Team | Board of Directors

InterWest Partners and Pinnacle Ventures hold board observation rights and are represented by Nina Kjellson and David Kim, respectively.

Stephen Dilly, M.D., Ph.D
CEO and President
Member, Board of Directors

Stephen Dilly joined APT as its CEO and president in April 2006. He has over 20 years of experience in the biotech space and is well-prepared to lead APT into its next stage of growth. Stephen previously served as the Senior Vice President of Development and Chief Medical Officer for Chiron BioPharma. He also held executive positions for Genentech and SmithKline Beecham. Throughout his career, Stephen has been closely associated with the successful development and launch of a wide array of important drugs, including: Kytril, Paxil CR, Kredex, Requip, TNKase, Xolair, Avastin, Raptiva, Tarceva, Lucentis and Cubicin. Stephen earned an M.D. from the University of London in 1982 and earned a Ph.D in cardiac physiology from the University of London in 1988.

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Stephen Aselage
Member, Board of Directors

Stephen Aselage brings to APT decades of experience in the commercialization of new products in the biopharmaceutical industry. Steve is currently senior vice president, Global Commercial Development, at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining BioMarin, he held the position of executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations at Cell Therapeutics. Prior to Cell Therapeutics, Steve served as senior vice president of North American Sales and Marketing for Sangstat, a company that focused on solid organ transplant. At Sangstat, he led the successful effort to make Thymoglobulin® the top selling product in its class. He then assisted in the transition to Genzyme after their acquisition of the company. Steve has also held a variety of other positions at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Advanced Tissue Sciences, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Inc., and Bristol Laboratories.

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Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D
Member, Board of Directors

Albert Cha lends his expertise in neuroscience and medical devices to APT. Albert is currently a partner of Vivo Ventures. He joined the firm in 2000 and became a partner in 2000. Albert is an accomplished scientist who has published several research articles on molecular biophysics in journals such as Nature and Neuron. In addition to his academic qualifications, Albert worked for Oracle Corporation in pharmaceutical consulting. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University and an M.D. with honors and a Ph.D in neuroscience from the University of California at Los Angeles.

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William Harrington, M.D.
Member, Board of Directors

Dr. Harrington brings a long clinical and financial experience in medical technology to APT. Bill is a partner at Three Arch Partners, where he has been since 1999, focusing exclusively on investments in medical devices, biotechnology and health care services. Dr. Harrington is a fellowship-trained interventional radiologist and practiced for 8 years before leaving clinical medicine for venture capital in 1998. He has a broad experience with minimally invasive surgical procedure, new technology introduction and clinical trials. Bill currently sits on the boards of a number of health care companies, including Reliant Technologies, Satiety, Cameron Health, Spinal Motion, Baxano, Voyage Medical, NeuroVista and Benvenue. Bill earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a CFA charterholder.

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David E. Kroin
Member, Board of Directors

Mr. Kroin is a co-founder of Great Point Partners, LLC. Mr. Kroin is a co-portfolio manager who also covers the biotechnology sector for the Biomedical Value Fund and is a member of the Private Equity Investment Committee. Previously, Mr. Kroin was a Partner in J.H. Whitney & Co. funds and since 1998, he was a senior member of the health care group at J.H. Whitney & Co. While at J.H. Whitney & Co., he was a Board Member of US Bioservices Corp. (acquired by AmeriSource), Icon International Inc. (acquired by Omnicom) and several other companies. Mr. Kroin previously worked in the corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions group at Merrill Lynch & Co. Mr. Kroin graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in actuarial mathematics.

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Camille Samuels
Member, Board of Directors

Camille Samuels specializes in early-stage biotechnology investing at Versant. Cami brings 14 years of venture capital and operating experience to her portfolio companies. She enjoys helping talented entrepreneurs build exceptional companies.

Cami joined Versant in early 2000, shortly after its formation. Prior to Versant, she was responsible for business development at Tularik, Inc. (subsequently acquired by Amgen) where she in-licensed two of the company's clinical-stage products and led Tularik’s Technology Acquisition Group. Before Tularik, Cami worked in corporate development at Genzyme and Millennium Predictive Medicine, and was a management consultant to healthcare and biotech companies at LEK Consulting.

Cami currently serves as a board member of the following companies: Achaogen, APT Pharmaceuticals, Muse Therapeutics, Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, and Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TSPT), a public company. Cami was previously a board member at NovaCardia (acquired by Merck) and ParAllele (acquired by Affymetrix). In addition, she served as a board observer at several companies, including Alexza (public), Fluidigm, Genomic Health (public) and Syrrx (acquired by Takeda).

Cami earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar. In 2002, The Aspen Institute named Camille a Henry Crown Fellow.

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Fred M. Schwarzer
Member, Board of Directors

Mr. Schwarzer brings a wealth of business experience to APT. He has expertise in operations, fundraising, developing corporate partnerships and structuring venture capital investments.

Mr. Schwarzer is currently a managing director for Charter Life Sciences. He has been chief executive officer, and then chairman, of two Charter portfolio biotech companies, Heska (HSKA) and Palingen. Mr. Schwarzer has also been the president and chief executive officer of Mingly Capital Corporation, which was focused on developing cross-border opportunities in life sciences and information technology. He was executive director of The Mingly Corporation Limited (listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) and prior to that he was a senior vice president of C.M. Capital, a diversified asset management company. At the beginning of his professional career, Mr. Schwarzer was a lawyer working with technology companies and venture capitalists. In 1985, he was made a partner with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury, Winthrop) and in 1988 he founded the firm of General Counsel Associates (now GCA Law Partners). Mr. Schwarzer received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.

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Paul J Sekhri
Member, Board of Directors

Paul is the Head of the Biotech Ops Group at the Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Prior to joining TPG Biotech in 2009, Mr. Sekhri was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals. Prior to founding Cerimon, Mr. Sekhri was President and Chief Business Officer of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2002, Mr. Sekhri joined the Sprout Group, the venture affiliate of Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, where he was a Partner for healthcare technology investments. Prior to joining Sprout, Mr. Sekhri spent four years at Novartis, most recently as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Search and Evaluation, Business Development and Licensing for Novartis Pharma AG. Prior to this, Mr. Sekhri set up a new department, Early Commercial Development, in order to ensure the differential competitive advantage of Novartis’ pipeline. Mr. Sekhri completed graduate work in neuroscience at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine where he also received his BS in Zoology.

Mr. Sekhri is currently a member of the Board of Directors for ARYx Therapeutics, APT Pharmaceuticals, and KAI Pharmaceuticals. Additionally he is on the Board of Directors of the Cancer Research Institute, a member of the Advisory Board for The BioExec Institute, Inc and an advisor to the Brookings Global Health Financing Initiative.

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