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Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)

Robert C. Gallo, MD Co-founder and SAB Chairman Director, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland

Robert Gallo is currently the Director of the Institute of Human Virology and Division of Basic Science at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Prior to becoming director of the Institute in 1996, Dr. Gallo spent 30 years at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he was head of its Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology.

During his time at the NCI, Dr. Gallo and his team were not only co-discoverers of HIV but pioneered the development of the HIV blood test. The AIDS virus blood screen now allows more rapid diagnosis of infection while simultaneously protecting patients receiving blood transfusions. In 1996, Dr. Gallo and his team his discovered that a natural compound known as chemokines can block the HIV virus and halt the progression of AIDS.

Prior to the AIDS epidemic, Dr. Gallo and his team identified the human leukemia retrovirus HTLV, one of few known viruses shown to cause a human cancer.

Dr. Gallo is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He holds 19 honorary doctorates and has been awarded the Albert Lasker Award in Medicine twice (1982 and 1986). Dr. Gallo was the most referenced scientist in the world in the 1980s and 1990s, and is the author of more than 1,100 scientific publications and the book “Virus Hunting - AIDS, Cancer & the Human Retrovirus: A Story of Scientific Discovery.”

Yuan Chang, MD Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Yuan Chang is a professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Chang, along with her husband, Patrick Moore, M.D., discovered Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also called human herpesvirus 8. KSHV causes Kaposi's sarcoma, the most common malignancy occurring in AIDS patients. Prior to their discovery, scientists had worked for 20 years to find an infectious agent associated with Kaposi's sarcoma.

Dr. Chang received her medical degree from the University of Utah College of Medicine. Prior to her position at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Chang was a professor of pathology at Columbia University. Along with Dr. Moore, She has published more than 90 articles and reviews in the medical literature. She serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Pathology and the Journal of Human Virology, and has received numerous awards, including the Meyenburg Foundation Award for Cancer Research, the Robert Koch Prize and the New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science & Technology.

Roger D. Kornberg, PhD Professor of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Roger Kornberg is a professor of structural biology and the Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor in Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine where his research is focused on understanding the fundamental workings of gene regulation. Prof. Kornberg was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his seminal studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription, the biological process by which genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA.

Prof. Kornberg obtained his PhD from Stanford University and did his postdoctoral studies with Aaron Klug and Francis Crick at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge (UK) where he discovered the nucleosome. His Nobel Prize-winning work included discovery of Mediator, a protein complex required to facilitate gene transcription, as well the solution of the three-dimensional crystal structure of RNA polymerase II, the most complex protein structure solved to date. Kornberg’s research has provided new insights into the mechanism of disease when transcription goes awry and offers the potential for unlocking new therapeutic approaches.

From 1984 to1992, Kornberg served as chair of the Department of Structural Biology at Stanford. Kornberg is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Prof. Kornberg has been honored for his work with the Eli Lilly Award, the Passano Award, the Ciba-Drew Award, the Gairdner International Award (shared with R. Roeder), the Hoppe-Seyler Lecture Award, the Harvey Prize from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), the ASBMB-Merck Award, the Pasarow Award in Cancer Research, the Le Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer, and the 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize.

John McHutchison, MD Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center and Associate Director, Duke Clinical Research Institute

Dr. McHutchison is a professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, and since 2002, has served as director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute’s Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research division. Dr. McHutchison is a distinguished GI and liver disease researcher, having conducted over 100 clinical studies as a principal investigator, and authored more than 150 papers on hepatitis and related topics in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. McHutchison’s clinical and research interests relate to chronic viral hepatitis B and C, ascites, noninvasive fibrosis markers, steatosis, and the immunopathogenesis of these diseases.

He previously served as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California and Medical Director for Liver Transplantation at Scripps Clinic after leaving his native Australia. He sits on many advisory committees where he provides independent and academic reviews of clinical studies and development plans. He also participates on a variety of committees and editorial boards, including those of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the University of Melbourne Medical School, the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom, and the journals Hepatology, Hepatology Reviews, Nature Gastroenterology, and the Journal of Hepatology (where he also serves as an associate editor). He currently chairs the American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) clinical research committee and is a member of the AASLD nominating committee.

Lee Meisel, MD, JD, MPH President of Windsor Bay Capital, Inc.

Lee Meisel is president of Windsor Bay Capital, Inc. and managing member of Orion Capital Group, LLC. He currently serves as a director of Targa Therapeutics Corporation.

Dr. Meisel previously was Vice President, Operations and director of CPS Chemical Corporation. While at CPS Chemical, he was a member of the executive management team that sold the company to Allied Colloids in the United Kingdom. At CPS, he was co-inventor of several patented chemical processes that covered numerous patented new compositions of matter. Dr. Meisel has worked as a corporate and securities attorney for the biotechnology industry at Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison in Palo Alto, California and as Chief of the Department of Anesthesia for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco.

He received his law degree from Stanford Law School and completed his medical training as a fellow in critical care medicine and a resident in anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School. His Masters of Public Health degree is from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Patrick S. Moore, MD, MPH Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Patrick Moore is a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and leader of the molecular virology program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). Dr. Moore focuses his research on the link between viruses and cancer.

Dr. Moore, along with his wife, Yuan Chang, M.D., discovered Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also called human herpesvirus 8. KSHV causes Kaposi's sarcoma, the most common malignancy occurring in AIDS patients. Prior to this discovery, scientists had worked for 20 years to find an infectious agent associated with Kaposi's sarcoma.

Dr. Moore received his medical degree from the University of Utah College of Medicine. Along with Dr. Chang, he has published more than 90 articles and reviews in the medical literature. He currently serves on the editorial board of Virus Research, Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Epstein-Barr Virus Report. He has received numerous awards, including the Meyenburg Foundation Award for Cancer Research, the Robert Koch Prize and the New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science & Technology.

Pat Scannon, MD, PhD Chief Biotechnology Officer, XOMA

Pat Scannon is the Company Founder, Executive Vice President, Chief Biotechnology Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors, of XOMA Ltd. Since 1980, Dr. Scannon has directed the Company's product identification, evaluation, and clinical testing programs. As Chief Biotechnology Officer, he heads the clinical and preclinical research programs, evaluating several classes of biologic compounds, and conducting clinical studies for infectious, oncologic, and immunologic indications.

Dr. Scannon holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He completed his medical internship and residency at the Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. A Board-certified internist, Dr. Scannon is also a member of the American College of Physicians. He has served as a Trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation and is a member of the University of California Berkeley Chancellor's Community Advisory Board.

He has served or is serving on the Boards of several companies and institutions, and is currently a member of the DSRC (Defense Sciences Research Council), an advisory board for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Dr. Scannon is inventor or co-inventor of several issued U.S. patents, and he has published numerous scientific abstracts and papers.

Hans Wigzell, MD, PhD Professor and former President, Karolinska Institute (SW)

Hans Wigzell was the President of the Karolinska Institute between 1995 - 2003. He graduated from the Karolinska Institute as a Physician (MD). He also attained a DSc and took a post as a special cancer scientist with the Swedish Cancer Society. In 1971 he returned to the Karolinska as Acting Associate Professor in the Department of Tumor Biology. After two years he became a Professor in the Department of Immunology at Uppsala University Medical School. In 1982 he returned again to the Karolinska as a Professor in the Department of Immunology and in 1988 he became Director General of the National Bacteriological Laboratory in Stockholm.

In 1990 he was elected Chairman of the EU Concerted Research Programme into AIDS vaccination and from 1990-1992 he was Chairman of the Nobel Committee. In 1993 he was appointed Secretary-General of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. Since 1999 he has been a Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Government, and he is one of eleven appointed advisors to the EU-commissioner for research Philippe Busquin on life science issues.

He was appointed Chairman of the Nobel Assembly in 2000 and in 2002 he has been appointed Chairman for the WHO-UNAIDS Vaccine Advisory Committee. Professor Wigzell is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, the Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, EMBO, Academia Europea and honorary member of the American Society for Immunology.

Professor Wigzell has been awarded a number of prizes including the Anders Jahre Medical Prize, the Erik Fernstrom's Prize for Young Scientists, the Russel Weiser Lecturer Prize and the Smith Lecture Award. He has published over 600 articles and is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals.

Howard J. Worman, MD Professor of Medicine, Columbia University

Howard Worman is Associate Professor of Medicine and Anatomy and Cell Biology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases of the Medical Service at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia-Presbyterian Center. Dr. Worman received his B.A. from Cornell University and M.D. from the University of Chicago. He did clinical training in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and postdoctoral research training in cell biology at Rockefeller University.

His laboratory research is focused on the cell biology of cancer, the effects of the hepatitis C virus on liver cells and the characterization of antibodies in autoimmune liver diseases. Dr. Worman's clinical practice is devoted to consultation in liver diseases. He has also been principal investigator and FDA Sponsor of investigational new drug trials for patients with chronic hepatitis C. In 1998, Dr. Worman was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigator.

Dr. Worman has published more than 70 medical and scientific papers and serves on the Editorial Board of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Society for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the World Journal of Gastroenterology. He also has numerous publications on liver diseases for the lay audience. He is author of The Liver Disorders Sourcebook (Lowell House, 1999) and creator of the popular Diseases of the Liver Web site.