A Multi-Disciplinary Center Developing New Tools and Therapeutics
Strategic Advisory Board Members
The Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine invites the participation of faculty and advisors from across the University of California, venture capital firms, private donors and foundations, patients’ advocacy groups, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
Current advisors are helping shaping the focus and direction of this initiative, while ad hoc consultants will be engaged on a case by case basis for specific projects or disease areas.
Eugene Brandon
Scientific and Medical Advisory Chair, ALS Association
Eugene P. Brandon, Ph.D., is a leading expert in cell therapy, gene therapy, stem cell biotechnology, and translational medicine. Brandon is currently senior director of strategic relations at ViaCyte, where he has been integral in the development of an innovative stem cell-based product for diabetes. Prior to ViaCyte, he was at Ceregene, pursuing gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and ALS. Brandon has secured over $60M in research grants for his respective institutions and his scientific work has yielded numerous publications and several patents. He serves on the communications committee of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine and is also board chair of the Greater San Diego Chapter, as well as research committee vice chair for the ALS Association. Brandon received his B.S. from Tufts University, earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology and neurobiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and did his post-doctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He holds a certificate in biotechnology project management as well.
David Campbell
Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Janux
David Campbell, PhD, founded Janux in 2017 to develop tumor-specific cancer therapeutics in order to improve patient safety and efficacy for this important class of drugs. David brings more than 25 years of seasoned executive management, company creation, and successful partnering coupled with broad disease and drug development expertise to his role as Janux CEO. Prior to Janux, David served as CSO or CEO of multiple drug discovery and development companies that have created numerous clinical programs and partnerships with large pharma. These include Sitari (celiac disease) partnered with GSK, Afraxis (oncology) partnered with Genentech, and RQx (anti-bacterial) partnered with Genentech. Before that, David was Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Development at Phenomix, where he guided the discovery and development of clinical programs to treat diabetes and hepatitis C. Earlier in his career, David held positions of increasing responsibility in biotech at Affymax and large pharma at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. As director at Bayer, his group contributed to multiple clinical programs in oncology, obesity, and diabetes. David earned a PhD in organic chemistry from Cornell University and a BS in chemistry from Harvey Mudd College, and received post-doctoral training under then University of California, Berkeley professor: Dr. Peter Schultz.
Mark Glassy
Founder and Chairman of Nascent Biotech, Inc.
Mark Glassy, Ph.D. graduated from University of San Francisco in 1974 with a B.S. in biology and chemistry. He then attended University of California, Riverside and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1978. He did his post-doctoral studies in molecular immunology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. Glassy joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine and Cancer Center at UCSD in 1980 and is currently in the Translational Neuro-Oncology Department. In addition to UCSD, Glassy has held several upper management positions in commercial biotechnology. Currently, he is the founder and chairman of Nascent Biologics, Inc. and serves as director and professor at the Integrated Medical Sciences Association Foundation. He has prepared and directed several FDA approved clinical trials involving human monoclonal antibodies to cancer. Glassy has over 160 publications in the scientific and medical literature, is the inventor of several issued patents in the human antibody field, is the editor-in-chief of the journal, Human Antibodies, and the program chairman of the meeting series, "The International Conference on Human Antibodies and Hybridomas." Glassy is the inventor of Pritumumab, the first human antibody used to treat a cancer patient and is the recipient of the 2003 Arthur Furst Award (citation: “Outstanding research advancing science for the betterment of humanity”). He is also the author of the books "The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema," "Movie Monsters in Scale," and "Biology Run Amok!"
Chris Larson
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, SNO bio, Inc.
Chris Larson is Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of SNO bio. Prior to starting SNO bio, Dr. Larson held scientific and scientific leadership positions in several biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Deltagen Research Laboratories, Kemia, Exelixis, and Vasa Therapeutics, which he co-founded and for which he serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Larson served as US Head & Associate Global Head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Most recently, Dr. Larson held roles at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute as Vice President for drug discovery, as Principal Investigator for his NIH funded laboratory studying cardiac diseases, and remains Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He had led numerous programs from initiation through IND, and contributed as a research scientist to three FDA-approved drugs. Dr. Larson received a BA in chemistry from Carleton College and a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Inder Verma at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Amit Munshi
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, Arena Pharmaceuticals
Amit Munshi has served as a member of the board of directors of Arena Pharmaceuticals since June 2016, and as the president and chief executive officer since May 2016. Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer and a director of Epirus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. from May 2012 to May 2016. Prior to Epirus, Munshi served as chief executive officer of Percivia LLC, a biotechnology company, from 2011 to 2012, was a co-founder and served as chief business officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., from 2005 to 2010, and held multiple leadership positions at Amgen Inc. from 1997 to 2005, including general manager of Nephrology Europe. He holds a B.S. in economics and a B.A. in history from the University of California, Riverside, and an M.B.A. from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Munshi has more than 25 years of global biopharmaceutical industry experience in executive management, business development, product development and portfolio management. he serves on the boards of Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., and Cytrellis Biosystems, Inc., both privately held companies.
Robert Zaugg
Business Advisor
Robert Zaugg, M.B.A., Ph.D. is an entrepreneurial biopharma executive with experience spanning large pharmaceutical, large and small cap biotech, and non-profit operating environments. He has negotiated and closed numerous strategic partnerships with large biopharma clients including Pfizer, Merck, J & J, Aventis, Baxter, Genzyme, with aggregate value exceeding $500 million. Over the past 18 years in San Diego, Zaugg served as head of business development at the Sanford-Burnham Prebys Institute for Medical Research, as founder and general manager of a startup that developed high-throughput protein expression technology, and as the business development executive at Vical Inc., the pioneer in DNA vaccine technology.