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Management

Mel Sorensen, MD, is a medical oncologist who has dedicated his career to clinical cancer research since completing his oncology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in 1988. He joined Ascenta in August 2004 as President and Chief Executive Officer and is Chairman of Ascenta’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai. Under his leadership, Ascenta secured $82M in two rounds of financing and advanced its lead program from preclinical development into multiple randomized trials.

Dr. Sorensen spent eight years in big pharma, in leadership roles in oncology clinical development, at Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline. He has experience with a broad spectrum of anti-cancer agents (cytotoxics, biologics, supportives, kinase inhibitors and other targeted agents) and all phases of clinical development (phase I-IV), regulatory approval and medical affairs. In 1996, he joined Bayer to build its first clinical oncology department, in West Haven, CT. In early 2001, he moved to GSK in the Greater Philadelphia area, where he was Vice-President, Global Leader and North American Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for Oncology.

Prior to Bayer, Dr Sorensen spent seven years at the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP), where he managed a portfolio of over 40 compounds with diverse tumor targets and mechanisms of action, collaborating with companies who were frequently the source of the compounds and with academic sites and clinics who performed the cancer clinical trials. Dr. Sorensen attended at a clinic for gastrointestinal tumors while at the NCI, organized and chaired the bi-annual Phase I meetings, and in later years led the NCI's Phase II grant program.

Dajun Yang, SVP Research

Dajun Yang, MD, PhD, heads up Research at Ascenta. Dr. Yang co-founded of Ascenta Therapeutics in 2003. In 2005, he established Ascenta Shanghai, the company’s wholly-owned R&D Facility in the Pudong High-Tech Park in Shanghai, China. Dr. Yang is also a Managing Director for biotechnology and healthcare in the Morningside Ventures Group. Prior to Ascenta, Dr. Yang was an associate professor of internal medicine and member of Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Michigan; an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and associate professor in the Department of Oncology and a senior investigator of the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University Medical Center.

Dr. Yang has more than 20 years of experience in cancer research and drug development. He is author and co-author of more than 60 papers, book chapters, patents and abstracts. Dr. Yang is the inventor of over ten national and international patents (issued/pending). He built the biology and pharmacology team for S*BIO Ltd Pte, a Singapore-Chiron Joint venture biopharmaceutical company where he served as the first VP of Biology. Dr. Yang also holds an appointment currently as an Adjunct Professor in Department of Medicine at the University of Michigan, and a visiting professor at the Cancer Center of the Sun Yat-sen University in China. Dr. Yang obtained his M.D. in 1983 from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), and his Master of Medicine degree in Oncology in 1986 from the SUMS Cancer Center. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Michigan State University. Dr. Yang served as president of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (CBA) from 2003-2004.

Lance Leopold, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Lance H. Leopold is Ascenta's Chief Medical Officer and Vice-President of Clinical Development. A board certified oncologist and hematologist, he came to Ascenta in February 2006 after several years in oncology clinical development at GlaxoSmithKline, where he had responsibilities for solid tumor clinical development programs involving chemotherapeutics and targeted agents. Prior to GSK, Dr. Leopold was at Wyeth for 3 years, where he was part of the core team that supported the Mylotarg NDA and post approval studies. Dr. Leopold began his research career at Temple Cancer Center and the Fels Institute for Cancer Research developing antisense and ribozyme-based therapies for chronic myelogenous leukemia. He was the recipient of an ASCO Young Investigator Award and Career Development Award. Dr. Leopold received his medical school training at University of Virginia and Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honor societies. He completed his internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology training at Temple University and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Ming Guo, VP Manufacturing

Dr. Guo joined Ascenta in 2005. Dr. Guo is also the general manager of the Ascenta Shanghai R&D Center, a subsidiary with chemistry and biology capabilities.

Previously he was at Pfizer for 8 years, where he led all aspects of drug manufacturing activities for multiple clinical drug development candidates in oncology, metabolic diseases, and infectious diseases. In addition to his technical leadership in process development and manufacturing, Dr. Guo was also responsible for project management of exploratory drug candidates. One of the oncology project teams he led was the recipient of a team recognition award just prior to his departure.

Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Guo spent 7 years at Monsanto and ABC Laboratories, where he was responsible for process chemistry research and the development of pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals. He built the organic chemistry program at ABC Laboratories as its new business line.

Before his industrial career started in 1991, Dr. Guo was an organic chemistry research associate at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and the Institute of Materia Medica (IMM) in China. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry from UCSD and a master's degree in medicinal chemistry from IMM.

Joel Sussman, CFO

Joel Sussman assumed the responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer for Ascenta in December 2007. Mr. Sussman is a financial management consultant who serves in the capacity of CFO for early-stage companies. His present and former clients include numerous venture capital-backed life sciences companies as well as companies in the fields of information technologies and services. Before beginning his consulting practice in 1995, he had fifteen years experience as Chief Financial Officer and/or Treasurer of public and private technology and healthcare companies. In 1997, he joined a client, CDNow, Inc., as CFO and took it public, resuming his consulting practice in 2001 after its sale to Bertelsmann AG. Mr. Sussman began his career as a banker and has an undergraduate degree from Yale University, an MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania.

Board of Directors

Mel Sorensen

View bio above.

Eckard Weber

Dr. Weber is a Partner at Domain Associates, where he searches for novel
drug products or technologies and founds biotechnology and biopharmaceutical start-up companies around those products or technologies. Dr. Weber actively manages, on an interim-basis, the companies he founds until permanent,
full-time management has been recruited. Dr. Weber has been founding
CEO of multiple biopharmaceutical companies in the Domain portfolio including Cytovia, Acea Pharmaceuticals, Novacea, NovaCardia, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Orexigen Therapeutics, Domain Antibacterial Acquisition Corporation,
Ascenta Therapeutics, Konova, and Renovia. He currently serves as interim
CEO of Tragara Pharmaceuticals and Syndax Pharmaceuticals, two seed-stage
biopharmaceutical companies. He is Chairman of the Board at Novacea,
NovaCardia, Cerexa, Orexigen, Novalar, Renovia and Ascenta. In addition,
he is a board member of Conforma Therapeutics, and Biovascular, Inc.

Lou Bock

Dr. Weber is a partner at Domain Associates where he creates companies around promising new pharmaceutical products. He has been founding CEO of multiple biopharmaceutical companies in the Domain portfolio including Cytovia, Acea, Novacea, NovaCardia, Novalar, Orexigen, Domain Antibacterial Acquisition Corporation, Ascenta, Ocera, Syndax, Tragara, Tobira, Sonexa and Calixa. He currently serves as interim CEO of Sonexa and Calixa, two seed-stage biopharmaceutical companies. He is Chairman of the Board at NovaCardia, Orexigen, Ocera, Ascenta, Tobira and Syndax. He was Chairman of Peninsula until it’s sale to Johnson & Johnson in 2005, Chairman of Cerexa until it’s sale to Forest Laboratories in January 2007, and a Board member of Conforma and Cabrellis until their sales to Biogen-IDEC and Pharmion, respectively. In addition, he is a board member of DiObex and BioVascular, Inc. Until 1995, Mr. Weber was a tenured Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California at Irvine. He has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience and has been a consultant to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 40 patents and patent applications, and he has published over 130 papers in scientific periodicals.

Marc Lippman

The work of Dr. Lippman, a renowned expert in breast cancer research, is noted for its focus on bridging the gap between basic tumor biology and clinical application. Prior to his current appointments at the University of Michigan, he held a number of positions at Georgetown University Medical School, including Director of the Lombardi Cancer Research Center, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Oncology, Professor of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology. He also served as Head of the Medical Breast Cancer Section of the Medicine Branch of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Lippman is the recipient of the Clinical Investigator Prize of the American Federation for Clinical Research, the Rosenthal Award of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society Lectureship award given by the American Society for Clinical Oncology, the Astwood Prize of the Endocrine Society, and the Brinker International Prize for Basic Research in Breast Cancer. He is the author of more than 500 publications and one of the standard texts on breast cancer. With sponsorship from Health Care Ventures, he was a cofounder of Oncologix, a diagnostics company that was eventually sold to Aronex; and a cofounder of Peregrine Biotechnology, which was sold to Techniclone. He serves as chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Perseus-Soros Fund. In addition to his board position with Raven, Dr. Lippman is a Director of Seattle Genetics. He received a BA from Cornell University and his board position with an MD from Yale University.

Mike Powell

Michael Powell, PhD, joined Sofinnova Ventures in 1997. In his 20 years of pharmaceutical development experience, he has worked on close to 20 clinical products and authored almost 100 papers. Prior to joining Sofinnova Ventures, he was Group Leader of Drug Delivery at Genentech (1990-97) where his focus was developing new therapeutics. In 1987 he was part of the founding team of Cytel; as Director of Product Development, he was responsible for the company's early growth that culminated in a successful IPO. Before this he was Scientist and Project Team Leader at Syntex Research, where he held several positions that provided an appreciation and overview of the many aspects of traditional drug development. Dr. Powell is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas, an Editorial Board Member of J. Pharm. Sci., a Scientific Advisor to the Controlled Release Society, and a Board Member for AVAC (AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition). He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1981, and completed his post-doctorate work in Bio-organic Chemistry at the University of California, where he was subsequently a faculty member (1981-84).

Norman Selby

Norman C. Selby is a Senior Managing Director at Perseus llc, a private equity firm and merchant bank based in Washington DC and New York City. Mr. Selby is responsible for Perseus's strategy and investments in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical products industries.

Mr. Selby served as President and CEO of TransForm Pharmaceuticals from 2001-2004. During his tenure TransForm grew from a start-up to a successful drug development company, signed major strategic alliances with Alza, Lilly and J & J, out-licensed two products and put its first proprietary compound in the clinic.

From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Selby was a Senior Officer at Citigroup/Citicorp. He joined as Executive Vice President and head of Global Audit and Risk Review, and was a member of the Citicorp Management Committee.

Prior to Citicorp, Mr. Selby was a Director (Senior Partner) in the New York office of McKinsey & Company, the international management consulting firm. In his 19 years at McKinsey, Mr. Selby's work was concentrated on strategy and organization issues for a variety of companies in the health care, consumer, communications and manufacturing industries. Mr. Selby had several important leadership roles at McKinsey, including head of the Firm's Global Pharmaceuticals Practice, head of the New York Office's Healthcare and Consumer Industry Practices, and member of the Firm's Principals Committee.

Mr. Selby has a BA in Architecture from Yale College, and received an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Mr. Selby is a member of the Board of Directors of Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM), and Nanobio, Inc. He is also Chairman of Windhover Information, the leading B2B publishing and information company in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries. Mr. Selby is a member of Harvard Business School's Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board.