William G. Gerber, M.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 1997. Dr. Gerber is currently a partner at Bay City Capital, a lifesciences investment fund management firm. From September 1999 until December 2004, he was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Epoch Biosciences, Inc., a biomedical company. From April 1998 to July 1999, he was President of diaDexus LLC, a pharmacogenomics company. Previous to his appointment at diaDexus, he was Chief Operating Officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Onyx in 1995, Dr. Gerber was with Chiron Corporation, a biopharmaceutical, vaccine and blood testing company, where he was President of the Chiron Diagnostics business unit after Chiron's merger with Cetus Corporation in December 1991. He joined Cetus in 1987 as Senior Director of Corporate Ventures and was named Vice President and General Manager of the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) Division in November 1988. Dr. Gerber is Chairman of the Board of Pathway Diagnostics, a private company, and on the board of directors of Nanogen Inc., Radiant Medical Inc., Conatus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Gentiae Clinical Research, Inc. and Galileo Pharmaceuticals Inc. Dr. Gerber earned his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.
Edward Lanphier, the founder of Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors since Sangamo's inception in 1995. Mr. Lanphier has approximately twenty-five years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. From June 1992 to May 1997, he held various positions at Somatix Therapy Corporation, a gene therapy company, including Executive Vice President, Commercial Development and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Somatix, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of BioGrowth, Inc., a biotechnology company that merged with Celtrix Laboratories to form Celtrix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1991. From 1986 to 1987, he served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Biotherapeutics, Inc. From 1984 to 1986, Mr. Lanphier served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Synergen Inc. Prior to Synergen, he was employed by Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company, in the strategic business planning biotechnology group. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Institute. Mr. Lanphier holds a B.A. in biochemistry from Knox College.
John W. Larson has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 1996. Mr. Larson is currently a partner at the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Mr. Larson served as partner at the law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP (Brobeck) from 1969 until retiring in January 2003, except for the period from July 1971 to September 1973 when he was in government service as Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior and Counselor to George P. Shultz, Chairman of the Cost of Living Council. From 1988 until March 1996, Mr. Larson was Chief Executive Officer of Brobeck. Mr. Larson serves on the board of the Needham Funds and on the boards of several privately held companies. Mr. Larson holds an L.L.B. and a B.A., with distinction, in economics, from Stanford University.
Margaret A. Liu, M.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2005. Dr. Liu is currently a Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and until June 2006 was Vice-Chairman of the Board of Transgène in Strasbourg. From 2000 to 2002 Dr. Liu was the Senior Advisor in Vaccinology for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From 1997 to 1998 she was Vice President of Vaccines Research and 1998-2000 was Vice President of Vaccines Research and Gene Therapy at Chiron Corporation. She joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1988 and in 1994 became Senior Director in the Department of Virus and Cell Biology. Dr. Liu serves on the editorial or advisory boards of various scientific journals and has been elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a Fellow of the Molecular Medicine Society. In 2002, Discover magazine named her one of "The 50 Most Important Women Scientists". Dr. Liu earned her B.A. in Chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, from Colorado College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. In 2002, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from Colorado College and has received numerous honorary lectureships.
Steven J. Mento, Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May, 2005. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. From 1997 to 2005 he was President and CEO of Idun Pharmaceuticals and prior to that, from 1982 to 1992, Dr. Mento held various positions at American Cyanamid Company. His last position was Director of Viral Vaccine Research and Development at Lederle-Praxis Biologicals, a business unit of American Cyanamid Company. In January of 1992, he joined Viagene, Inc. as Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Mento was responsible for directing the company's transition from basic research through initiation of the first company sponsored Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in the emerging field of gene therapy. In October of 1995, Chiron Corporation acquired Viagene, Inc., and renamed the company Chiron Viagene, Inc. Dr. Mento served as President of Chiron Viagene, Inc. and Vice President of Chiron Corporation until August of 1997. As President, Dr. Mento had overall responsibility for gene therapy research, product development, QA/ QC, GMP manufacturing as well as general administration functions at Chiron Viagene. Dr. Mento holds Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology from Rutgers University. He did his post-doctoral fellowship in somatic cell genetics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Mento currently serves on the Boards of BIOCOM (Co-Chair of Workforce Development Committee), BIO (Co-Chair of Capital Formation Committee), BIO ECS Governing Body, Grannus BioSciences, UCSD-Division of Biological Sciences Board of Advisors, SDSU BioScience Center Scientific Advisory Board, and UCSD Bannister Family House. He also serves on the BIO Health Section Governing Body Board and the board of Hawaii Biotech.
Michael C. Wood has served as a member of our Board of Directors since our inception. Mr. Wood was founder, CEO and President of LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.and its predecessor, an educational company, from January 1995 through March 2004. Mr. Wood has 15 years of experience in the corporate legal representation of high technology firms and venture capital partnerships. From 1991 through 1994, he was a partner of the emerging technology companies group at Cooley Godward LLP. From 1979 to 1991, Mr. Wood practiced corporate law in the high technology practice of Crosby Heafy Roach & May. Mr. Wood received a J.D. from the Hastings College of Law, an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. in political science from Stanford University.