Board of Directors
Leslie Benet, Ph.D.
Chairman
Dr. Benet is an internationally recognized authority on drug development. He is former Chair of the Departments of Pharmacy and Biopharmaceutical Sciences at UCSF (1978-1995), and currently lectures at UCSF on drug development and the operation of the FDA. Dr. Benet has founded three start-up pharmaceutical companies and holds eleven US patents on pharmaceutical compounds He has received six honorary doctorates His research interests include pharmacokinetics, biopharmaceutics, drug delivery and pharmacodynamics, which has produced more than 490 publications and seven books. Dr. Benet is listed by ISI as one of the most highly cited pharmacologists worldwide. He presently serves on the Editorial boards of several biopharmaceutical journals. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is past chair of the International Pharmaceutical Federation, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as a member of the FDA Generic Drugs Advisory Committee and the FDA Science Board, and was the Chair of the CBER subcommittee of the FDA Science Board that delivered its review of science at the FDA in December 2007. He presently serves on the IOM Forum on Drug Discovery, Development and Translation, the Biodefense Standing Committee of the National Research Council and on the Boards of Directors of the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education, Impax Laboratories, and Institute for OneWorld Health. He is a Scientific Advisory Board Member and/or Consultant for more than 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
John Kilama, Ph.D.
Director, Kilama International Consulting Group, LLC (KICG)
Dr. Kilama is an expert in policy development on healthcare, biotechnology, bioprospecting and intellectual property. He has experience in pharmaceutical, and agrochemical chemistry. He is a Founder of Global Bioscience Development Institute (GBDI). He developed GBDIs’ Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Law training curricula used in training professionals in Africa and other developing countries. Dr. Kilama is also an expert in evaluation of technical assistance and international trade regulations for their impact on the economic development of developing countries. Dr. Kilama is a Director and Founder of KICG. KICG mission is to facilitate good management of IPR at institutional and national levels in emerging markets.
Dr. Kilama facilitated several effective partnerships between multinational corporations and institutions (private and public) in developing nations. Born in Uganda, Dr. Kilama received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Arizona, a Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky and Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Berea. Dr. Kilama worked in DuPont as a Senior Medicinal Research Chemist and is the holder of several patents. Dr. Kilama was on the Board of Directors of Public Private Partnership for Health (PPPH) Global Forum for Health Research, Geneva, Switzerland and Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors, Inc., Washington, DC USA. He is currently serving as a Board of Directors of Pytica, Inc. and as an Advisor to Global Health at The Children Hospital of Philadelphia and Scientific Advisor to Institute of One World Health and the International Organization for Chemistry in Development (IOCD), Belgium.
Victoria Hale, Ph.D.
Founder of Medicines360 / Pharmaceutical Scientist / Social Entrepreneur
Dr. Hale is the Founder of Medicines360, a pharmaceutical scientist and global health social entrepreneur. Her passion is the development of important new medicines for all of humanity, with the specific goal to reduce health inequities. Dr. Hale is Founder & Chair Emeritus of OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the US. She founded the company in 2000 and served as its first Chairman and CEO (2000-2008). Under her leadership the organization developed a new cure for visceral leishmaniasis, launched a novel approach to treat dehydrating diarrhea, and developed a platform technology to reduce the cost of malaria drugs by more than 10-fold. Dr. Hale established her expertise in all stages of biopharmaceutical drug development at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and at Genentech. She earned her PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of California San Francisco, where she presently maintains an Adjunct Associate Professorship in Biopharmaceutical Sciences. Her recent honors include being elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academies (2007), and being granted the MacArthur “Genius” Award (2006). She received the President’s Award of Distinction from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. She is internationally recognized as a senior social entrepreneur by the Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation, and Ashoka. The Economist named Hale the recipient of its Social and Economic Innovation Award (2005).
Beverly Winikoff, MD, MPH
President of Gynuity Health Projects
Before beginning work on Gynuity, Dr. Winikoff was employed for 25 years at the Population Council where she was Director for Reproductive Health and a Senior Medical Associate. She developed and managed the Council’s Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health, including work on Safe Motherhood, prevention of STD's/AIDS, prevention of unsafe abortion, provision of safe abortion care, and improving postpartum care for mothers and babies. Prior to joining the Council in 1978, she was Assistant Director for Health Sciences, The Rockefeller Foundation. Her work has focused on issues of reproductive choice, contraception, abortion, and women’s health. Dr. Winikoff graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude, earned her MD degree from New York University and her MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has served on numerous boards of directors including the Reproductive Health Technologies Project (founding member), Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH, founding member), the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), the National Abortion Federation, and The MediTeam Trust in South Africa. Dr. Winikoff is a Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in New York.
Arman Gokgol-Kline
Equity Partner and Analyst at Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, Inc.
At Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, Mr. Gokgol-Kline supports the management of the Sequoia Fund mutual fund and associated accounts with over $10bn in assets under management. At Merrill Lynch, he served as an Analyst in the Global Securities Research & Economics Group, and in the High Net Worth Group. Mr. Gokgol-Kline holds Series 7 and Chartered Financial Analyst licenses. As a student, he performed anesthesiology and pain management research at Harvard Medical School-Children’s Hospital, Boston. His degrees from Colby College are in Economics and Biology.
Secretary
James Snipes
Partner, Covington & Burling, LLP
Mr. Snipes is a partner in Covington & Burling’s corporate practice and a member of the firm's Management Committee. He is also a former chair of the life sciences industry group. For the past fifteen years, Mr. Snipes’s practice has focused on corporate and transactional matters for life sciences clients, ranging from private, venture-backed biotech companies to multinational pharmaceutical companies. The focus of his practice is strategic collaborations and complex licensing transactions; acquisitions and divestitures; spin-outs; venture investments; and commercial agreements in the biopharmaceutical industry. Mr. Snipes’s international practice experience includes a stint as head of Covington’s corporate group in London and two years at one of Tokyo’s leading corporate law firms.
