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.

Jayant joined AVI in December 2011 as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations. Previously, Jayant served as Vice President at GlaxoSmithKline in Belgium leading new product introductions, cGMP scale-up of clinical material manufacturing, U.S. government interactions and global technology transfer of marketed vaccines. Prior to GSK, Jayant was the Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Sciences at Enobia Pharma where he structured their CMO network and led technology transfer and scale-up of their lead product in the rare disease space. Before Enobia, Jayant served as Vice President, Manufacturing Operations and Project Management at Acambis, where, besides managing cGMP manufacturing across multiple sites, he established and implemented business processes in project and portfolio management and in transitioning clinical manufacturing to commercial scale. Jayant received his PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 1992, a MBA in Finance and Strategy from University of North Carolina in 2002, is a certified project manager (PMP) as well as holds the US regulatory affairs certification (RAC).

Ed joined AVI BioPharma in June 2011 as Chief Medical Officer. Previously he served as Group Vice President for Clinical Development and Therapeutic Head for Lysosomal Storage Disorders and Neurodegenerative Diseases at Genzyme since 2007. Ed held additional leadership roles in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs over 10 years at Genzyme and developed specific experience with pediatric neuromuscular conditions. He played a leadership role in gaining Myozyme’s approval for Pompe Disease and oversaw collaborations in this field, including the development of ataluren for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Prior to joining Genzyme, Ed was Chief of Biochemical Genetics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Before this, he was Chief of Pediatric Neurology and Director of the Barnett Mitochondrial Laboratory at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Ed is a member of several scientific advisory boards, including the CureDuchenne, CureCMD (Congenital Muscular Dystrophy) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation advisory boards. He received his medical education and pediatric training at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and University Hospital, child neurology training at Boston City Hospital, Boston University, and completed his training as a neurochemical research fellow at Bedford VA Hospital, Boston University.

Peter joined AVI as Chief Scientific Officer on May 1, 2011. Previously he was Chief Scientific Officer of Regulus Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company created as a joint venture of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to focus on the discovery and development of drug candidates targeting microRNAs. Before this, he was Executive Director of Cancer Biology at Merck Research Laboratories, where he led efforts to implement RNA interference technologies that culminated in Merck’s 2007 acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. Peter originally joined Merck when the company acquired Rosetta Inpharmatics, LLC. Earlier in his career, Peter was Director of Immunology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). At BMS he co-discovered the CD28/CTLA-4/B7 co-stimulatory pathway, which has yielded the immunomodulatory drugs, abatacept (Orencia) and belatacept (Nulojix), and the anticancer drug, ipilimumab (Yervoy). He earned his Ph.D. at the Molecular Biology Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Auburn University, where he graduated magna cum laude. Peter conducted postdoctoral research in the department of Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In addition to participating on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including the Journal of Immunology, he has published more than 200 scientific articles and has participated in discoveries that are protected by more than 35 issued U.S. patents.

Pat was appointed Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation in 2008, having previously served as our Senior Vice President of Research and Development from 1997 to 2008 (and a director from 1997 to 2007). From 1987 through 1997, he was on the staff of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. While at Nebraska, Pat prepared the first IND submitted to the FDA for systemic use of an antisense compound in humans. He has published extensively on antisense research and development with over 200 papers in the peer reviewed literature, and he has given over 100 invited presentations to the academic community. Pat is also an inventor on over 71 patents. Pat has also served as a consultant and advisor to a variety of companies and institutions including Glaxo Inc., Innovir Pharmaceuticals, Lynx Therapeutics and Isis Pharmaceuticals. He completed his undergraduate studies at Westminster College in 1976 and was honored as distinguished alum in 2010. Pat earned his PhD in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Utah in 1984 with emphasis in biochemical toxicology, and he subsequently completed postdoctoral training at the Eppley Institute for Cancer in 1987 with the support of a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health.