Chief Executive Officer
Gonul Velicelebi
Dr. Gonul Velicelebi brings 24 years of research and management experience in biotechnology. Before founding CalciMedica in December 2006, Dr. Velicelebi was Vice President of Research and Drug Discovery at TorreyPines Therapeutics. During her tenure at TorreyPines since its inception as Neurogenetics, Inc. in 2000, Dr. Velicelebi was a member of the executive team and played a key role in its maturation from a start-up to a public company.
Director
Kent Gossett
Dr. Gossett is a Partner of SR One in Conshohocken, PA, USA. Kent joined SR One in 2003.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of CalciMedica and Locus Pharmaceuticals and an Observer for Scynexis Pharmaceuticals.
He was previously Director of Protez Pharmaceuticals, Algeta ASA, and Alere Medical and Observer for Morphotek. Kent has 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry in safety assessment, drug development, business development and venture capital.
Kent received his DVM and MS from Purdue University, his PhD in Veterinary Clinical Pathology from Louisiana State University, and his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Director
Gordon Wong
Dr. Gordon Wong is an accomplished executive and scientist with a successful record of innovative leadership and management in corporate venture, biologics technology, discovery and development. At Biogen Idec, Dr. Wong, VP led efforts to find and develop strategic technologies and products. His successes have led to the licensing of biologics from Amorfix (2010) and Avitx (2009), the acquisition of Syntonix (2007) and to the founding of Virdante (2008). Prior to Biogen, Dr. Wong was co-Founder and CSO of Compound Therapeutics ( renamed Adnexus) which was acquired for $475 M USD by Bristol Meyers Squibb. Dr. Wong has an accomplished record of inventions and publications in molecular biology, gene discovery, functional genomics, protein engineering and drug discovery. He has discovered 7 proprietary biologics drug candidates (GM CSF, M CSF, IL-6, LIF, IL-12, JE cytokine, EPO receptor) of which 4 entered Phase I /II clinical trials. Dr.
Vice President
Jeffrey P. Whitten
Dr. Jeffrey P. Whitten brings to CalciMedica more than twenty-five years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Previously, he served as Vice President of Research at Cylene, Director of Chemistry at Neurocrine, Group Leader at Marion Merrell Dow (now Aventis) and as a chemist at Glaxo Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz (now Novartis). He has been responsible for the discovery and development of numerous clinical candidates for a variety of diseases and has also worked on the teams that brought Allegra and Albutamol to the market.
Director
Jack Roos
Dr. Jack Roos has 12 years of research and discovery experience, with more than five of those in biotechnology. Prior to joining CalciMedica, Dr. Roos was Principal Scientist at TorreyPines Therapeutics. Dr. Roos, along with Dr. Stauderman, co-authored the discovery of STIM1, which has an essential role in CRAC channel activity and which is important for immune cell activation.