduate of Harvard College. He received a law degree from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas.

Christopher Garabedian, President and CEO

Chris joined AVI as President and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2011. He has served as a director of the Company since June 2010. Previously he was Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Celgene Corporation from July 2007. From November 2005 to June 2007, Chris served as an independent consultant to early stage biopharmaceutical companies. From 1997 to 1998 and from 1999 to November 2005, he worked at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where he served in a number of global leadership roles, including as Vice President of Corporate Development, Vice President of Marketing, and Vice President of Medical Affairs. Chris also held various commercial roles at COR Therapeutics, Inc. from 1998 to 1999 and at Abbott Laboratories from 1994 to 1997. He started his biopharmaceutical career as a consultant with Migliara/Kaplan Associates from 1991 to 1994. Chris received his BS in marketing from the University of Maryland.

John Hodgman

John has served as a director of the Company since March 2004. He is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee and is the Audit Committee’s financial expert. He has served as the Senior Vice President of Finance, Chief Financial Officer of InterMune, Inc., a biotechnology company, since August 2006. He served as the Chairman of Cygnus, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 1999 to 2008, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of that company between 1998 and 2006. In 1994, he joined Cygnus as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer and between 1995 and 1998 he also served as President of Cygnus Diagnostics. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Aerogen, Inc. from June 2005 to October 2005, when the company was sold to Nektar, Inc. John holds a BS degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah. He is a director of Immersion Corporation.

Gil Price, MD

Gil has served as a director of the Company since October 2007. He is a clinical physician trained in internal medicine with a long-standing interest in drug development, adverse drug reactions, drug utilization and regulation. Since 2002, he has been the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Drug Safety Solutions. From 1997 to 2002, he was the director of clinical development for oncology at MedImmune Inc. Prior to joining MedImmune, he worked at ClinTrials, a contract research organization. Gil began his pharmaceutical career at GlaxoSmithKline Inc., He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians and a past member of the American Society for Microbiology. Gil holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Rio Grande and an MD from the University of Santiago.

Dr. Hans Wigzell, MD, PhD

Hans has served as a director of the Company since April 2010. Hans has been acting as Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board of Company since August 2008. Previously he was the President of the Karolinska Institute from 1995 through 2003, and he was General Director of the National Bacteriological Laboratory in Stockholm between 1987 and 1993. Hans is Chairman of the Board of Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship. He is an elected member of several national academies, including the Swedish Royal Engineering Academy, Sweden; the Royal Academy of Science, Sweden; the Danish Academy of Arts and Letters; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Finnish Science Society; and the European Molecular Biology Organization. He holds an MD and PhD degree from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and, in addition to being President of Karolinska Institute, his academic career includes being Chairman, Nobel Prize Committee, Karolinska Institute and Distinguished External Advisory Professor, Ehime University, Japan. Additionally, Hans was appointed Chairman of the Nobel Assembly in 2000. He received honorary doctors degrees at University “Tor Vergata” in Rome, Italy and Turku University in Finland.

This page was last updated on January 3, 2011.