NMBio Board of Directors
The New Mexico Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (NMBio) Board of Directors is a volunteer group of scientists, academics and other professionals dedicated to the advancement of bioscience in New Mexico and the promotion of New Mexico’s capabilities internationally. The NMBio membership elects eight innovative thinkers and community leaders to the board every year. During their two-year terms, directors are involved in NMBBA-sponsored programs and events, policy development, and a variety of committee assignments.
Peter Rachor
President
Desert Oasis, LLC
prachor@earthlink.net
Peter Rachor is a business consultant, serving the biotechnology, economic development, media, telecommunications, and other technology industries. Previously, he was Director, Venture Development at Science & Technology Corporation @ University of New Mexico, responsible for creating start-up enterprises and joint ventures from technologies developed through research. He also worked with student, faculty and community members to and evaluates new business ventures, through his launch and management of UNM’s Lobo VentureLab, a business accelerator that works with early stage technology companies.
He also worked with Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation, assisting inventors and entrepreneurs from Los Alamos National Lab in patent licensing, market assessment, and venture formation.
Mr. Rachor has previously founded three technology ventures himself, and worked with several global telecommunications companies, Lucent Technologies, British Telecom, and Verizon Communications, in the US and internationally.
Peter holds a degree in Finance from Michigan State University and has completed a certificate in entrepreneurship from Northwestern University's Kellogg School Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. He has been active on the boards of many industry, community service, and leadership organizations, and has also been a guest lecturer in entrepreneurship in several MBA programs. He frequently serves as a mentor, coach or advisor to early stage companies, particularly those being formed by students, university faculty, and scientists.
Shannon Sheehan, PhD
Vice President
Associate Director, Life Sciences
Science & Technology Corporation @ UNM
ssheehan@stc.unm.edu
Dr. Sheehan joins the NMBIO from West Virginia University where he served as Interim Director of Technology Transfer. He has been working in Technology Transfer for more than 10 years and is a long-standing member of AUTM, where he serves on two committees. He has facilitated the start-up of 15 companies and has licensed dozens of technologies in both physical and life sciences. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant to Intellectual Property Law firms. He has authored a book on Technology Transfer and has taught numerous students. Shannon holds a Ph.D. from University of Illinois School of Chemical Sciences and an MBA from University of Arizona's top-ranked program. Additionally, Dr. Sheehan was a faculty member of the University of Arizona for eleven years and has first-hand experience moving laboratory inventions to the market.
Andrew Salazar
Treasurer
Director of Project Development
Technology Ventures Corporation
andres.salazar@lmco.com
Mr. Salazar works for Technology Ventures Corporation; he brings a broad range of commercial experience to assist start-ups in structuring a realistic approach to success. He has held responsibilities in a variety of disciplines including management positions in engineering, manufacturing, finance, sales and economic development. Throughout his career, Mr. Salazar has focused on bringing together the top-flight resources needed for business success. He has a BSME with an EE option from General Motors Institute and a MBA from Stanford University. Andrew is a member of the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Entrepreneurs Association and Hogares, Inc.
Janeen Vilven-Doggett, PhD
Secretary
Attorney
Peacock Myers P.C.
jvilven@PeacockLaw.com
Janeen Vilven-Doggett practices in the areas of litigation and transitional matters. She is a member of the New Mexico bar and a registered patent attorney. Dr. Vilven-Doggett received her B.A. in Biology from Baylor University in 1986 and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico in 1997. She received her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2001.
Dr. Vilven-Doggett has practice both as an attorney and as a research scientist. Prior to becoming an attorney, she spent about 13 years as a research scientist at both Baylor College of Medicine (Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics), and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (Department of Pediatrics and Department of Pathology). for a comprehensive listing of Dr Vilven Doggett's publications, please visit here .
During law school, Dr. Vilven-Doggett clerked for the Patent Administration Office at the University of New Mexico; Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin and Robb, P.C. in Albuquerque New Mexico; and Roberts Abokhair & Mardula, LLC in Reston, Virginia and Corrales, New Mexico. Upon graduation from law school in 2001, Dr. Vilven-Doggett joined the firm of Roberts Abokhair & Mardula, as an associate attorney working in patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution and litigation.
Dr. Vilven-Doggett presents frequently on intellectual property and high technology issues, including export regulation compliance and security clearance matters at University of New Mexico School of Law, the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management, New Mexico Tech, and local businesses and trade associations.
Dr. Vilven-Doggett is a member of the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Albuquerque Bar Association. She serves as a volunteer advisor for businesses participating in the Technology Ventures Corporation (TVC) venture capital forum. Dr. Vilven-Doggett is the New Mexico Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) state affiliate and also serves on BIO’s intellectual property committee.
Directors
Robert Curtis
Robert Curtis Associates
bob@avantventures.com
Bob Curtis is an independent advisor and consultant to venture capital firms, corporations, and entrepreneurs in the medical technology industry. He has over 7 years of venture capital experience coupled with 25 years of medical technology company operating experience, including 17 years at the CEO/GM level. Bob has raised and invested over $165 million in corporate and venture capital and has managed technology-driven companies in multiple medical specialty markets ranging from seed-stage venture backed start-ups to subsidiaries of large multinational health care corporations.
Consulting clients include: Verge Fund, JP Morgan Partners, Alta Partners, Onset Ventures, Paul Capital Partners, Sagamore Bioventures, Novel Bioventures Advisors, QED Technologies/Omnicom Inc., Guidant Corporation, Transvivo, OPAP, USGI Medical, Ample Medical, ConKardia, CardiacMD/AorTx, DirectFlow, and other startup companies.
From 1996 to 2001, he was co-founder, President and CEO of the MedTech Ventures, Inc. (“MTVI”)/VanMed V, Inc. (“VanMedV”) life science technology incubators. The MTVI/VanMedV incubators provided investment and interim management support for seed-stage medical opportunities. A total of six companies were incubated and funded for a total of $11.8 million in first round financing: Artemis Medical, Norborn Medical, Eunoe (CSFluids), HemoSense, Endovasix and Novalux. Five of these companies successfully completed follow-on financings totaling $196.1 million. Investors in the MedTech/VanMedV incubators included: Guidant Corporation, Vanguard Ventures, Bedrock Capital, Tredegar Investments, and The Centennial Funds.
From 1990 to joining VanMed V in 1996, Bob was Principal of Robert Curtis Associates, a consulting firm that provided interim, turnaround CEO and business development services to venture capital financed companies. He has served as interim CEO of CardioPulmonics, Inc. (merged with InnerDyne), Urosystems, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic Inc.), Autogenics, Inc., and Aerogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEGN). Other business development and consulting clients included: Atos AB, Heller Financial, Medtronic Cardiopulmonary, Inc., Nimbus, Inc., Perstorp AB, and Pfizer Inc. Bob served on the Board of Directors of InnerDyne, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDYN) from 1993 until its acquisition by an affiliate of Tyco International in December 2000.
From 1974 to 1990, he held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Shiley, Inc. (“Shiley”), a $200+ million medical device subsidiary of Pfizer. He served, at various times, as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, and Vice President, Research and Development of Shiley, and as Senior Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Pfizer Hospital Products Group, the medical device division of Pfizer. Bob led a successful growth oriented repositioning of Shiley’s business and was responsible for six buy-side transactions, entering Shiley/Pfizer into the angioplasty catheter (Schneider, AngioMedics), vascular stent (Medinvent), implantable drug pump (Infusaid), European autotransfusion and cardiopulmonary (Dideco), and heart lung machine (Stöckert) markets.
Bob holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Mechanical/Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the board of multiple private and public companies. He is the inventor of multiple successful medical device products, holds 11 U.S. and Foreign patents, and has patents currently pending.
Terry Dunlay
CEO
IntelliCyt Corporation
tdunlay@intellicyt.com
Terry Dunlay has over 24 years of experience in technology development and commercialization including the last 16 years in entrepreneurial life science ventures. Terry was the co-founder of two life science technology companies and an early key employee in two other successful start-up technology ventures. In many of these ventures, technologies that originated in academic research institutions were further developed and commercialized into successfull products. In 1996, Terry co-founded Cellomics, Inc., in Pittsburgh, PA, a life science tools company that was acquired by Fisher Scientific International for $49 Million in September 2005. At Cellomics, he held various executive and senior technical leadership positions, including Executive Vice President. Terry invented and commercialized Cellomics' imaging systems and informatics software products to enable researchers at biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions to analyze cells and cell-function quickly, including the way potential drugs interact with cells. Prior to Cellomics, he co-founded and was President and CEO of Biological Detection, Inc. (BDI), an imaging software company that served the biomedical research market. Prior to BDI, he held various engineering management positions, including Vice President of Engineering, at Biological Detection Systems, Inc. (BDS), where he led development of microscope-based imaging systems and imaging software products for the biomedical research market. Terry has a MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Arizona State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed the Executive Entrepreneurial Management Program at Carnegie Mellon University.
Terry holds 14 issued patents, and is co-author on 22 active patent applications.
Woody Ediger
CTO
VeraLight
woody.ediger@veralight.com
Marwood “Woody ” Ediger is a specialist in fluorescence spectroscopy and tissue optics. He has studied the complex interaction of light and tissue throughout his career. Prior to joining InLight Solutions in 2003, he spent 16 years at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a senior optical scientist in at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). Dr. Ediger received a BS in physics from Gustavus Adolphus College and his MS/PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. Woody is a member of the NMBBA Board of Directors.
Marion Karvas
Business Development Manager
Lovelace Scientific Resources
mkarvas@lrri.org
Marion has a B.S. in Animal Science and Agricultural Communications from Texas Tech University and holds certification in Training Development and Instructional Technology from UNM Continuing Education. Along with her studies, for three years, she wrote, photographed and edited an arid lands research newsletter and escorted foreign dignitaries coming to the U.S through the United State Information Agency to learn about arid lands research. As a youth growing up in New Jersey until college, she rode equestrian hunters and competed in three-day eventing. Her current passion is tennis.
Louis J Lafrado, PhD
L&D Associates
lafrado@landd.net
Lou Lafrado holds an MS in Bacteriology from North Dakota State University where he worked with the USDA's Metabolism and Radiation Research Laboratory. Following this degree he worked at the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City. From there he went on to The Ohio State University and received his doctorate in veterinary pathology working on feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus vaccines and pathology.
For several years he was a senior researcher on the Holloman Air Force Base with New Mexico State University working chimpanzees and AIDS vaccines. In 1994, he accepted a position with the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center and joined the first iteration of NMBBA at that time.
NMBio has been a welcome outlet for Lou both professionally and personally. The Association has provided a window to the wider scientific community of New Mexico and is a major reason for his starting up a consulting company in the metropolitan area in 1999. He finds the meetings are an excellent escape from the office and an opportunity to mix with others from the community.
Lou has always thought that associations like NMBio thrive because of participation from the collective group. New ideas, different ideas, drive associations and you cannot preach without doing.
Lou believes that with his science and business experiences he can make a positive contribution to NMBio and help it move along until the next Board members are elected.
Richard S. Larson, MD, PhD
Vice President for Translational Research
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
rlarson@salud.unm.edu
Dr. Larson is the recipient of the College of American Pathology Lansky Award for his leadership in and contribution to the practice of pathology, UNM Regents Lectureship for contribution to UNM, and American Cancer Society Designated National Investigator for the Coaches against Cancer and Hoops for Lymphoma/Leukemia. One of his publications was chosen as manuscript of the year and appeared in the 2002 Yearbook of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Larson received both his MD and PhD from Harvard University. He did his residency training at Washington University at St. Louis, and his fellowship training at Vanderbilt University. He is a board-certified physician. He maintains a peer-reviewed, funded laboratory as well as his administrative duties. His research interests include biochemical mechanisms of inflammation, viral detection, and new drug discovery. He has published over 80 manuscripts involving basic science, clinical, and translational research. His book Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery was published by Humana Press in 2005. He is active in national cooperative groups, and research organizations. He was the founder of Cancer Services of New Mexico. He is a Chairman of the Board of Directors for TriCore Reference Laboratories as well as a member of the National Center for Genome Resources Board of Directors.
Jerome A. Mattingly, PhD
President
New Mexico Angels
jerrymattingly@aol.com
Jerome A. Mattingly, Ph.D., is the President and member of the Board of the New Mexico Angels, an Angel investment group that invests primarily in New Mexico startup companies. NMA has over 75 members and Jerry is responsible for organizing all of the events, including the Screening Committee meetings, the Due Diligence meetings, the dinner presentation meetings and the various seminars and workshops. He has been involved operationally with medical devices and medical diagnostics companies for greater than 25 years. During that time he has served in various capacities ranging from bench scientist to CEO. He has directed the departments of R&D, Operations, Manufacturing, QA/QC and Engineering. He has worked in large multi-national corporations (Abbott Laboratories, Akzo Pharma, Litton Industries) as well as small start-ups. Jerry is a member of good standing in three different Angel investing groups: in addition to NMA, Jerry is a member of Tenex Medical, a Bay Area Angel group that invests only in biotechnology and biomedical companies, and IrishAngels, a national Angel group made up of affiliates of Notre Dame that invests only in companies with management having some affiliation to Notre Dame. Jerry is also the New Mexico Venture Partner to Mesa Verde Venture Partners.
Jerry received his BS degree in Microbiology from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Notre Dame. He served a three-year post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University College of Medicine and was on the faculty of The Ohio State University School of Medicine for five years prior to entering industry. He has published over forty articles in peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters, and he has led the development of several new diagnostic products and medical devices. He has started up (Founder and CEO) and successfully exited from three separate medical device/diagnostic companies in the Bay Area. He is a private pilot, owns his own plane, and enjoys skiing, fishing, hiking and sailing.
Jens Poschet
Staff Scientist
Sandia National Laboratories
jfposch@sandia.gov
Dr. Poschet began his career in biological sciences in the early 80's as a laboratory technician apprentice at Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland. After graduating he worked for Ciba-Geigy on a project that ultimately lead to the introduction of Glivec, the first specific treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Following his work with Ciba-Geigy, Dr. Poschet studied Biochemistry at the University of Manchester, UK. During his studies he was working on extracelluar matrix proteins. Following completion of his BS, he joined the University of London, St Bartholomew's Hospital (UK) to study for his post-graduate degree. His studies on small intestinal -lactam antibiotic uptake were funded by the medical research council of UK and Glaxo plc. Upon receiving his PhD, he joined the Royal London Hospital, University of London, studying the effect of proteases on small intestinal infections.
In 1999, he moved from London to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was employed as a senior scientist studying intracellular signaling events in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung cells. Upon his move to the University of New Mexico, he was employed as an Assistant Professor, LAT. His work lead to the discovery that CF cells are more acidic compared to normal cells. Currently clinical studies are investigating potential therapeutics on the basis of his work. In 2006, Dr. Poschet joined Sandia National Laboratories where he is studying host pathogen interactions in macrophages. He also has an interest in nanotoxicology and broad spectra treatments directed against biological threat agents. He currently holds an adjunct Research Associate Professorship at the Department of Biology of the University of New Mexico.
Jose Olivares
Deputy Division Leader
Bioscience Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
olivares@lanl.gov
Dr. Olivares serves as Deputy Division Leader for the Bioscience Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which includes 200 scientific staff and $60 million in programs. In this position, he provides technical management and leadership for the Division. Dr. Olivares is responsible for developing strategic direction for the science programs within the Division and leading specific program development efforts. His focus areas have been primarily in National Security programs, Technology Transfer, and operations. Dr. Olivares has extensive experience with private industry and serves as consultant and officer for several small companies and government agencies. One of Dr. Olivares' passions is technology commercialization. Towards this end, Dr. Olivares is leading efforts within his Division for effective technology maturation, collaborative development with industry, and licensing.
Dr. Olivares received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Wilkes College, and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Iowa State University. His research focus has been primarily in instrumentation for mass spectrometry and biological and chemical sensor development for national security and health related applications.
Leah Pulling, PhD
Director of Biotechnology Program
Central New Mexico Community College
lpulling@cnm.edu
Katie Szczepaniak-Rice
Analyst
Wasatch Venture Fund
katie@wasatchvc.com
Katie Szczepaniak Rice is an Analyst with Wasatch Venture Fund in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wasatch is a venture capital firm headquartered in Salt Lake City specializing in early-stage, information technology and life science investments. Ms. Szczepaniak Rice focuses on new investment opportunities within the IT and biotech sectors as well as the growing alternative energy market, and she actively assists and works with the Wasatch portfolio companies in New Mexico. Katie is currently the chair of the Nano-Network of New Mexico. Prior to joining Wasatch, Katie worked for Cabot Corporation as a Strategic Market Analyst in New Mexico where Cabot develops material technology for alternative energy / fuel cell markets. Before Cabot, she was a consultant with Kline & Co., a business consulting firm in the NYC area that serves Fortune 100 companies as well as emerging businesses. At Kline, Katie conducted strategy and market analysis consulting engagements focused on biotech, chemicals, materials, nanotechnology, and petrochemical markets. Before Kline, Ms. Szczepaniak Rice was a field engineer with Schlumberger, an oil field service company in France. Katie holds a B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is currently attending the Executive MBA program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Gilberto Zamora
Chief Technology Officer
Orion International Technologies
gzamorac@hotmail.com
Dr. Zamora is the Chief Technology Officer—Image Processing & Simulation-- at ORION International Technologies, Inc.
He is in charge of the UMBRA Developing Group. This group works on the commercial development of the UMBRA advanced simulation framework with applications as diverse and critical as air traffic control, telemedicine, international border logistics and processes, unmanned aerial vehicles, and robotics. ORION also provides engineering and technical support services to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Labs, the Federal Aviation Administration, other federal agencies and large federal prime contractors.
Prior to his work at ORION Gilberto was the Director of Biomedical Imaging at Kestrel Corporation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he assisted in the development of the device and analytical tools of a novel hyperspectral retinal imager, an Adaptive Optics Retinal Imager and a Multispectral Optical Tissue Imager. He also directed the development of an Artificial Intelligence System for grading the appearance of skin for one of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Additionally, Gilberto
conducted research in diverse aspects of image processing, pattern recognition, and supervised research projects and mentored junior scientists.
Gilberto has conducted research in collaboration with several universities and some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. As part of his doctoral work Gilberto worked at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on image compression algorithms to enable rapid dissemination of the images of the Visible Human Project. With support from NLM he also worked on innovative segmentation methods for x-ray images.
Gilberto received his doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 2002. He received a dual Masters degree in Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University and Fundación Universidad de las Americas-Puebla (Mexico), respectively, in 1998; and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Fundación Universidad de las Americas-Puebla in 1995. Dr. Zamora has received honorable mention for his graduate research, and is the author or co-author of more than 15 technical publications and presentations.