Senior Management Team
Michael Narachi
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Narachi joined the Orexigen management team as President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2009. Michael has over 24 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience across a broad range of functions including clinical development, commercialization, strategic business development and planning. Prior to joining Orexigen, Narachi served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Ren Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private biotechnology company and Executive Chairman of the Board of Naryx Pharma, Inc., a private pharmaceutical company. In 2004, Narachi retired as an officer and Vice President and General Manager of Amgen's Anemia Business. Throughout his 20 years at Amgen, Narachi held various positions including: Product Development Team Leader for NEUPOGEN® Director of Clinical Operations in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Cambridge, U.K.; Vice President of Development and Representative Director for Amgen Japan; Head of Corporate Strategic Planning; Chief Operations Officer of Amgen BioPharma; and Vice President, Licensing and Business Development. He is also Chairman of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Narachi received a B.S. degree in Biology and an M.A. degree in Biology and Genetics from the University of California at Davis. He also received an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles.
Mark Booth
Chief Commercial Officer
Mr. Booth joined the Orexigen management team in August, 2009 as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Booth brings over 25 years of commercial and business development experience to Orexigen. Most recently, Mr. Booth served as President of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (TPNA) where he presided over the commercial, medical and scientific affairs, business development and all support functions. Under his leadership TPNA became one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. with sales of over $4 billion. Over the course of his career Mr. Booth has played an integral role in numerous co-development/co-promotional partnerships including Prevacid®, Enbrel® and Actos® which all achieved multi-billion dollar sales status. Prior to his role at TPNA, Mr. Booth served as Senior Vice President, General Manager at Immunex Corporation where he was responsible for the sales, marketing and project management functions. Before joining Immunex Corporation, Mr. Booth was at Abbott Laboratories where he served in a range of leadership positions including Division Vice President, General Manager for the $1 billion anti-infective franchise. Mr. Booth holds a BS in Biology from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Graham Cooper
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Cooper has served as our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary since May 2006. Previously, Mr. Cooper held the position of Director, Health Care Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank Securities. During his tenure from August 1997 to February 2006 at Deutsche Bank and its predecessor firm Alex. Brown & Sons, he was responsible for executing and managing a wide variety of financing and merger and acquisition transactions in the life sciences field. From August 1992 to January 1995, he worked as an accountant at Deloitte & Touche, where he earned his C.P.A. Mr. Cooper received a B.A. in Economics with highest distinction from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Eduardo Dunayevich, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Dunayevich has served as our Chief Medical Officer since August 2006. Previously, he spent five years with Lilly Research Laboratories where most recently he was a Medical Advisor in the Clinical Neuroscience Program Phase, a position he held from January 2005 to August 2006. At Lilly Research Laboratories, he was responsible for the development of several early phase compounds, overseeing protocol development, clinical trial implementation, data analysis and reporting and adherence to good clinical practice standards. Prior to joining Lilly Research Laboratories, Dr. Dunayevich served as Director of the Clinical Psychobiology Program, Psychobiology Inpatient Unit and Division of Clinical Trials of the Psychotic Disorders Research Program at the University of Cincinnati, a position he held from July 1998 to June 2001. Dr. Dunayevich obtained his M.D. from the Buenos Aires Medical School where he graduated with honors and received residency training in psychiatry at both the Hospital of the Italian Community, Buenos Aires, Argentina and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
Heather D. Turner
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Ms. Turner joined the Orexigen management team in July 2007 as Vice President, General Council & Secretary. For the previous two years she worked first as Corporate Counsel and most recently as Associate General Counsel at Conor Medsystems, LLC (previously Conor Medsystems, Inc.), in Menlo Park, CA, a company specializing in drug-eluting stents. From 1999 until 2005, she was an associate at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP (formerly Cooley Godward LLP), a national law firm, where she advised public and private companies, investors and board members. At both Conor Medsystems and Cooley Godward she advised on matters ranging from public reporting, public offerings, securities law compliance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, board and committee duties and other general corporate matters. Ms. Turner has a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law.
Jay Hagan
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Strategy and Communications
Mr. Hagan joined Orexigen as our Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Strategy and Communications in May 2009. Prior to joining Orexigen, Jay was a Partner at Groundswell Advisors, a biotechnology consulting firm, providing guidance and operational execution in corporate strategy, commercialization, financing and partnership opportunities. While at Groundswell Advisors, he served as acting chief executive officer of Unity Pharma, consulted to numerous small biotech companies, and served on the board of directors of Seredigm Corp. Prior to establishing Groundswell, Jay spent ten years at Amgen Inc. where he served in various senior business development roles, including founder and Managing Director of Amgen Ventures, and earlier as head of Corporate Development. His track record includes such notable completed transactions as the acquisitions of Immunex and Tularik as well as numerous other business development efforts totaling over $15 billion in value. Before joining Amgen, Jay spent five years in the bioengineering labs at Genzyme and Advanced Tissue Sciences. He received a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. at Northeastern University.
Dennis Kim, M.D.
Dennis Kim, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs
Dr. Kim joined Orexigen as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs in September 2008. Prior to joining Orexigen, he was Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of EnteroMedics. He previously held various management positions at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, including Executive Director of Corporate Strategy and program medical lead for development and commercialization of Byetta® (exenatide) for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Kim is a board certified endocrinologist and completed his fellowship in Endocrinology/Metabolism at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) focusing on pathophysiology of diabetes and metabolic syndrome and is extensively published in top peer-reviewed medical journals. Dr. Kim also received an M.B.A. degree from UCSD Rady School of Management with emphasis on biotech structure and strategy. Dr. Kim continues to stay active in educating medical students and physicians-in-training, as well as continuing to provide medical care to patients as Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSD.
Preston Klassen, M.D., M.H.S.
Senior Vice President/Head, Global Development
Dr. Klassen joined the Orexigen management team in November 2009. Prior to joining Orexigen, Dr. Klassen was the Therapeutic Area Head for Nephrology and Executive Medical Director at Amgen where he led global development efforts for the company’s renal franchise. While at Amgen, Dr. Klassen oversaw Phase 2-4 clinical activity for products addressing renal, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Dr. Klassen’s experience includes global regulatory filings, including NDA and sNDA submissions, development and execution of several large cardiovascular outcomes trials, and oversight of clinical commercialization activities for multiple marketed products, including EPOGEN®, Aranesp®, and Sensipar®. Dr. Klassen played a lead role in regulatory interactions related to the benefit/risk profile of erythropoietin stimulating agents for renal indications, including presenting at a 2007 joint meeting of the FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Klassen was a faculty member in the Division of Nephrology at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. Dr Klassen received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine, fellowship in Nephrology, and M.H.S. degree at Duke University.
Walter Piskorski
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Mr. Piskorski has served as our Vice President of Technical Operations since November 2007. Previously, he was Vice President, Manufacturing Operations of Sepracor, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focusing on the treatment of respiratory and central nervous system disorders, from February 1997 to June 2007 and served as a consultant to Sepracor from 1995 to February 1997. Prior to Sepracor, Mr. Piskorski was Vice President, Business Development of Armstrong Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1990 to 1995. Mr. Piskorski has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University.
Dawn Viveash, M.D.
Senior Vice President/Head, Global Quality, Regulatory Affairs and Safety
Dr. Viveash joined the Orexigen Management team in November 2009. Dr. Viveash has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, across all stages of development and product commercialization. Prior to joining Orexigen, Dr. Viveash was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety, at Amylin Pharmaceuticals where she managed regulatory affairs and the safety department for a product portfolio that included the company's obesity and diabetes pipeline. Prior to her role at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Viveash was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety at Amgen and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Safety and Professional Services at Immunex. While serving in leadership roles at Amylin, Amgen and Immunex, Dr. Viveash has overseen a number of successful NDA and BLA submissions along with corresponding global regulatory submissions; her experience includes products such as Enbrel®, Aranesp®, Sensipar®, Kepivance® and Byetta®. Dr.Viveash has participated on behalf of sponsors in several FDA Advisory Committees and has been involved in regulatory discussions regarding a variety of post marketing safety issues. Dr. Viveash holds a B. Pharmacy First Class, London School of Pharmacy, England, a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.), University College Hospital, London, UK.
Whedy Wang, Ph.D., MPH
Senior Vice President/Head, Global Biomedical Information
Dr. Wang joined the Orexigen management team in November 2009 as Head of Global Biomedical Information. Dr. Wang has over 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including directing biometrics efforts in five NDA and sNDA submissions (CellCept®, Ranexa® and Lexiscan®), two advisory committee meetings and two European submissions, all leading to successful approvals. Prior to joining Orexigen, Dr. Wang served as Vice President of Biometrics at Gilead Sciences Palo Alto (formerly CV Therapeutics). While at Gilead, Dr. Wang provided strategic input and biometrics oversight to U.S. and EU development and commercial efforts. As a member of the CV Therapeutics executive team, Dr. Wang contributed to the development of corporate strategy and led life cycle management planning. Additionally, Dr. Wang was the global project leader for Lexiscan® and Ranexa® where her contributions included presenting the development rationale and product life cycle management plan to potential EU and Asian partners. Dr. Wang also played a key role in business development discussions that resulted in successful collaborations, including the license agreement for Ranexa® in 68 countries including the EU with the Menarini Group. Dr. Wang holds a M.P.H., Epidemiology, an M.S. Biostatistics, and a Ph.D. Biostatistics, all from the University of Michigan.
Carol Baum
Vice President, Commercialization
Ms. Baum joined as our Vice President of Commercialization in March 2008. Prior to joining Orexigen, Ms. Baum served as Vice President of Marketing for Neurocrine Biosciences. During her tenure at Neurocrine from March 2003 to February 2008, she developed the strategic and tactical plan to support the U.S. launch of the company’s lead product candidate, indiplon. Previously, Ms. Baum served as a Marketing Director for Aventis Pharmaceuticals (now a part of Sanofi-Aventis), where she developed a promotional campaign and strategic plan to support the launch of Ketek. Earlier in her career, Ms. Baum held planning and product managing positions of increasing responsibility at Washington University School of Medicine, G.D. Searle and Fujisawa Healthcare. Ms. Baum holds a B.S. degree in Medical Technology from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A. from Webster University.
Suzanne McDonald
Vice President, Managed Markets and Government Affairs
Ms. McDonald joined the Orexigen Management team in November 2009 as the Head of Managed Markets and Government Affairs. Prior to joining Orexigen, Ms. McDonald served as Vice President of Government and External Affairs at Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (TPNA). In her role at TPNA, Ms. McDonald served as the company’s liaison with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) serving on key task forces effecting policy and legislation for the industry. Additionally, Ms. McDonald established the Government Affairs department at TPNA and established the company’s corporate presence in Washington D.C. where she led the development of strategic plans for product reimbursement. Ms. McDonald’s previous roles include Division Vice President and General Manager of Managed Care at Abbott Laboratories. Ms McDonald holds a B.S., Biology, from LeMoyne College, a M.T. (ASCP) from St. Mary’s Hospital/Rochester Institute of Technology, and graduated from the Women’s Sr. Leadership Program, Kellogg School of Management.