Developing World Cures
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Management 

Peter Farina, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
pfarina@developingworldcures.org 

Before joining Developing World Cures, Dr. Farina was Senior Vice President of Development at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In this capacity he was responsible for an interdisciplinary organization of scientists and staff with oversight for pre-clinical development of drugs in the therapeutic areas of immunology/inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, and virology.Most recently, Dr. Farina’s team was responsible for the development of Aptivus â (tipranavir), an HIV protease inhibitor. Prior to his development position, he was Vice President of Research for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Farina’s research interest has been generally at the interface of chemistry and biology. He has worked over his career in inflammatory and immunological mechanisms, particularly cytokines and arachidonic acid mediators. In addition, he was engaged in HIV virology research that led to discovery and successful registration of one of the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, Viramuneâ (nevirapine). He is the author of over fifty publications and patents

Dr. Farina’s undergraduate education was at New College at Hofstra University, where he received a B.S. in chemistry. He was an Allied Chemical Corporation Fellow at The State University of New York at Buffalo, where he completed a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. Dr. Farina went on to do postdoctoral work as an NIH Fellow in bio-organic chemistry with Stephen Benkovic at the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Farina currently serves as the Co-Chair and as a Board Member of Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE); He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, NYAS President’s Council, as an advisor for The Center for Biological Innovation (CBI) at MIT, as senior advisor to Canaan Partners and PureTech Ventures, and as an advisor to other biotech companies.

Denice Spero, Ph.D.
President
dspero@developingworldcures.org 

As the President of Developing World Cures Dr. Spero brings executive leadership in the areas of pharmaceutical research and development. Before joining Developing World Cures, Dr. Spero spent 18 years in research and development at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Most recently, as Vice President of drug discovery support, she was responsible for establishing and leading the discovery organization’s science in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutics, and general pharmacology for the therapeutic areas immunology and inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Spero has been highly active in the Diversity and Inclusion initiative at Boehringer Ingelheim and was a women’s leadership mentor and diversity spokesperson to R&D.

Dr. Spero is currently a consultant to Boehringer Ingelheim. She holds over 60 publications and patents and has given numerous invited lectures in the fields of synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics.

Dr. Spero holds a B.A. in chemistry and biology, Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Wheaton College, an M.S. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Brown University. She did post-doctoral research at Harvard University in the laboratory of Professor Y. Kishi working on the total synthesis of the anti cancer drug Halichondrin B.  

Gerald T. Miwa, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Gerald Miwa is President of Nextcea, Inc., a company devoted to the identification and utilization of biomarkers for drug efficacy and toxicity.  Prior to his appointment at Nextcea he was Vice President of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA where he was responsible for ensuring that drug development candidates had adequate exposure to be effective in patients, minimizing drug-drug interactions, and anticipating toxicities arising from drug metabolites.    

During his career, Dr. Miwa directly contributed to the pharmaceutical development and registration of a number of drugs including: Ivermectins, Zofran, Ultiva, Zocor, Sustiva and Velcade.  Dr. Miwa also led numerous research programs to develop new methods for evaluating the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of drugs and the biochemical basis for their toxicities.  More recently, he has been engaged in research to discover biomarkers to predict and monitor drug efficacy and safety in humans.  He is past chairman of the Drug Metabolism Steering Committee for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) and chairman of the Gordon Conference on Drug Metabolism.  He is a member of multiple societies related to DMPK and toxicology, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and author of more than 90 publications and book chapters in the DMPK field. 

Dr. Miwa completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Hoffmann La Roche.  Dr. Miwa was the head of DMPK at Millennium, DuPont, and Glaxo Pharmaceutical companies and a research scientist at Merck and Hoffmann La Roche companies.

Senior Advisors 

DWC has assembled an outstanding team of volunteer pharmaceutical experienced executives and scientific specialists. Members are:  

Lou Capalbo, Retired Director of Investigational Supplies, Pharmaceutics Department, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Ridgefield, CT. Mr. Capalbo has extensive experience in GMP manufacture of drugs for first in man studies through registration.  He has also worked at Pfizer and GSK. 

Valerie Ceva, MBA, The Strategic Choice LLC, Life Sciences Management Consulting, has over 20 years of experience in operational and leadership roles with major pharmaceutical firms and healthcare start-ups, as well as in consulting and private equity/venture capital. 

Richard Chizzonite, Ph.D., former Executive Director of R&D Global Licensing Group, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Ridgefield, CT, has over 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry having held leadership positions in R&D and licensing and business development. Most recently, Dr. Chizzonite was responsible for global licensing for cardiovascular disease and chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as enabling technologies. Dr. Chizzonite also held the position of research leader at Hoffman LaRoche and in that capacity was responsible for drug discovery in the area of inflammation and immunological diseases. 

Jayne Douglas, M.D., Vice President, Development at Pfizer Global R&D. Dr. Douglas has 23 years of experience in medical device and pharmaceutical research and development, primarily in the areas of global clinical trials and outcomes research. Dr. Douglas has also held the positions of VP, Development Site Head and VP, Clinical R&D site head at Pfizer Global R&D. 

Diana Galer, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., Vice President, Strategic Management Group, Pfizer, Inc.  Dr. Galer brings extensive experience in toxicology, pharmacokinetics/metabolism and regulatory affairs in both the human and animal pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Galer has also held the positions of VP, Operations, Drug Safety Research Development and VP, Worldwide Head, Safety Sciences Global Operations at Pfizer Global R&D. 

Susan Levinson, Ph.D., The Strategic Choice LLC, Life Sciences Management Consulting. Dr. Levinson has over thirty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry where she held leadership positions in project management, licensing, business development and marketing. Most recently, Dr. Levinson held executive positions in business strategy and marketing at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.  

Paul Pescatello, J.D., Ph.D., CEO and President of CURE. CURE is a CT statewide coalition of over 100 educational and research institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Pescatello is an attorney and lobbyist with over 20 years of technology, public affairs and public policy experience. Mr. Pescatello serves on numerous boards including Connecticut Innovations, Inc., a quasi-public seed and venture capital firm, and the United Way of Connecticut. He also serves on the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee. 

Michael Rosenberg, M.D., MPH, President and CEO of Health Decisions, Inc., a private clinical research company. In studies conducted throughout the world, the company has established itself as a leader in the application of technology to improve the efficiency and speed of clinical trials. Dr. Rosenberg has been involved with the strategic design and execution of pharmaceutical development programs for more than 25 years. Dr. Rosenberg is the author of more than a hundred and fifty scientific articles and serves on numerous advisory groups in business, technology and medicine. He currently serves as Clinical Professor o Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Rosenberg has worked with the CDC and has run clinical trials in numerous developing world countries. 

James Stevenson, Ph.D., former Director, Chemistry Information Technologies at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Ridgefield, CT. Dr. Stevenson also headed structural research/computational chemistry as well as the biophysics and protein structure determination groups.
 

Scientific Specialists 

Yuhpyng Chen, Ph.D., retired research fellow from Pfizer, Inc. Groton, CT. Dr. Chen has 20 years of experience as a medicinal chemist with expertise in organic synthesis and drug design. 

Karl Grozinger, retired organic chemist from Boehringer Ingelheim. Mr. Grozinger has over 30 years of experience in process chemistry and has expertise in purchasing and sourcing chemical precursors.

Directors and Advisory Board

The company is in the process of recruiting a board of directors. The board will be responsible for overseeing financial controls, intellectual property, and company policies. The board will also act as ambassadors for DWC to gain support for the company’s mission. The board members will be chosen from among the following: CEO(s) from the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, noted Professors of Science or Medicine who are recognized as international scholars, a diplomat and international policy advisor, a legal expert in pharmaceuticals and international trade relations, an expert in business administration and finance, a noted goodwill ambassador and highly recognized former government leader.

A scientific advisory board (SAB) will also be established. The SAB will assist in identifying critical medical needs in developing countries and provide scientific and clinical expertise for DWC’s assessment of IP and R&D strategic planning. Therapeutic area and targets for research will be identified with input from the SAB. In addition, the SAB will critique research programs and DWC’s scientific efforts.