Mr. Demuth is the founding President of Torrey Pines Investment, responsible for the company's strategic investments. Prior to his work at Torrey Pines, he worked as a business consultant to biotech startups, as General Manager of Integrated Genomics, and in several roles at The University of Chicago, including work as an Administrator and as a technology advisor to the Arch Venture corporation. Mr. Demuth has 30 years of research and management experience in the international life science industry and academia.
Michael G. Palfreyman is a seasoned leader in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries with over 35 years experience. He has been an invited speaker and chairperson for a number of international and national conferences, is co-inventor on 35 issued US patents, 3 pending patents and co-author of over 150 scientific articles and book chapters. Dr. Palfreyman is currently Head, Translational R&D at ChemDiv, Inc. as well as Senior Scientific Advisor for Vitruvean, Inc.
Previously, Michael was VP, Program Management & Product Development at EnVivo Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the late stage discovery and preclinical development of two CNS drugs now demonstrating efficacy in clinical testing. As a co-founder NOVACE Corporation, Michael worked closely with Investors and Biotechnology Companies to bring products from discovery through to the value point of clinical validation.
Before joining NOVACE, Michael held a number of executive positions at Psychiatric Genomics, Scriptgen (Anadys) Pharmaceuticals as well as Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute (Sanofi-Aventis). In addition to overseeing research programs in Psychiatric, Neurological, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Infectious, Metabolic and Respiratory Disorders, Dr. Palfreyman's own research included discovery and development of a number of psychotherapeutic compounds for treatment of psychosis, depression, stroke, epilepsy, emesis, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers diseases. Many of these compounds have entered clinical development and a number have reached the marketplace.
Ian Wisenberg has more than 25 years experience in international business with an emphasis in finance, capital formation, business development and administration. He is founder and managing partner of BioGlobal Consulting Group (BGCG). Prior to founding BioGlobal Consulting Group, he served as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and CFO of BIOCOM – the world's largest regional life science trade organization.
Bringing a broad portfolio of expertise, Ian has a solid track record in capital development initiatives aimed at establishing strategic financial partnerships with local, national and international financing institutions. He was also responsible for establishing the VC incubator in San Diego. Of equal significance is his ability to foster international relations with government agencies and private institutions.
Mr. Wisenberg also serves on the Board of Directors for two San Diego biotech companies and is treasurer for the San Diego Venture Group. Prior to BIOCOM, he was Vice President of Finance and Administration, as well as Interim President, Secretary and Treasurer of Aerocast, Inc., a secured broadband media streaming company.
Mr. Wisenberg holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in accounting from Cape Town University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Chris was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Bay Partners for the last three years. Chris joined Bay after 10 years in start-up and mid-size biotechnology. Most recently he was co-founder of EnVivo Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing drugs for central nervous system disorders. Prior, Chris held research and project leadership positions at AGY Therapeutics and Genencor International.
Nick Saccomano has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries for the past 25 years. In that time he has managed drug discovery and development programs as well as the multi-disciplinary core technology departments which support the R and D process. Nick began his career at Pfizer in 1984 as part of CNS drug discovery. During his time in this group, he had the good fortune to be part of teams that brought important new compounds to and through development in areas of great medical need like depression, anxiety, psychosis and Alzheimer’s disease. In 1998 Nick was promoted to vice president in charge of discovery technology developing and managing a broad array of scientific disciplines including computational sciences, genomics, proteomics and high-throughput chemistry and biology. In 2004 was promoted to senior vice president at Pfizer in charge Strategic Alliances/Business development. In 2008 Nick joined Bend Research, a drug formulation and delivery company, as CSO and in 2010 he moved to SomaLogic, a proteomic-based diagnostic discovery and development organization as CTO. He remains an active advisor an/or board member to many organizations and institutions including Bend Research, Sea Lane Biotechnologies, Chemdiv, Colorado Bioscience Association and Northwestern University.
Nick graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1980 with a B.S. in chemistry and subsequently from Columbia University in 1984 with Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry under the guidance of Professor Gilbert Stork.
Nikolay Savchuk is President and CEO of ChemDiv, Inc. (San Diego CA) Chairman of Viriom Ltd and Chemical Diversity Research Institute in Moscow Russia and serves on the board of ChemRar Hi Tech Center (Moscow, Russia). He has led the ChemDiv's business team since 1998. Savchuk is a founder of the Inel Group of IT and media companies in Singapore and Russia, and was an industry representative to the Russian government's Pharma 2020 initiative. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and has more than 60 research publications.
