At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based COO’ operating in the Therapeutics space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Vivien Chan
COO of Eureka Therapeutics
Vivien Chan serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Eureka Therapeutics.
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About Eureka Therapeutics: Eureka Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focusing on immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.
R.J. Demman
COO of Vivera Pharamceuticals
R.J. Demman is the Chief Operations Officer of Vivera Pharmaceuticals. With over 20 years of comprehensive operations, relationship, and business development experience, Mr. Demman is well versed in the needs of high volume Companies. As Vice President of Relationship Marketing with several of the largest gaming institutions, Mr. Demman has crafted a number of high-level programs to increase revenue and growth while maintaining strong bonds with Tribal Councils, government regulators, and team members. Mr. Demman will use his extensive leadership and people skills to oversee the day-to-day operations and implement policies and procedures to promote Vivera’s continued growth.
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About Vivera Pharamceuticals: Vivera Pharmaceuticals is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company located in Southern California.
Bryan Giraudo
Chief Financial Officer & COO of Gossamer Bio
Mr. Giraudo is the Chief Financial Officer of Gossamer Bio. Previously, he was Senior Managing Director at LEERINK Partners, where he was responsible for LEERINK’s Western North America and Asia life sciences investment banking practice. Prior to joining LEERINK Partners in 2009, Bryan was a Managing Director in Merrill Lynch’s Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group. Bryan received his B.A. from Georgetown University.
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About Gossamer Bio: Gossamer Bio is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel and differentiated therapeutic products.
Pad (Padmanabh) Chivukula
Founder, CSO & COO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Padmanabh (Pad) Chivukula Ph.D., is Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Arcturus Therapeutics. He is responsible for Arcturus’ research and development activities, including clinical and non-clinical development and regulatory affairs for all of Arcturus drug products. Dr. Chivukula has an exceptional and technically solid foundation in nanoparticle technology. Prior to Arcturus, from 2008 until February 2013, Dr. Chivukula was employed by Nitto Denko Technical Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, where his titles included Group Leader and Chief Scientist. Dr. Chivukula brings over 15 years of experience in drug delivery and therapeutic drug development, including leading the polymeric RNAi research department at Nitto Denko.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Andrew Bartynski
Co-Founder and COO of ANA Therapeutics
Andrew Bartynski is the Co-Founder and COO of ANA Therapeutics.
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About AesculaTech, ANA Therapeutics: ANA Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing a novel coronavirus vaccine intended to save human lives.
Nick Galli
Chief Operating Officer of Interline Therapeutics
Nick Galli is the Chief Operating Officer of Interline Therapeutics. Prior to that, he was the Chief Business Officer at CytomX Therapeutics.
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About Interline Therapeutics: Interline Therapeutics is a drug discovery platform that enables the company to map and correct dysfunctional protein communities.
Steve Herbowy
Co-founder, COO of Pelvalon
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About Pelvalon: Pelvalon, Inc., a medical device company, develops solutions for women suffering from loss of bowel contro.
Eniko Fodor
COO of Verseon
Eniko Fodor serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Verseon. Eniko has guided Verseon’s technology and drug pipeline development and operational growth and has also overseen its finance and accounting functions through various stages. Previously, she was co-founder and COO of Pulsent Corp. An inventor of that company’s original technology, she was instrumental in growing the company and developing its products and technology. Eniko is an inventor on 25 patents and received her BS in physics from Universitatea Babes-Bolyai, Kolozsvár, Romania
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About Pulsent Corporation, Verseon: Verseon’s breakthroughs in computational chemistry, AI, & synthesis create novel pharmaceuticals. Atom by atom, we drive innovation.
Philip Lee
Co-Founder & COO of Senti Biosciences
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About Senti Biosciences: Senti Biosciences is a developer of a programmable biology platform for cancer therapies.
Paul Daruwala
Chief Operating Officer of Cidara Therapeutics
Paul Daruwala has over 22 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and will lead Cidara’s commercial and business development strategy and execution. Prior to joining Cidara, Mr. Daruwala was at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where he served as Vice President of the U.S. Viral Hepatitis Franchise and was responsible for leading the U.S. launch in HCV and running the HBV business for BARACLUDE. Prior to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Daruwala served as Vice President Commercial & Strategic Management at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he helped lead the U.S. launch of INCIVEK for HCV. At the time, INCIVEK became the fastest drug launch to achieve blockbuster status. Mr. Daruwala had previously spent 18 years at Merck in U.S. and global commercial leadership roles in antivirals, antifungals, anti-inflammatory products, business development, managed markets and sales management. Among these, he led the global commercialization efforts for the first approved echinocandin antifungal drug, caspofungin acetate (CANCIDAS). Paul received his degree in pharmacy from the University of Kentucky.
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About Cidara Therapeutics, Cidara Therapeutics: Cidara Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that specializes in the fields of healthcare and therapeutics.
Shenda Baker
President, Chief Operating Officer of Synedgen
Shenda Baker joined Synedgen as President and CEO in 2019.Dr. Shenda Baker has more than 20 years of experience conducting, generating funds for, and directing chemistry, materials science, and biochemistry research. She provides scientific leadership, manages the intellectual property as well as the scientific and regulatory collaborations, and provides financial and organizational oversight at Synedgen. Previously, Dr. Baker was a professor of Chemistry at Harvey Mudd College from 1991-2014. She served on the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society and has served on advisory boards with the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. She is co-inventor on all of the Synedgen technology.
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About Harvard Innovation Labs, Prisyna, Synedgen, Synspira: Synedgen develops novel therapies and products to reduce infection and inflammation of dermal, oral, mucosal, and ophthalmic surfaces.
Alexander Schuth
COO & Head of Corporate Development of Denali Therapeutics
Alexander Schuth is the COO at Denali Therapeutics
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About Denali Therapeutics: Denali Therapeutics is dedicated to defeating neurodegenerative diseases to deliver safe and effective medicines to patients and families.
Douglas Bonhaus
Chief Operating Officer of Neuropore Therapies
Chief Executive Officer at Neuropore Therapies, Inc.
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About Neuropore Therapies, Neuropore Therapies: San Diego-based Neuropore, a biopharmaceuticals firm developing treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Douglas Bonhaus
Chief Operating Officer of Neuropore Therapies
Chief Executive Officer at Neuropore Therapies, Inc.
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About Neuropore Therapies, Neuropore Therapies: San Diego-based Neuropore, a biopharmaceuticals firm developing treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Tamas Gorbe
Co-Founder and COO of Menten AI
Tamas Gorbe serves as a co-founder and COO at Menten AI.
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About Menten AI: Menten AI develops peptide and protein therapeutics using machine learning and quantum computing.
Kelly Wong
Co-Founder, COO, and Head of Biology of Via Nova Therapeutics
Kelly Wong is the Co-Founder, COO, and Head of Biology at Via Nova Therapeutics.
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About Via Nova Therapeutics: Via Nova Therapeutics is to discover and develop therapeutics for acute and subacute viral infections.
Jeffrey Friedman
COO of DTx Pharma
Jeffrey Friedman is the COO of DTxPharma and managing partner at Friedman Bioventure.
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About DTx Pharma, Friedman BioVentures: DTx Pharma is developing technology that will unleash RNA-based therapeutics as the modality of choice.
Ernest H. Pfadenhauer
Co-founder & COO of EPIOMED THERAPEUTICS
Mr. Ernest H. Pfadenhauer, also known as Ernie, is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc. Mr. Pfadenhauer is Co-Founder of Cenomed, Inc. and serves as its Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development. Mr. Pfadenhauer is the Founder of Cenomed BioSciences LLC and serves as its Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development. He has served as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, assisting principally in the manufacturing and controls area of new drug development. From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Pfadenhauer served as Director of Chemistry Research at NeoTherapeutics, Inc. In this position he was responsible for GMP synthesis and formulation of CNS and oncology drugs, compilation of NeoTherapeutics, Inc., Manufacturing and Controls sections of regulatory submissions, management of new drug pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and bioanalytical development, and was primary responsibility for biopharmaceutical areas of drug discovery. From 1987 to 1996, Mr. Pfadenhauer was employed in various positions as a research and project scientist at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, working in the clinical chemistry diagnostic, instrument design, and bioprosthetic heart valve development areas. While at Baxter, he was directly responsible for the design, manufacturing, and post-launch support of several successful commercial products. From 1970 to 1987, Mr. Pfadenhauer was employed at Newport Pharmaceuticals, where he served as the Supervisor of Quality Control, and later a Senior Research Scientist. During that period, he was involved in the analytical, pharmacokinetic, and metabolism areas of new drug development. Mr. Pfadenhauer serves as a faculty appointment at the University of California, Irvine. Mr. Pfadenhauer holds a B.S. and M.A. degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated Cum Laude and was awarded the highest honor in the Chemistry Department.
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About EPIOMED THERAPEUTICS: Epiomed Therapeutics is focused on the discovery and development of novel anti-emetic compounds for both the human and veterinary markets.
Michael Wood
Founder & COO of OncoMyx Therapeutics
Michael Wood is a Founder and Chief Operating Officer at OncoMyx Therapeutics.
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About OncoMyx Therapeutics: OncoMyx Therapeutics develops oncolytic immunotherapies to orchestrate an immune response and treat cancer.
Suzanne Lai
Co-Founder and COO of Wellocity Health
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About Wellocity Health: Wellocity Health offers a B2B SaaS platform for digital therapeutics where customers can brand, deliver, and adapt programs to their needs.
Brian Hilbush
Chief Operating Officer of ModGene Pharma LLC
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About ModGene Pharma LLC: ModGene Pharma, LLC is a preclinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Brian Hilbush
Chief Operating Officer of ModGene Pharma LLC
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About ModGene Pharma LLC: ModGene Pharma, LLC is a preclinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Kelly Flores
Chief Operating Officer of Dosist
Kelly Flores is the Chief Operating Officer at Dosist.
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About Dosist: Dosist is a developer of proprietary vaporizing dose-pens created to provide safe, targeted, and effective cannabis.