Company Leadership

Robert F. Williamson
Acting Chief Executive Officer

Robert F. Williamson is currently involved in starting and assisting public and private companies through his consultancy, LaSalle Venture Advisers. He is on the board of Pharmasset, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRUS) and is Executive Chairman of privately held Strategic Enzyme Applications, Inc. (SEA). Previously, he was Director of Progen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PGLA), Chief Executive Officer of Arriva Pharmaceuticals, President and Chief Operating Officer of Eos Biotechnology – which he sold to Protein Design Labs (NASDAQ: PDLI), and Chief Operating Officer of Pangea / DoubleTwist, Inc. – which was acquired in part by Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT). Before managing life sciences companies, Mr. Williamson was a partner with The Boston Consulting Group, Inc., and his clients included top pharmaceutical, medical device and health care services companies with additional clients in high technology and energy. Mr. Williamson started his career as a research assistant for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. in Economics from Pomona College and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Susan E. Dube’
Acting Chief Business Officer

Susan E. Dubé is currently consulting to public and private health care companies through her consultancy, Pegasus Advisory Group. Prior to establishing her consultancy, she was a co-founder and the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused in diseases of the central nervous system. Prior to Somaxon, Ms. Dubé was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Women First HealthCare, Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused in women’s health. Prior to WomenFirst, Ms. Dubé was the Senior Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development for Imagyn Medical Technologies, Inc., the Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Imagyn Medical, Inc. and the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Adeza Biomedical, Inc. She was also employed as the Vice President, Ventures at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Ms. Dubé holds a B.A. in government from Simmons College and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Reto A. Gadient, Ph.D.
Director, Biology

Before joining BrainCells Inc., Dr. Reto A. Gadient spent 10 years with AstraZeneca where he was a team leader and Principal Scientist within the Neuroscience Department. During his tenure with AstraZeneca, he was the Lead-biologist on one compound, which completed Phase IIa clinical testing (AZD2624) for schizophrenia. In addition, he was the project leader of two early-stage preclinical programs targeting schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Besides his experience in psychiatric indications, Dr. Gadient also worked on neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Gadient obtained an undergraduate degree in Neurobiology and a PhD in Cell Biology from the University Basel, Switzerland. He then completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University Basel, the California Institute of Technology and Novartis Pharma, Switzerland. At Novartis, Dr. Gadient obtained experience in the field of transplantation and immune modulation. He was part of the laboratory which contributed to elucidate the mechanism of action of Gilenya (FTY720). He is a co-author on 28 published papers and an inventor on 1 patent.

John Hutchinson, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research

Prior to joining BrainCells Inc., Dr. John Hutchinson was a co-founder of Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in inflammatory diseases. At Amira, John served as Vice President of Chemistry and DMPK and, as a member of the management team, he oversaw all aspects of the Amira IP portfolio. During his 5-year tenure at Amira, the research group discovered five novel compounds that successfully completed Phase 1 clinical trials. The leading compound, in partnership with GSK, is currently in late stage human trials as a potential treatment for asthma. Previously, Dr Hutchinson spent 17 years with Merck Research Laboratories where he was Director of Chemistry. During his tenure with Merck, he produced two compounds that completed Phase II clinical candidates (MK0591 and MK0429) and a number of safety assessment candidates for a variety of therapeutic indications including diseases of the central nervous system, inflammation, oncology, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Dr Hutchinson completed his undergraduate degree at Strathclyde University, Glasgow and obtained a PhD from The University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He is an inventor on over 100 patents and applications and he is a co-author on over 80 published papers.

Vanessa Jacoby
Director of Accounting & Controller

Ms. Jacoby joined BrainCells Inc in February of 2009 and currently serves as Director of Accounting and Controller. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Jacoby has served numerous biotechnology and life science organizations with various activities, including SEC reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley implementation and compliance. From 2006 to 2008 Ms. Jacoby served as a Senior Finance Manager of Artes Medical, Inc., a publicly traded medical technology company. From 2003 to 2006, she served in various positions, most recently as Revenue Manager of Dirversa Corporation (now Verenium Corporation), a publicly traded biotechnology Company. From 2000 to 2003 she served as Performance Analyst for Nicholas Applegate Capital Management, an institutional investment company. Ms. Jacoby began her career as an auditor for Ernst & Young where she served both public and private companies. Ms Jacoby received a B.S. in Business Administration from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in Sao Paulo, Brazil and a MBA from National University. She is a certified public accountant with the State of California.

Steven D. Targum, M.D.
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Targum is Acting Chief Medical Officer at BrainCells Inc. In addition to his work at BrainCells, Dr. Targum is Scientific Director and Principal of Clintara where he consults to the pharmaceutical industry regarding the design and implementation of clinical trials for new psychotropic drugs and the progression of drug development from concept to approval to launch. Dr. Targum is a consultant in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and CMO at Methylation sciences, Functional Neuromodulation, Inc., and chief medical advisor at Prana Biotechnology. He has been a Principal investigator in over 200 company-sponsored clinical trials as well as the founder of a global rater training company that sought to improve inter-rater reliability and study integrity. In addition, he consults widely to the pharmaceutical industry in the areas of protocol design, clinical trial methodologies, trial implementation, and study analysis. He was Professor of Psychiatry and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Mental Health Sciences at Hahnemann University School of Medicine (Philadelphia) from 1989-1995. He has published over 100 scientific articles in the areas of psychopharmacology, psychobiology, and clinical trials methodology. Dr. Targum has a B.A. in biology from Colgate University and an M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Pamela Wedel
Vice President of Clinical Operations

Ms. Wedel brings to the organization over 23 years of clinical operations and project management experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and CRO industries. Before joining BrainCells, she was Director of Clinical Operations at Therapeutics, Inc., a San Diego-based drug development company focused on dermatology-related areas of medicine. Ms. Wedel’s professional experience in the areas of CNS and neurology include senior positions at Ancile Pharmaceuticals, SIBIA Neurosciences and PAREXEL International. Other clinical research and operations experience include positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals, MAXIA Pharmaceuticals, Advanced Bioresearch Associates, Molecular Biosystems and International Clinical Research Corporation (acquired by Quintiles). Ms. Wedel holds a Bachelors of Science degree in biology from San Diego State University.