Officer and became CEO in 1986, when Hybritech was acquired by Eli Lilly and Co. From 1987 to 1997 he was Chairman, President and CEO of Gensia, Inc., which merged with SICOR to become Gensia
Sicor, Inc., which was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals. He was a
co-founder
and Chairman of Viagene, Inc. from 1987 to 1995, when Viagene was acquired by Chiron, Inc. He was President and CEO of Women First
HealthCare, Inc. from late 1997 to June 2000. Prior to joining Hybritech, Mr. Hale was Vice President and General Manager of BBL Microbiology Systems, a division of Becton, Dickinson & Co. and from 1971 to 1980, held various marketing
and sales management positions with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a division of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. Mr. Hale also serves as Chairman of Biocept, Inc. Mr. Hale previously served as Chairman of Santarus, Inc., until its
acquisition by Salix, Inc. in January 2014, as Chairman of Somaxon, Inc., until its acquisition by Pernix, Inc. in 2013 and as Chairman of SkinMedica, Inc., until its acquisition by Allergan in 2012. He also serves as Chairman of a number of
privately held companies, including Neurelis, Inc., MDR Aesthetics Inc., Recros Medica, Inc., Clarify Medical, Inc., Neurana Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Adigica Health, Inc. Mr. Hale also is a
co-founder
and serves on the Board of Directors of BIOCOM, is a former member of the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, and the Biotechnology Institute. Mr. Hale also serves on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Economic
Development Corporation, and as a Board Trustee of Rady Childrens Hospital of San Diego and as Chairman of the Board of Rady Childrens Institute of Pediatric Genomics and as a Trustee of the Salk Institute. He is a
co-founder
of the CONNECT Program in Technology and Entrepreneurship. Mr. Hale holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Jacksonville State University. We believe Mr. Hale is qualified to serve on our
board of directors because of his extensive knowledge of our business and history, experience as a board member of multiple publicly-traded and privately-held companies, and expertise in developing, financing and providing strong executive
leadership to numerous biopharmaceutical companies.
Steven J. Mento, Ph.D.
is one of our
co-founders
and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since July 2005. From July 2005 until December 2012, Dr. Mento also served as chairman of
our board of directors. Dr. Mento has over 30 years of combined experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From 1997 to 2005, Dr. Mento was President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of
Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Mento guided Idun during its transition from a discovery focused organization to a drug development company with multiple products in or near human clinical testing. In April 2005, Idun was sold to Pfizer Inc.
Previously, Dr. Mento served as President of Chiron Viagene, Inc. (subsequently Chiron Technologies, Center for Gene Therapy), and Vice President of Chiron Corporation from 1995 to 1997. Dr. Mento was Vice President of R&D at Viagene
from 1992 to 1995. Prior to Viagene, Dr. Mento held various positions at American Cyanamid Company from 1982 to 1992. His last position was Director of Viral Vaccine Research and Development at Lederle-Praxis Biologicals, a business unit of
American Cyanamid. Dr. Mento currently serves on the boards of directors of BIOCOM, BIO, BIO Emerging Company Section Governing Body, BIO Health Section Governing Body, Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. and various academic and charitable
organizations. Dr. Mento holds a B.A. in Microbiology from Rutgers College, and an M.S. and Ph.D. both in Microbiology from Rutgers University. We believe Dr. Mento is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive
knowledge of our business, as well as his over 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including executive leadership in several pharmaceutical companies.
Harold Van Wart, Ph.D.
has served as a member of our board of directors since March 2007. Dr. Van Wart served as Chief Executive
Officer of CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. (formerly Metabolex, Inc.) and as a member of its board of directors from 2003 to 2017, and as President from 2001 to his retirement in 2017. He served as Chief Operating Officer from December 2001 to January
2003 and Senior Vice President, Research and Development, from October 2000 to December 2002 at CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. From 1999 to 2000, Dr. Van Wart was vice president and therapy head for arthritis and fibrotic diseases at Roche
Biosciences, a division of Syntex (U.S.A.) Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. From 1992 to 1999, he was vice president and director of the institute of biochemistry and cell biology at Syntex (U.S.A.) Inc., a biopharmaceutical company acquired by an
affiliate of Roche Holding Ltd in 1994. From 1978 to 1992, Dr. Van Wart served on the faculty of Florida State University. Dr. Van Wart holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.A. from SUNY Binghamton. He previously served on the
Emerging Companies and Health Section Governing Boards of BIO, as well as on its
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