If MTAP receives proposals for projects that are outside of the Advisory Board’s areas of expertise, MTAP will consult with other qualified persons from that field on an ad-hoc basis to obtain their view of the proposal.

MTAP’s Scientific Advisory Board Members:

• Richard C. Liebich, CLF Medical Technology Acceleration Program, Inc.
  
• Paul J. Davis, M.D., Ordway Research Institute, Inc.
  
• George Drusano, M.D., Ordway Research Institute, Inc.
  
• Ivor Elrifi, Ph.D., L.L.B., Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, P.C.
  
• Joseph Hammang, Ph.D., Pfizer
  
• Alan S. Kopin, M.D., Tufts University School of Medicine-New England Medical Center
  
• Robert J. Gould, Ph.D., Merck Research Labs
• Lewis J. Miller, J.D., Charitable Leadership Foundation
  
• Eliza J. Parker, CLF Medical Technology Acceleration Program, Inc.
  

Brief Biographies of MTAP’s Advisory Board Members

Richard C. Liebich
Mr. Richard Liebich is President of CLF Medical Technology Acceleration Program, Inc. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Charitable Leadership Foundation (CLF). The mission of the foundation is to support programs/organizations that address problems in the areas of education, housing (especially low-income), medical affairs, and medical research. Under the auspices of CLF, he serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Project Lead the Way, an organization dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of engineers and engineering technology from the public educations system. Mr. Liebich participates in multiple community organizations, such as serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Albany Medical College, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Ordway Research Institute, Inc. and chair of the College Council for Empire State College (SUNY). He received his B.S. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Michigan State University. Following his military service, Mr. Liebich served as President of the Syracuse, New York division of Sysco Foods, Inc. In 1979 he formed Transport National Development, an industrial cutting tool manufacturer in Orchard Park, New York. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of that company and in the same capacity of North American Carbide, a specialty cutting tool company. Back to Top

Paul J. Davis, M.D.
Dr. Paul Davis is Director of Ordway Research Institute, Inc., part-time Research Physician for Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health and part-time Staff Physician, for VA Medical Center in Albany, New York, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical research at Albany Medical College and former Chair of the Department of Medicine at Albany Medical College. Dr. Davis also served as President of the American Thyroid Association in 1997-1998, a member of the Board of Directors for the American Board of Internal Medicine from 1993-1997, and participated in many Federal Agency Advisory Committees. Dr. Davis received his B.A. in biology from Westminster College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. His research focus is in thyroid hormone and signal transduction. Back to Top

George Drusano. M.D.
Dr. George Drusano is Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Studies Unit at Ordway Research Institute, Inc., Co-Director of Ordway Research Institute, Inc., Co-Director of the Emerging Infections and Pharmacodynamics Laboratory at Ordway, and Research Physician for Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health. He also serves as a consultant for many large pharmaceutical companies. He has held several other faculty and editorial appointments as well. Dr. Drusano received his M.S. in physics from Boston College and an M.D. from University of Maryland School of Medicine. He specializes in infectious disease medicine, pharmacogenomics, pharmacodynamics, and mathematical modeling. His research interests are in drug pharmacology, multiple model adaptive control/Stochastic optimal sampling, modeling of antiviral chemotherapy, and basic mechanisms of emergence of resistance for bacteria. In 1991, he received the Rhone-Poulec Award at the International Congress of Chemotherapy in Berlin for the most innovative research with fluoroquinones. Back to Top

Ivor Elrifi, Ph.D., L.L.B.
Dr. Ivor Elrifi is co-chair of the Intellectual Property Section at Mintz Levin. He advises biotechnology, life sciences and medical device companies, research institutions, universities, hospitals and governments throughout the world. He works with clients in several European countries, including Ireland, the U.K., Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Dr. Elrifi's practice includes patent prosecution, litigation, arbitration, licensing and transactional work. He assists clients in developing and implementing worldwide patent strategies and in the prosecution and licensing of patents themselves. He currently is advising a number of leading genomics and proteomics companies located inside and outside the U.S. Dr. Elrifi also becomes involved in transactional work for clients. He assists in conducting due diligence investigations with respect to investments, mergers and acquisitions. He has extensive experience in representing plaintiffs and defendants in patent litigation and arbitration cases. Before joining Mintz Levin, he was associated with the intellectual property law firm of Fish & Neave in New York. Later, he served as patent counsel and then general counsel and vice president for CytoTherapeutics, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island and as patent counsel to Modex Therapeutics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Ivor is admitted to practice in courts in Massachusetts, California, New York and Ontario, Canada. He is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Dr. Elrifi received both his B.Sc. (1982) and his Ph.D. in Biology (1986) from Queen's University at Kingston, Canada and his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario (1989). Back to Top

Joseph Hammang, Ph.D.
Dr. Joseph Hammang joined the Science Policy and Public Affairs Group as Director of Science Policy and Public Affairs at Pfizer Global Research and Development in May of 2002. Dr. Hammang completed his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in 1990. He holds a Ph.D. in the area of Neuroscience investigating the effects of directed oncogene expression in the CNS of transgenic animals. He started his scientific career as a postdoctoral fellow and then as Research Investigator in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience at Bristol Myers-Squibb in Wallingford, Connecticut. At Bristol-Myers Squibb he was involved in the development of cellular-based screens and transgenic animal models of Alzheimer's disease. Following Bristol Myers-Squibb, he served as Director of Cell and Molecular Neuroscience and Director of the Ophthalmology Therapeutic program at CytoTherapeutics in Providence, Rhode Island. Dr. Hammang is author of 60 scientific articles and invited book chapters and is inventor or co-inventor of 35 U.S. patents. Previously, he served as Vice President for Science and Technology and Business Development at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and as Governor Lincoln Almond's advisor for Science and Technology at the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council. Back to Top

Alan S. Kopin, M.D.
Dr. Alan S. Kopin is a Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Genetics at Tufts University School of Medicine - New England Medical Center (T-NEMC) in Boston. He received his B.A. in biology from Brown University and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine and in gastroenterology. His research training included fellowships in physiology at Harvard Medical School and in gastroenterology at New England Medical Center. Since 1998, he has been the director of the Molecular Pharmacology Research Center within the Tupper Research Institute at T-NEMC. His research focus is in molecular endocrinology with an emphasis on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Interests include defining structure-function relationships of GPCRs including the identification of ligand binding determinants and the mechanisms of signal transduction (ligand and/or mutation induced) linked to corresponding receptors. The laboratory combines in vitro approaches with in vivo models (e.g. knockout mice, transgenic Drosophila) to define the physiologic functions mediated by GPCRs. The cholecystokinin/gastrin, dopamine, serotonin, GABA-B, and opioid receptor families are currently under study. Dr. Kopin was elected as a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 1998 and was the recipient of the Viktor Mutt Lectureship and Medal at the 11th International Symposium on Regulatory Peptides. Since 1995, Dr. Kopin has explored and promoted the use of constitutively active G-protein coupled receptors as a strategy to expedite drug discovery. He has worked in collaboration with several major pharmaceutical companies including Merck, American Home Products and Aventis Pharmaceuticals. He is a co-founder of three biotechnology companies. Back to Top

Robert J. Gould, Ph.D., Merck Research Labs
Dr. Gould is currently Vice President, Licensing and External Research, Boston, Merck Research Labs. His responsibilities include identifying early stage opportunities for collaboration or licensing with both academic and biotechnology institutions on the East coast of the United States, India and China. In addition, he chairs the Ophthalmic World Wide Business Strategy team. Dr. Gould obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1981 at The University of Iowa under the guidance of Dr. A. A. Spector, after completing his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Spring Arbor College, Michigan. He then moved to the Departments of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland for post-doctoral studies with Dr. S. Snyder. In 1984 he joined Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Labs as a Senior Research Pharmacologist in the Pharmacology department. He has remained with Merck Research Labs for 22 years. For the three years prior to his current position he was Vice President, Basic Research, in West Point, Pennsylvania where he oversaw strategic direction and drug discovery activities for multiple therapeutic areas, as well as MRL’s centralized high throughput screening and imaging facilities. During those three years, and under his leadership, approximately 20 compounds in 7 different therapeutic areas entered into further development. He has sat for a number of years as a permanent member of the internal Merck committees responsible for approval of therapeutic area strategy, for entry of compounds into development, for entry into humans, for entry into phase III trials, and for licensing activities. Dr. Gould is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Heart Association (Fellow), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Licensing Executives Society. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed publications and has received numerous awards including the American Oil Chemists’ Honored Student Award, the Clarence P. Berg Award for the outstanding graduate student in biochemistry at the University of Iowa, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Award for Postdoctoral Investigation, the Alumni Career Achievement Award from Spring Arbor College, Fellow of the American Heart Association, and induction into The Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Back to Top

Lewis J. Miller, J.D.
Mr. Jim Miller currently works as Chief Investment Officer for Charitable Leadership Foundation and oversees CLF’s investments in a variety of early-stage biotechnology companies. Mr. Miller was the founder of four subsequently public companies. One company, Sight Resources Corporation, was the first to develop laser vision application for the correction of hyperopia via ablation of the cornea. He received his B.A. from Middlebury College, J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and an MPA/MPH from Harvard School of Public Health/John F. Kennedy School of Government. Back to Top

Eliza J. Parker
Mrs. Eliza Parker is Vice President and Program Officer for CLF Medical Technology Acceleration Program, Inc. She has a B.S. in biology from Siena College and an M.S. in biotechnology. She has experience with managing the medical research program, reviewing and monitoring various medical research projects, supervising patent prosecution of intellectual property, and coordinating the development of drugs through preclinical studies. Mrs. Eliza Parker works directly with researchers and their institutions to ensure that intellectual property is developed in a timely and effective manor.
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