AVI BioPharma Management
Leslie Hudson, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Hudson was appointed CEO and Board Director of AVI in February 2008 and assumed the role of president in September 2008. Dr. Hudson brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to his role at AVI, Dr. Hudson served sequentially as president and CEO of two publicly-traded companies; Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc. He held several senior positions at Pharmacia Corp., including GVP and General Manager of Ophthalmology and was VP for Discovery Research at Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline). Dr. Hudson originally trained in Immunology and was Professor of Immunology and Chairman of the Department in the Division of Pathology at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London.
J. David Boyle II
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Boyle joined the Company in August 2008, bringing extensive operational and international financial experience to AVI. He was previously Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of XOMA Ltd., a California–based leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies. In addition to his past positions as VP of Finance at Polycom and Director of Business Development at Intel, Mr. Boyle has held senior positions in biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies. He was at Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. in the US and at Ares Serono Group both in the US and Switzerland.
Patrick L. Iversen, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Patrick L. Iversen, Ph.D. served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development from 1997 to 2008 (and a director from 1997 to 2007), assuming this new role in 2008. From 1987 through 1997, he was on the staff of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Iversen has published extensively on antisense research and development, and has been a consultant to companies including Glaxo Inc., Innovir Pharmaceuticals, Lynx Therapeutics, and Isis Pharmaceuticals.
Ryszard Kole, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Discovery Research
Dr. Kole joined AVI BioPharma in April 2008. He is a pioneer in the use of oligonucleotides for the modulation of splicing. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Sidney Altman at Yale University, Dr. Kole provided early evidence that an RNA component is essential for the activity of a tRNA processing enzyme, RNase P. Subsequent discovery that RNase P is a ribozyme was recognized by a Nobel Prize for Dr. Altman. After joining the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a faculty member, Dr. Kole’s work led to a discovery that splicing provides a novel target for gene based therapies of numerous disorders including cancer, genetic diseases and metabolic disorders such as obesity. Dr. Kole founded Ercole Biotech, Inc. to develop and commercialize this technology.
Shirley J Leow, M.Sc.
Vice President of Clinical Operations and Project Management
Shirley Leow joined the Company in August 2008 and brings more than 35 years experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining AVI, Shirley served in key clinical and program management leadership positions in Xanthus Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth, Navigant Biotechnologies and Pharmacia, managing staff and teams toward successful product candidate transitions from early development to global market launch. She also served on an NIH Scientific Steering Committee in the early fight against AIDS and worked extensively with the National Cancer Institute in numerous drug development programs. Shirley recently received the honor of Cambridge Who’s Who Female Executive Leader of the Year for the pharmaceutical industry.
Paul Medeiros
Senior Vice President of Business Development, Chief Business Officer
Mr. Medeiros joined AVI in May 2009 and brings more than 17 years experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology business development. He most recently served as Vice President, Global Licensing and Strategic Alliances for Schering-Plough, where he led worldwide specialty product licensing and strategic partnering initiatives. Medeiros joined Schering-Plough in 1996 as marketing planning director, and subsequently held senior positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and business development. Prior to Schering-Plough, Medeiros was employed by Merck & Company, where he held positions in Field Sales, New Product Planning and Worldwide Human Health Marketing. Medeiros holds an A.B. with honors from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and the American Marketing Association.
Steve Shrewsbury
Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Preclinical, Clinical and Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Shrewsbury joined AVI in February 2009. He brings nearly 30 years experience to the company, with a career spanning medical practice, research, clinical development and product commercialization. Shrewsbury served as CMO and SVP Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs for Adamas Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he served as VP Clinical and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for MAP Pharmaceuticals. His career also includes work at Chiron and Glaxo, where he lead clinical development and supported NDA submissions. Steve received his medical training at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Dwight D. Weller, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Manufacturing
Dwight D. Weller, Ph.D. joined AVI as a director in 1991, serving in that capacity until 2007. He served as Vice President of Chemistry from 1992 to 1997, and has served as Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Manufacturing since 1997. Previously a member of the faculty of Oregon State University since 1978, he was Associate Professor in its Chemistry Department from 1984 to 1992.
Jacqueline A. Dombroski, PhD, BPharm, MRPharmS
Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance
Dr. Jacqueline Dombroski joined AVI in October 2009 as Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance. She brings 25 years of regulatory affairs experience to the Company. Prior to joining AVI, Dr. Dombroski held senior regulatory affairs and quality assurance positions at Alkermes, Inc., Telik, Inc., and Vivus, Inc. Dr. Dombroski also provided regulatory affairs consulting to the Weinberg Group and Parexel International, and held positions at Merrell Dow, which eventually became part of Sanofi-Aventis, in their Regulatory Affairs and Scientific Writing and Coordination groups. Earlier in her career she was a pharmaceutical assessor in the Biologicals Group of the UK Medicines Division (now the MHRA) and was a lecturer at The School of Pharmacy, London University, Department of Pharmaceutics. Dr. Dombroski is a pharmacist and still licensed in the UK; she completed her honors degree in Pharmacy and the medical microbiology research for her PhD at The School of Pharmacy, London University.
Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer
AVI BioPharma
Chairman
AVI BioPharma
Chairman
Apex Bioventures, LLC
Apex Bioventures Acquisition Corporation
Chairman
BMG Pharma LLC
Chairman
Oncothyreon, Inc.
Vice Chairman
Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer
InterMune, Inc.
CEO and Chief Medical Officer
Drug Safety Solutions
Corporate Strategy Board
Hans Wigzell, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman, Corporate Strategy Board
Dr. Wigzell is considered one of the pioneers in Scandinavia of bringing innovative medical research into commercial application. He is presently the chairman of the Board of Karolinska Development comprising 41 companies, 10 of which are in clinical trials. He holds an M.D. and Ph.D. degree from Karolinska Institute from Stockholm and his academic career includes President of Karolinska Institute; Chairman, Nobel Prize Committee, Karolinska Institute; Distinguished External Advisory Professor, Ehime University, Japan.
Dr. Wigzell has also served as General Director of the National Bacteriological Laboratory and the National Institute for Infectious Disease Control, both in Stockholm; Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Government; and is presently Senior Strategic Advisor for the Karolinska Institute.
He has published over 700 scientific articles in international peer–reviewed journals and is on the editorial board for several international scientific journals. In addition, Dr. Wigzell is a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Sweden; Royal Academy of Engineering, Sweden; Danish Academy of Arts and Letters; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the Finnish Science Society.