Board of Directors
Matt Winkler, Ph.D.
Chairman
Dr. Matt Winkler is CEO of Asuragen, Inc. He received a B.S. degree in Genetics and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley. He was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Hawaii and the University of California at Davis. He joined the Zoology Department of the University of Texas as an Assistant Professor in 1983. He is the author of over 30 scientific publications and has 9 issued patents. In 1988, as an Associate Professor, he started Ambion, Inc., a molecular biology “tool” company. Ambion became the preeminent ”molecular biology tools company” focusing on RNA with about 400 employees located in Austin, Cambridge, England and Tokyo, Japan. In 2002, he was the Austin winner of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and a National Finalist. In March of 2006, he sold the research products division of Ambion to Applied Biosystems and with about 100 employees started Asuragen, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company with a strong focus around RNA in general and miRNA in particular. In December of 2007, Asuragen created Mirna Therapeutics, Inc., as a “carve out of Asuragen” to develop cancer therapeutics based on miRNA.
Paul Lammers, M.D., M.S.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Paul Lammers is President and CEO of Mirna Therapeutics. Prior to joining Mirna Therapeutics, Dr. Lammers was most recently president of Repros Therapeutics. Dr. Lammers served for 6 years as the Chief Medical Officer for EMD Serono Inc. and began his career with Organon spending 8 years in the commercial and clinical operations in Europe and the US. He also served 4 years as Senior Vice President of clinical and regulatory affairs at Zonagen. Dr. Lammers obtained his Medical Degree and Masters of Science degree from the Catholic University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and moved with his family to the US in 1992.
Corey S. Goodman, Ph.D.
For over two decades, Dr. Goodman was a professor at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco, in the Department of Anatomy and Biochemistry. While at Berkeley, he was an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Evan Rauch Professor of Neuroscience, co-founder of the Wills Neuroscience Institute, and Head of the Division of Neurobiology. Dr. Goodman was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. He is a former Chair of the National Research Council’s Board on Life Sciences. Between 2007 and 2009, Dr. Goodman served as President of Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics & Bioinnovation Center and member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team. Dr. Goodman serves on the board of several biotechnology companies and is co-founder of Exelixis and Renovis. Dr. Goodman attended Stanford University as a Searle Scholar and earned a B.S. in Biology. He received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and conducted post-doctoral work at University of California, San Diego.
Christopher D. Earl, Ph.D.
Most recently, Dr. Earl was the first President and CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), a not-for-profit organization harnessing biotechnology industry R&D to create new medicines to treat infectious diseases of the developing world. Previously, Dr. Earl served as Managing Director of Perseus Capital, L.P., and the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, L.P. Earlier in his career, Dr. Earl was President and CEO of Avitech Diagnostics, Inc., and a General Partner of Plant Resources Venture Funds. Dr. Earl serves on the Board of Directors of the Infectious Disease Research Institute, Asuragen, Inc., and the Nature Conservancy of Maryland/DC. Dr. Earl received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University.
Evan Melrose, M.D.
Dr. Melrose is Founding Managing Director of PTV Sciences, a healthcare venture capital and growth equity firm. Dr. Melrose also founded PanTerra Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on the convergence of healthcare with information technology, and served as Director with Burrill & Company, a leading San Francisco life sciences venture firm. He has held faculty appointments at the University of California San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania, and currently Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Melrose serves on the boards of Orthokinematics, Asuragen, Inc., InSite Vision and Sinexus, Inc. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, his M.D. from Indiana University and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School.