SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Rudolf Bechter, Ph.D., Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland, Retired

Dr. Bechter was Head Global Occupational Health, Novartis Pharma AG. As a EUROTOX registered Toxicologist, Dr. Bechter was Head of Reproductive Toxicology, Preclinical Safety, Novartis Pharma Ltd. (East Hanover, NJ) and Reproductive and Investigative Toxicology Group, Toxicology Department, Drug Safety (Sandoz Pharma Ltd., Basel).

Dr. Bechter has 25 years of Experience in Research, Preclinical Drug Development and Occupational Toxicology.and intimate knowledge in the management of the drug discovery and development process. He received his Ph.D. in Toxicology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He obtained further training at the Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology N.I.E.H.S., National Institutes of Health Research (Triangle Park, NC), and as Visiting Scientist at Department of Pharmacology School of Medicine, University of Washington (Seattle, WA). Dr. Bechter is the author of more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Roland Bürli, Ph.D., Cerevance, Cambridge, U.K.

Dr. Roland Bürli is Vice President of Drug Discovery at Cerevance, a Cambridge, U.K.- based company focused on CNS diseases. Dr. Bürli is a trained synthetic and medicinal chemist with over twenty years of drug discovery experience in various therapeutic areas. In addition, he has been involved in developing new therapies for neurodegenerative and neurological disorders for approximately fourteen years. Prior to Dr. Bürli joining Cerevance three years ago, he was Head of Medicinal Chemistry (Neuroscience) at AstraZeneca. He has also worked for several biotech companies (GeneSoft, Amgen and BioFocus) in the U.S. and the U.K.

Dr. Bürli received his doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich) in chemistry and was a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech (Pasadena, U.S.A.) where he investigated sequence-specific DNA binding ligands. His drug discovery background spans hit identification to late-stage pre-clinical projects and candidate selection in several therapeutic areas. Dr. Bürli has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and patents.

William Dalton, M.D., Ph.D., Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida

Dr. William Dalton is the founder and Executive Chair of M2Gen, a Moffitt Cancer Center biotechnology company, as well as the founding director of Moffitt's Personalized Medicine Institute. Until 2012, Dr. Dalton served as president and CEO of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida. He is both an excellent basic research scientist and an expert in clinical studies in the cancer field. Dr. Dalton serves on the editorial board of six scientific journals and is a member the American Association for Cancer Research. He serves as an external expert for many universities and research foundations.

Victor Ling, Ph.D., Terry Fox Research Institute, Vancouver, B.C.

Dr. Ling is the President and Scientific Director of the Canada-wide Terry Fox Research Institute. He is a distinguished scientist at the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Ling was formerly Vice President Discovery at the BCCA and Assistant Dean of Cancer Research at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has been awarded many honours including the General Motors Kettering Prize, the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, a Michael Smith Foundation Distinguished Scholar Award, the Order of British Columbia, and the Order of Canada.

Dr. Ling is best known for his discovery of P-glycoprotein (MDR), a major mechanism of resistance to anticancer drugs. He serves on the editorial board of five scientific journals, has served on a number of boards including: Governing Council of CIHR, Board of NCI Canada, Medical Advisory Committee of the Gairdner Foundation, Board of Scientific Counselors at NCI/NIH, and Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, and chairs the Governance and Oversight Committee of CTRNet. Dr. Ling is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Canadian Biochemical Society, the Canadian Society for Cell Biology, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Genetics Society of Canada, and the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Ling has authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications in the cancer field.

Andrew MacKenzie, Ph.D., Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland, Retired

Dr. MacKenzie received his training at Brunel University and Imperial College (University of London). Originally training as an immunologist, he has a broad experience of drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry both in the UK and Switzerland. After leading the Immunobiology Department at Glaxo, he moved to Switzerland to lead an Inflammation Research group at the Sandoz Forschungsinstitut Bern. Subsequently, he worked for Novartis Institutes for Medical Research in Basel in various positions, including Head of External Relations, and latterly Deputy Disease Area Head for the Musculoskeletal Diseases drug discovery area. During his career, Dr. MacKenzie has been closely involved in the discovery and development of many clinical candidates, several of which have become successful drugs.

Jeffrey Ross, M.D., McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, Madison, Wisconsin

Dr. Ross is Professor Emeritus of Oncology and Pathology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin. He is the leading expert in the field of mRNA stability and the author of over 75 peer-reviewed publications in the field.
Dr. Ross's research is focused on c-myc and cancer-related mRNA stability issues. He earned his medical degree from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.