Nina Kjellson | General Partner, InterWest Partners
Nina Kjellson has been a partner in InterWest's life sciences team since 2002. Ms. Kjellson currently serves on the boards of Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cebix, Inc., Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, Lycera, Inc., PrimeraDx, Sequel Pharmaceuticals and Trius Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining InterWest, she was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a healthcare-focused hedge fund. She began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation. Ms. Kjellson holds a B.S. degree in human biology from Stanford University.
Pete McNerney | Managing Partner, Thomas, McNerney & Partners
Pete McNerney is a co-founder and managing partner of Thomas, McNerney & Partners. Previously, Mr. McNerney co-founded Coral Ventures, where he was responsible for health care investing. Mr. McNerney is currently a board member of AxioMed Spine Corporation, M2 Group Holdings, Inc., Intuity Medical, Inc., Torax Medical Inc. and Ascent Healthcare Solutions. Prior to joining Coral, he was a co-founder and managing partner of The Kensington Group, a firm specializing in providing management services to early stage companies in the health care field. Mr. McNerney received a B.A. from Yale and an M.B.A. from Stanford University and is a certified public accountant.
Howie Rosen | Independent Member
Howie Rosen is a consultant, serving on the board of directors of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., PaxVax, Inc. and Pearl Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to that, he was the former vice president of commercial strategy at Gilead Sciences, Inc. where his responsibilities included strategic marketing, global brand management, health economics, competitive intelligence, market research and Gilead's overall portfolio and business planning. Prior to joining Gilead, Mr. Rosen was president of ALZA Corporation where he was responsible for all aspects of managing ALZA as an independent 1000-person operating company within the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Mr. Rosen holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Stanford University and a M.S. in chemical engineering from MIT.
Pratik Shah, Ph.D. | Partner at Thomas, McNerney & Partners
Dr. Pratik Shah is a partner with Thomas, McNerney & Partners in San Francisco and has been with the firm since 2004. He is currently a board member of Altair Therapeutics, Auspex Pharmaceuticals, CNS Therapeutics, Cebix, Inc. and Ocera Therapeutics. Prior to joining the firm, he was the chief business officer and co-founder of Kalypsys, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where he was responsible for the overall strategy, business development and operations of the company and oversaw raising more than $130 million in equity financings and corporate deals. Before that, Dr. Shah was at McKinsey & Company's San Francisco office where he focused on biotechnology and venture capital projects. He was formerly co-founder and vice president of operations at NephRx Corporation, a start-up company focused on the discovery of therapeutic proteins for renal disease. Dr. Shah holds a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California at Irvine and both a Ph.D. in biochemistry & molecular biology and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Dr. James Campbell | Board Observer
Dr. Campbell serves as Executive-in-Residence at InterWest Partners, CEO of Arcion Therapeutics, and Professor of Neurosurgery (part-time) at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to his work with CNS Therapeutics, he serves on the Board of Directors of Amplimmune. He founded the American Pain Foundation and now serves as Chairman of the Board Emeritus of that nonprofit organizati
He has a long record of accomplishment in academic neurosurgery. He previously served as Director of the Residency Training Program and Vice Chair for the Department of Neurosurgery at Hopkins. He edited several books, published well over 100 peer-reviewed papers, and has served on the editorial board of several academic journals. Dr. Campbell has received many national awards for research and public service, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pain Research Award, the Creative Leadership Award from the American Pain Foundation, and the Grass Award from the Society of Neurological Surgery. He also has received several awards from the American Pain Society. He holds several drug/device patents currently in clinical development.
Dr. Campbell received his B.A. from the University of Michigan with High Honors and High Distinction, his M.D. degree from Yale University, and is Diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
John Foster | Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
John Foster has more than 25 years of executive management expertise in developing and bringing biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices to market. Before founding CNS Therapeutics with Dr. Penn and Mr. Bronson, Mr. Foster was senior vice president of commercial operations at Restore Medical, which made its initial public offering in 2006 and was later acquired by Medtronic. Prior to that, he held key management positions with Advanced Respiratory, Medtronic's Neuromodulation business, and Genentech, a pioneer in biotechnology. Mr. Foster has a B.A. in history and business from Oral Roberts University and completed the University of Minnesota Executive Development program.