Board of Trustees
Charles V. Baltic III, JD
Needham & Co.
Mr. Baltic is an investment banker with Needham & Co. in New York City, focusing on the biopharma and life sciences industries. Until recently, he served as Managing Director, Investment Banking at CRT Capital Group LLC. Prior to joining CRT in 2006, Mr. Baltic served as Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking at Wachovia Securities for five years from 2001-2006 and headed Wachovia’s biotechnology practice in New York. Prior to Wachovia, Mr. Baltic was with Healthcare Investment Banking at Cowen and Company for six years from 1996-2001, ultimately serving as a Director of Life Sciences. Prior to beginning his investment banking career in 1996, Mr. Baltic practiced corporate and securities law with Dewey Ballantine. His transactional experience spans a broad range of public and private market financings and merger and acquisitions and advisory assignments for both public and private companies specializing in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Mr. Baltic holds a B.A. and J.D. degrees from Georgetown University and an MBA degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert Bazell
NBC’s Chief Science and Heath Correspondent
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967 with a B.A. in biochemistry and Phi Beta Kappa honors, he studied biology at the University of Sussex as part of his graduate work before returning to Berkeley to complete his doctoral candidate degree in immunology. Mr. Bazell pursued a dual interest in journalism and science by joining Science magazine in 1971 and writing for its News and Comment section. In 1976, he began a career in broadcast journalism by joining WNBC in New York as a reporter before moving to NBC News, where he was one of the first network news correspondents to report on the emerging AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. He continues to cover health and science issues for the network. His reports appear on NBC Nightly News, Today, and Dateline NBC. Mr. Bazell is a recipient of two Emmy Awards for his reports on the human brain, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, the Maggie Award from Planned Parenthood, and the George Foster Peabody Award for his service to broadcast journalism. In addition to his television accomplishments, he is the author of HER-2, the acclaimed account of the making of the first targeted cancer drug. Robert is the Hope Funds for Cancer Research 2008 Award of Excellence Recipient in Advocacy.
Mark B. Bardorf, JD
Bardorf & Bardorf
Mark is an attorney with the firm Bardorf & Bardorf in Newport, RI. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1991 and to Massachusetts and Rhode Island Bar in 1998. Mark received his B.A. from Lehigh University and his law degree from Boston University. He is a member of the Newport County and Rhode Island Bar Associations.
Mark is an accomplished sailor and serves on the Board of the Museum of Yachting.
Patricia F. Bilden, MD
Patricia is a dermatologist who has lived in Hong Kong since 1996. She received her BA from Georgetown University and her MD from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. She did her internship in Internal Medicine at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston and her Dermatology residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. She is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian International School of Hong Kong and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aquidneck Land Trust in Newport.
Her husband is a managing director of HarbourVest Partners, LLC, and has been director of the Hong Kong office since 1996.
Patricia and her husband are involved with the International Yacht Restoration School and the Newport Historical Society in Newport.
Raphael Blum
Pfizer Oncology
Raphy has been a marketing director in the Worldwide Oncology group in Pfizer since 2003 holding several leadership positions. He currently is Senior Director, Team Leader in the Oncology Worldwide Commercial Development Group responsible for the commercial development of Axitinib and Torisel for the treatment of patients with different tumor types. He was responsible for driving the strategies of the Camptosar (irinotecan) worldwide team, which had global sales of approximately $1.0 billion as well as driving the launch of Sutent in Japan. Raphy was previously responsible for the strategic development of the oncology portfolio in Japan. He also identifies opportunities and develops/ refines strategies for key customer initiatives including opinion leader and managed care strategies, competitive strategies and disease management initiatives.
He was a member of the Pfizer country team for Israel from 1998-2003. Prior to joining Pfizer, Mr. Blum was an Oncology Business Director for Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, a pharmaceutical company he worked for from 1989-1998. Raphy has a MA in Public Policy & Administration from Tel-Aviv University and a B.Pharm from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Mr. Blum works in New York City and lives in Dumont, New Jersey.
Leah Rush Cann
Research & Consulting, LLC
Leah is an independent research analyst in Newport, RI. She began her career as a research scientist with Memtec Corporation and moved to Wall Street in 1992, where she was a research analyst with CIBC Oppenheimer for nearly nine years. Leah was a heath care analyst for the Boston-based asset manager, Cadence Capital, and later the senior biotechnology analyst for Wachovia Securities. Twice recognized as an All-Star analyst by the Wall Street Journal, she is the founder of Leah Rush Cann Research and Consulting, LLC, a Newport, Rhode Island-based cancer research and consulting organization. Ms. Cann received a BA in Art History and Chemistry and an MBA from Stetson University. She was a post-baccalaureate at the College of William and Mary and a post-graduate at Columbia University.
Leah has been a trustee and member of several committees of International House in New York City for more than 10 years.
Jacalyn Egan
Jackie received her BA in English from Regis College. Her interests in philanthropy lead her to train at the Rockefeller Philanthropic Workshop. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Duniry Foundation. Mrs. Egan has served on the Boards of Regis College, the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, the Newport Art Museum and Association, and Project Healthy Children. Jackie and her husband, Bill live in Boston and Newport where they are involved in a number of charitable organizations. Jackie has served on the Hope Funds Gala Committee and has co-chaired the Hope Funds Gala for the past two years.
Melissa Eisenstat
Melissa’s career spans Silicon Valley and Wall Street. She spent seven years at Apple Computer and at a start-up software company in sales and marketing. She moved to CIBC Oppenheimer as the firm’s senior software analyst for nine years, then became president of Palladian Research, an independent equity research firm, and subsequently worked as a hedge fund consultant. A lifelong cellist, she currently performs solo, chamber and orchestral concerts in New York. In the not-for-profit arena, she serves as treasurer of her co-op board and as an overseer of From the Top, an organization that works with young classical musicians. Melissa received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA & MA from the Wharton School and Penn’s Lauder Institute.
David Garrett
Canaccord Adams
David Garrett is an institutional salesperson specializing in the healthcare sector. Prior to joining Canaccord Adams, he was a sell-side securities biotechnology analyst with Fortis Securities. He has extensive Wall Street experience in healthcare. Prior to joining Fortis, David was a biotechnology analyst with UBS Securities and prior to that with Wachovia Securities. David also worked as buy-side healthcare analyst at the mutual fund, Scudder, Stevens and Clark.
Antonio J. Grillo-Lopez, MD
At IDEC, Antonio J. Grillo-Lopez led clinical development of IDEC-C2B8 (Rituxan®, MabThera) which was approved in 1997 by the FDA for the treatment of patients with low-grade or follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At IDEC he also supervised the development of Zevalin, which is the first radioimmunotherapy approved for the treatment of cancer. For his medical work he was awarded the Leukemia Society of America Triumph Award, the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation Trailblazer Award and the Peter McCuen Cancer Research Excellence Award from the University of California.
Prior to his groundbreaking work at IDEC, he was Executive Medical Director for International Clinical Research Development at DuPont Merck for five years, Vice President, clinical Therapeutics and Director, Clinical Oncology Research at Parke Davis (Warner Lambert) for seven years and was Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Grillo-Lopez trained as a hematologist and oncologist at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, where he received his medical degree and later founded the Puerto Rico Society of Hematology and the Latin American Society of Hematology. Dr. Grillo-Lopez has authored over 200 publications, primarily in the fields of hematology and oncology, including co-authorship of the current international response criteria for lymphoma.
Dr. Grillo-Lopez was the 2007 recipient of the Hope Funds Award for Excellence in Clinical Development, a co-recipient of the 2008 Robert Tiedemann Award for Courage.
Leah Hartman
CRT Captial Group
Ms. Hartman currently serves as a Senior Vice President & Principal at CRT Capital Group LLC, focused on providing advisory and capital services to the biopharma and life sciences industries. Ms. Hartman is a biotechnology analyst covering Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc., Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Atherogenics, Inc., Athersys, Inc., Avicena Group, Cell Therapeutics Inc., CV Therapeutics Inc., Elan Corporation, plc, Exact Sciences Corporation, Human Genome Sciences, Inc., ImClone Systems Inc., Mannkind Corporation, Nektar Therapeutics, Neuro-Hitech Inc., NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc., Sepracor, Inc., Transdel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining CRT, Leah was an investment banker at Swiss Bank. She received her BS from Indiana University, her JD from Indiana School of Law and her MBA from University of Chicago.
Michael Hochberg, MFA, JD
Michael is a former corporate attorney who specialized in high technology companies with a focus on venture capital, mergers & acquisitions and initial public offerings. Currently, Michael is a writer and private investor. Michael was Corporate Counsel at Sycamore Networks, Inc. as it transitioned into a public company in the late 1990’s. Prior to that, Michael was a member of the Business Practice Group at the Boston law firm of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault. Michael received a BFA in creative writing from Emerson College, an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and a JD from Syracuse University, where he was a Law Fellow. Michael travels extensively and is an experienced sailor.
David L. Keefe, MD
University of South Florida Medical School
David joined USF from Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, RI, where he was an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, director of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence and at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, and director of the Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. He was also a research affiliate in obstetrics and gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. The fertility program led by Dr. Keefe introduced preimplantation genetic diagnosis and new methods to mature eggs before fertilization. The team also pioneered new methods to freeze eggs to help women facing loss of fertility from cancer treatment. Dr. Keefe holds bachelor and medical degrees from Harvard University.
He has served as the Director of the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists and President of the Boston Fertility Society, which in 1997 gave him both its Prize Essay Award and its Original Research Prize. Dr. Keefe’s other honors include the General Program Prize Paper of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Prize Paper. Woodward/White, Inc.’s Best Doctors in America Award, the Science Coalition’s Outstanding Research Breakthrough for 1998, and Brown Medical School’s 2002-2003 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Keefe was named one of the 2000 Outstanding People of the 20th Century by the International Biographical Centre and he is listed in the 16th edition of Who’s Who in the World.
Dr. Keefe is a Diplomat and an Examiner of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with a certificate of special expertise in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. A reviewer for several leading medical journals, he has authored 85 original scientific papers and 20 book chapters or reviews.
Dr. Keefe lives in Tampa, FL and Newport, RI.
Debra Kennedy, MD
Cephalon Corporation
Debra Kennedy has been Medical Director of Clinical Research Oncology for Cephalon since 2006. She is responsible for leading the clinical development of multiple investigational agents in oncology.
Dr. Kennedy received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from American University, Washington DC in 1992, and her M.D. from Medical College of Virginia, VA in 1997. Upon graduating, Dr. Kennedy trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and then completed her fellowship training in Medical Oncology, Hematology and Transfusion Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, MD. She is also continues to work towards her Ph.D. in Clinical Investigation at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, MD. She was on the faculty at LSU, New Orleans as an Assistant Professor in Oncology and Pathology from 2005-2006. Prior to joining Cephalon, Dr. Kennedy’s research spanned from benchtop carbohydrate synthesis to transfusion support in hematologic malignancies. Currently, Dr. Kennedy is responsible for five active clinical trials targeting kinase inhibition with study sites worldwide.
Susan Killebrew, MSW
Killebrew Capital Management
Susan is a trained therapist and social worker and lives in New York City and Newport, RI. Susan holds a BA from Salve Regina in Newport and a master’s degree from Boston University. She has served the public sector by attending patients in the public schools in RI and has been in private practice. She is currently Vice president and Treasurer of Killebrew Capital Advisors, an investment concern that raises assets for hedge-fund managers, including Merlin Biomed and Argent Financial Group. In addition to her professional life, Susan is a board member of the Star Kids in Newport, RI and the Boys and Girls Club of Newport, RI.
John Kooyman
Colgate Palmolive
John has been with Colgate for 11 years and has had management posts within USA and Nordic Group. John has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves on the Marketing Committee of International House and was a Trustee of International House from 1999-2001.
Scott T. Lewis
Mr. Lewis is senior investment professional with 25 years of experience. Scott has been a senior portfolio manager at ING Investment Management in New York, NY, as well as Credit Suisse Asset Management and Warburg Pincus Asset Management in New York. Scott received both his MBA and B. Sc. in International Business and Management from New York University. Aside from business, Scott enjoys fishing, hunting, sporting clays, travel, cooking, coaching youth football. He and his family reside in Wilton, CT.
J. Beresford Packham
Carl Marks Advisory Group
James Beresford “Berry” Packham is a managing director with Carl Marks Advisory Group since 1996 in New York City. His prior experience includes executive partner/COO/CFO of a privately owned quality sailboat manufacturer in Newport, RI and CEO of a New York based publicly owned security and protection organization. His management education includes NYU, Northwestern and Harvard Business School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and he received his BA, in economics at Manchester University, England.
Mr. Packham is a trustee of the International Environmental Research Foundation (IERF), which is a publicly supported organization, dedicated to undertaking scientific research into complex environmental science problems. The IERF provides grants to support environmental research and actively follows developments in the medical and scientific literature in occupational and environmental diseases. In addition, IERF transfers this knowledge to communities when such information is critical to public health decisions.
Berry is an accomplished court tennis player and an avid gardener.
John E. Parks
Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.
John is the Director of US Equity Research at Oppenheimer, formerly CIBC World Markets. He joined the firm in 1989 as a senior institutional salesman covering the New York City client base. He became Head of Domestic Institutional Sales in 1995 and Head of Global Institutional Sales in 1999. He has been a member of the firm’s US Management Committee, the Executive Committee, and Commitment Committee. He is also Chairman of the Research Review Committee and Chairman of the Benefits Committee. John began his Wall Street career as an investment banker and later as an institutional salesman at the First Boston Corporation from 1983 to 1989.
He holds a BA in economics from Princeton University and an MBA in finance from Columbia University. John is also a founding board member of EmergingMed.com which is the premier online clinical trial matching and referral service for cancer patients.
John Quackenbush, PhD
Harvard University/Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Quackenbush has been an active and valued member of our last two study session helping select our Fellows. John is a thought leader in genomic approaches to cancer, and a highly creative thinker. He helped write the guidelines for evaluating microarray data for the Nature family of journals, and runs a very productive research group at Dana Farber
Genomics has transformed biological science not by producing genome sequences and gene catalogs for a range of species, but rather through the development of technologies that allow us to survey, on a global scale, organisms and their gene, protein, and metabolic patterns of expression. The challenge is no longer how to generate these vast bodies of genomic data, but rather in how to best collect, manage, and analyze the data. As a community, we have a long history of studying biological systems and our best strategy moving forward is to leverage that knowledge so as to best interpret genome scale datasets. Our research group focuses on methods spanning the laboratory to the laptop that are designed to use genomic and computational approaches to reveal the underlying biology. In particular, we have been looking at patterns of gene expression in cancer with the goal of elucidating the networks and pathways that are fundamental in the development and progression of the disease. Education: Ph.D., 1990, University of California at Los Angeles
Joclyn B. Schaap
Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, A Wells Fargo Company
Mrs. Schaap currently serves as a Vice President in Consumer and Healthcare investment banking at Wells Fargo. Prior to joining Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia Securities) in June 2003, Joclyn was in the investment banking department at Nexus Health Capital, LLC and ABN AMRO. Mrs. Schaap holds a bachelors of science degree in business administration from the University of Florida where she graduated with highest honors. In addition to serving as a Trustee of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research, she is a member of the Wells Fargo Women’s Initiative Steering Committee.
David J. Straus, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
David Straus is a medical oncologist and hematologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Straus received his MD at Medical College of Wisconsin (Marquette), was a resident at Montefiore Medical Center, and held fellowships at Beth Israel Hospital/Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. Dr. Straus’s clinical expertise is in Hematology, Lymphomas and Hodgkin’s Disease, Multiple Myeloma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
O. Lee Tawes III
Northeast Securities
Lee is Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Banking, and a Director at Northeast Securities, Inc. From 2000-2001 he was Managing Director of Research for C.E. Unterberg, Towbin an investment and merchant banking firm specializing in high growth technology companies. Mr. Tawes spent 20 years at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and CIBC World Markets, where he was Director of Equity Research from 1991-1999. He was also Chairman of the Stock Selection Committee at CIBC, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and Commitment Committee. From 1972 to 1990, Mr. Tawes was an analyst covering the food and diversified industries at Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1972 to 1979 and Oppenheimer from 1979 to 1990. As a food analyst, he was named to the Institutional Investor All American Research Team five times from 1979 through 1989. In addition to serving on the Northeast Board, he is on the Board of Baywood International, GSE Systems, Houston American Energy, and 100 Wall Energy Partners. Mr. Tawes is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MBA from Darden School at the University of Virginia.
J. Gregory Van Schaack
President, Hedged Alternatives, Inc
Prior to joining Hedged Alternatives, Mr. Van Schaack had advised private clients at firms including Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and the United States Trust Company. Prior to becoming involved in asset management, Greg was a senior banking officer with Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Company.
Mr. Van Schaack is a graduate of Williams College. He is a former Trustee and Police Commissioner of the Village of Tuxedo Park, NY. Currently he serves as Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of the United States Court Tennis Association and is on the Finance Committee of the Freedom Institute in New York, an organization committed to substance addiction and rehabilitation. He is also a Governor of the Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park, NY and a member of the Brook and Racquet & Tennis Clubs in New York, NY.
Sharon Wood Prince
Mrs. Wood Prince graduated from Fisher College in Boston with a Bachelor of Science Degree and worked for 13 years at Diabetes & Endocrinology Associates in Providence. Sharon currently serves on the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Women’s Board in Chicago, the Newport Hospital Governors Board and is a Lifetime Member of the Miriam Hospital Women’s Association. Mrs. Wood Prince is interest in furthering cancer research due to personal experience. Her first husband, Steven D. Baron, died of Large B-cell NHL at age 57.
Orest Zaklynsky, MD
Newport Hospital
Dr. Zaklynsky is a general surgeon practicing in Newport, RI. Orest grew up in New York and trained at New York Hospital. He is Chief of Surgery at Newport Hospital and a member of the Lifespan system, which also includes RI Hospital and Brown University. Dr. Zaklynsky takes care of many cancer patients in the Newport Community.