Board of Directors

Charles P. Theuer M.D., Ph.D.
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Theuer joined TRACON as its President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of its board of directors, in July 2006. Prior thereto, from October 2004 to July 2006, Dr. Theuer was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Development at TargeGen Inc, where he led the development of small molecule kinase inhibitors in oncology, ophthalmology and cardiovascular disease. From October 2003 to October 2004, Dr. Theuer was the Director, Clinical Oncology at Pfizer, where he led the clinical development of Sutent® (sunitinib maleate) in kidney cancer; Sutent® was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January, 2006 for treating advanced kidney cancer. Prior thereto, Dr. Theuer held senior positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals, from June 2002 to October 2003, and the National Cancer Institute, prior thereto, developing other agents, including small molecules and monoclonal antibody therapies. Dr. Theuer holds a B.S. degree from MIT, M.D. degree from UC San Francisco and Ph.D. degree from UC Irvine. He completed a residency in general surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Theuer held academic positions at the National Cancer Institute and at the University of California, Irvine, where he was a member of the Division of Surgical Oncology. His previous research involved immunotoxin and cancer vaccine development, translational work in cancer patients as well as gastro-intestinal cancer epidemiology.

John R. Bolton, J.D.
Director

John R. Bolton currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.  His portfolio includes Foreign Policy and International Organizations.  Prior to arriving at AEI, Ambassador Bolton served as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 1, 2005 to December 9, 2006.   From May 2001 to May 2005, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, also in the Bush Administration. Prior to this, Ambassador Bolton was Senior Vice President of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He supervised the AEI research program, financial oversight, dissemination of the AEI research and publications, public affairs and general management. Ambassador Bolton has spent many years of his career in public service.  Previous positions he has held are Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989-1993; Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, 1985-1989; Assistant Administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; General Counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982.  He was also an associate at the Washington office of Covington & Burling, and then a member of the firm from 1983-1985, after public service at the U.S. Agency for International Development.  Bolton graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from Yale College (1970), and received his J.D. from Yale Law School (1974), where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal.

J. Rainer Twiford, J.D., Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Rainer Twiford joined the Board of Directors of TRACON in 2008. He is President of Brookline Investments, Inc. (previously Capital Strategies Advisors, Inc.) which he founded in 1994. Brookline is a firm that provides investment advice to wealthy families and which concentrates on alternative investments, including investments in a number of biotechnology companies. Dr. Twiford is a member of the board of Care Investment Trust (CRE:NYSE), Smith Hospital of Georgia, Integrated Photonics and was a founder of Keystone Education and Youth Services, now a part of Universal Health. Dr. Twiford has B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Mississippi, an M.A. from the University of Akron and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

James E. Cantrell, Jr., M.D.
Director

Dr. Cantrell joined the Board of Directors of TRACON in 2008. Dr. Cantrell received his M.D. from Emory University School of Medicine, where he also completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine. He also completed Clinical and Laboratory Research Fellowships in Oncology and Hematology at Georgetown University Hospital. He currently serves as the Medical Director of the Joseph and Theresa Bruno Cancer Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

William T. Comer, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. William Comer joined the Board of Directors of TRACON in January 2007. Dr. William Comer was co-founder and Chairman of Neurogenetics, Inc. (re-named Torrey Pines Therapeutics in 2005), serving as interim CEO until April, 2002 and Chairman until 2005; he remains a member of the board of directors of Torrey Pines Therapeutics (NASD:TPTX). From April, 1991 until November, 1999, he was President and CEO of SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc. which became publicly traded in May, 1996 and was acquired by Merck in November, 1999. From 1961-1991 he was employed by Mead Johnson & Co. which was acquired by Bristol-Myers; he was responsible for discovery and worldwide clinical development of pharmaceutical agents and was President of Pharmaceutical Research and Licensing until the merger in 1989 to become Bristol-Myers Squibb, when he was Senior Vice President of Strategic Management.

Dr. Comer has served as a member of the board of directors for Trega Biosciences (formerly Houghten Pharmaceuticals) from 1993-1996, Epimmune (formerly Cytel Corp.) from 1994-2005, Chairman of the Board of Prescient Neuropharma from 2000-2002, and Tetragenex Pharmaceuticals (formerly Innapharma) from February 2001 to the present. He also serves the boards of the UCSD Foundation 2000-2006, UCSD Cancer Center 1992-present, UCSD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 1992-present, Dean’s Advisory Board for UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy, La Jolla Institute of Molecular Medicine 2000-present, and has served the California Governor’s Council on Biotechnology, California Breast Cancer Research Council, BIOCOM Board, and several national and divisional offices of the American Chemical Society. He received his B.A. in Chemistry from Carlton College in 1957 (Alumni Achievement Award 1997) and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Iowa in 1961.

Bertrand C. Liang, M.D., M.B.A.
Chairman of the Board of Directors

Dr. Bertrand C. Liang joined the board of directors of TRACON in March 2005. Since April 2006, Dr. Liang has been the Vice Chairman of PBS. Prior thereto, from March 2005 to April 2006, Dr. Liang was the President and Chief Executive Officer of TRACON. Prior thereto, since July 2002, Dr. Liang several posts with Biogen Idec including vice president of New Ventures and site head of development in San Diego. Prior to the merger of the Biogen and Idec companies, he was vice president of development, managing the hematology and oncology portfolio. Dr. Liang joined Idec from Amgen, where he led the development of various cytokines in the hematology/oncology franchise, including the clinical development and launch of Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), whose sales have reached over $1B since introduction to the market in 2002.

Dr. Liang served as study section member as well as section chair of a NCI Organizational Review Group, which evaluated all programs within the NCI and set recommendations for future direction of resource allocation for the institute. Dr. Liang serves on the boards of several private pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. Dr. Liang received his M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School and his MBA from Regis University, and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine, Neurology and Oncology at Brown University and the University of Michigan. His post-doctoral work in molecular genetics was conducted at the University of Michigan and the National Center for Human Genome Research/NIH, with molecular pharmacology work at the NCI. Dr. Liang has held academic positions at the NCI, University of Colorado and University of Vermont, where he led the Human Medical Genetics Division. His previous research involved the role of mitochondria and the mitochondrial genome in human cancers, translational research in cancer patients, and patented platform technology work in genomics discovery.

J. Jay Lobell, J.D.
Director

Since January 2005, J. Jay Lobell has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of PBS. He also has served as Chief Executive Officer, Secretary and a directors of Paramount Acquisition Corp. since June 2005. Mr. Lobell serves on the board of directors of Novadel Pharma Inc. (AMEX: NVD) and Innovive Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC: IVPH), and is on the boards of several private biotechnology companies. From 1996 through 2005, he was a partner in the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where he advised companies and individuals on a variety of business and litigation matters.. Mr. Lobell received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.