Dr. Katie Rodan, a board certified dermatologist since 1987, trained at dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she was appointed Chief Resident. Since graduation, she has remained an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine, teaching medical students and dermatology residents for over 25 years. In addition, Dr Rodan maintains a private cosmetic dermatology practice.
With Dr. Kathy Fields, Dr. Rodan created Proactiv Solution, a medicated acne treatment and prevention system. The doctors partnered with the Guthy-Renker Corporation, launching Proactiv in infomercials in 1995. She and Dr. Fields are also co-founders of Rodan + Fields Dermatologists, offering a wide range of products designed to treat aging skin,which is distributed via the direct selling channel. Their unique business model was presented as a case study at Harvard Business School in 2013. In 2004, they received the prestigious Cosmetic Executive Women’s Association Award for "Changing the Direction of the Skin Care Industry." She and Dr. Fields were also finalist for the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California.
Drs. Rodan is a co-author of two books: UNBLEMISHED, a self-help manual for treating and caring for acne prone skin, and the national bestseller Write Your Skin a Prescription for Change, a go-to guide for achieving healthy and youthful skin. She is the co-author of articles in peer reviewed publications, such as The Archives of Dermatology, The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, and The Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.
Rox Anderson, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor in Dermatology, Director of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. Dr. Anderson conceived and developed many of the non-scarring laser treatments now widely used in dermatology. These include selective photothermolysis for birthmarks, microvascular and pigmented lesions, tattoo and permanent hair removal. He also contributed to laser lithotripsy, laser angioplasty, photodynamic therapy, infrared confocal microscopy. Dr. Anderson has contributed to basic knowledge of human photobiology, drug photosensitization mechanisms, tissue optics, and laser-tissue interactions. Dr. Anderson graduated from MIT, received his M.D. degree magna cum laude from the joint MIT-Harvard medical program, Health Sciences and Technology, and completed his residency in dermatology and research fellowships at Harvard. Dr. Anderson has been awarded over 50 national and international patents. He is a trustee of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology.
Frederick Beddingfield III, M.D., Ph.D. is a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon who was appointed CMO of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals in March, 2013. Prior to his appointment at Kythera, he held the role of Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Dermatology and Aesthetics at Allergan, Inc. Dr. Beddingfield has experience working on premiere products in the dermatology and aesthetics industry, including Allergan’s BOTOX® Cosmetic, JUVEDERM® and LATISSE®, all market-leading aesthetic treatments in their respective categories. During his tenure at Allergan, Dr. Beddingfield served in several roles, including Chief Medical Officer, Allergan Medical, and Global Team Leader of several brands, including Botox Facial Aesthetics, Botox Hyperhidrosis, Dermal Fillers and Botox Spasticity and was responsible for research programs including acne, rosacea, and hair loss. Earlier in his career, he held a full-time faculty position at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, where he continues to maintain a practice and academic appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine. Dr. Beddingfield earned an M.D. degree with honors from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies.
Mark de Souza is a consultant to Shire, which acquired Lotus Tissue Repair, a biotechnology company he co-founded to develop protein replacement therapy for a rare genetic disease, dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Mark has more than 15 years of early stage biotechnology industry and academic experience. Prior to co-founding Lotus, where he served as President & CEO, he was Vice President of Business Development at Dyax Corp, a biopharmaceutical company which discovered, developed and commercializes KALBITOR®, a plasma kallikrein inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, an orphan genetic disease. At Dyax, he led the business development team, which was responsible for licensing Dyax’s phage display technology and products, including KALBITOR®, generating greater than $200 million in license fees and other forms of financing from 50+ technology and product licensing transactions.
Bob Doman is a C-level pharmaceutical and medical device executive with 30+ years of extensive international and domestic experience in general management, business development, building sales and marketing capabilities, new product development and strategic planning. Most recently Bob served as President and Chief Executive Officer of publicly traded DUSA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company. He joined DUSA in 2005 as President and Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2007. Under Bob’s leadership, the company strengthened its IP position, expanded its sales and marketing capabilities and repositioned its products in the marketplace. In 2012, Mr. Doman completed the successful sale of the company to Sun Pharmaceuticals in a $230 million transaction.
He has held other executive positions with Leach Technology Group, West Pharmaceutical Services, the Convatec division of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Critikon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.
Bob received his Bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University where he has served as a member of the Development Committee and the Haub School of Business Advisory Board.
Dr. Dubin has advised life sciences companies and investors for nearly 20 years and has executed over 100 financing, partnership, and M&A transactions for clients. He leads Leerink Partners’ dermatology and medical aesthetics advisory practice which serves both emerging growth and Fortune 100 companies. In 1996, he founded MEDACorp, a provider of insights on the commercial potential of biotherapeutics and medical devices to healthcare companies and investors. In 2001, Dr. Dubin merged MEDACorp into Leerink Partners and joined its Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He serves as a director of Living Proof and an advisor to SKS Ocular. He has also served as Chairman of MetaWorks which was sold to UBC in 2005.
Dr. Dubin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship in Medicine and a residency in Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was an Instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and held a staff appointment at the Brighamand Women’s Hospital where he was the Ambulatory Medical Director of Clinical Dermatology and a member of the Clinical Executive Committee. He has published over 30 manuscripts in peer reviewed publications and performed a NIH training fellowship at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center.
Peter Nicholson has worked in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries for over 25 years. He is responsible for the worldwide business development function at Galderma S.A., a dermatology-focused joint venture between Nestlé and L’Oréal he joined in 2007. Previously he was Vice President, Corporate Development for Mentor Corporation where he successfully divested the company’s urology business and refocused its strategy on the aesthetic business, which ultimately led to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. He served in a similar role at Inamed where he refined the company’s strategy and successfully executed a number of business development agreements and revitalized the company’s international presence prior to its acquisition by Allergan.
Nicholson worked at Amgen for six years in roles of increasing responsibility in product development and product licensing and was responsible for starting and managing the company’s venture program. He worked at two small medical device companies, Telios and Advanced Tissues Sciences where he was a team-member focused on developing products addressing unmet needs for wound healing and burns. He pursued research at Triton Biosciences and Allergenetics where he was focused on identifying, isolating and characterizing new growth factors.
Mr. Nicholson received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Los Angeles where he won the 19th annual Knapp New Ventures Competition. He was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Heron Biotechnology, a genomics company which he grew from two to 33 employees and a successful commercial launch. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry with an emphasis on immunology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he did post-graduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Robert I. Mishell.
Jon is currently the Senior Director of Corporate Development for Merz Pharma GmbH and Co. KGaA, where he is primarily responsible for Group M&A. Most recently Jon was the head of US commercial development, responsible for all business development, new product planning, and strategic planning activities for Merz’s North American affiliate. Prior to Merz, Jon worked at Easton Associates, LLC and Cephalon, Inc.
Jon earned a Master’s in Business Administration from the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and completed his doctoral studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, earning a PhD in Chemistry.
Kristen Belmonte Slaoui joined Stiefel, a GSK company, in March 2010 as Director of Business Development and Licensing. Prior to her current role, she was part of the GSK Corporate Development team where she led the acquisition of Stiefel Laboratories in 2009.
Kristen spent several years in GSK’s Worldwide Business Development team leading Business Development & Licensing efforts in Immuno-inflammation. During this time, she was responsible for closing several significant deals for GSK, such as those with Genmab (Arzerra™), Tolerx (Toliva™), Cellzome, Regulus and Dynavax, and the acquisition of Praecis.
Kristen also has six years experience in drug discovery in Neuroscience at Merck Research Laboratories and in Respiratory at GSK, where she led discovery efforts for the long acting muscarinic receptor antagonists (“LAMAs”) which are now undergoing FDA review.
She holds a doctoral degree in Physiology from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she has been an adjunct assistant professor since 2001. She completed postdoctoral studies in Neuroscience at the University of Washington in Seattle, and is the author of more than 40 original publications and patents.
Dr. Neal Walker is the President & Chief Executive Officer at Aclaris. He is a board certified dermatologist and serial entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to founding Aclaris, he was co-founder, President and CEO of Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan). Dr. Walker has co-founded and led a number of life science companies: Octagon Research Solutions, a software and services provider to biopharmaceutical companies (acquired by Accenture); Trigenesis Therapeutics, a specialty dermatology company where he served as Chief Medical Officer (acquired by Dr. Reddy's Laboratories); Cutix Inc., a commercial dermatology company that markets PreSun®, a sunscreen brand acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb. He began his pharmaceutical industry career at Johnson and Johnson. Dr. Walker currently serves as a Director on the Board of Sebacia, Inc. He previously served on the Board of Directors for Octagon. He is also on the Advisory Board of Flexible Medical Systems. Dr. Walker received his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Whitcup is the Executive Vice President, R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Allergan. Previously, Dr. Whitcup was Senior Vice President and Head of the Ophthalmology Therapeutic Area at Allergan. He is on the faculty at the Jules Stein Eye Institute/David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and also serves as a Director on the Board of Avanir Pharmaceuticals and Questcor Pharmaceuticals and as a member of the Biology Chair’s Council at Caltech.
Dr. Whitcup graduated from Cornell University Medical College and completed residency training both in internal medicine at UCLA Medical Center and in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary-Harvard Medical School. He then received fellowship training in uveitis and ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Prior to coming to Allergan, Dr. Whitcup was Clinical Director of the National Eye Institute, and also served as head of the Clinical Branch and Director of the uveitis and ocular immunology fellowship program. Dr. Whitcup also served as Chair of the NIH Medical Executive Committee.
Dr. Whitcup currently directs Allergan’s drug discovery efforts, medical device research, and the worldwide clinical development programs that include ophthalmology, neurosciences, dermatology, plastic surgery, and urology. He is also in charge of Allergan’s global medical affairs organization. Dr. Whitcup is also an author on over 150 scientific articles, book chapters, and a textbook on ocular inflammatory disease.