Board of Directors

Jerel Whittingham; Interim CEO

Mr Whittingham is Managing Director of Amphion Innovations UK and leads their activities in the UK. He has extensive technology commercialisation experience in investor, start-up and opportunity development roles with companies including Amphion, VennWorks, Generics Group PLC, Durlacher PLC, and a materials science start-up. He has worked on commercialisation projects at a number of universities and leading European companies in diverse areas including media technologies, biosensors, diagnostics, materials science and medical imaging.

Mr Whttingham has spoken at a number of conferences and chaired sessions of both Nanomed and the World Nano-Economic Forum. His commitment to company building in the tech sector builds on earlier career experience in R&D and then strategy development roles. He is a graduate of London, Cranfield and Brussels Universities and is also on the boards of Amphion Innovations UK Ltd, of Kromek Ltd where he chairs the compensation committee, and of Myconostica Ltd where he is currently CEO.

David W. Denning FRCP FRCPath; Research Director

David graduated from Guy's Hospital in London in 1980 and trained in London and Glasgow in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases gaining additional experience in Paediatrics, Haematology, Gastroenterology and Immunology.

From 1987-1990 he undertook a 3-year Fellowship in Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Stanford University (Santa Clara Valley Medical Center) with Professor David Stevens. Here he sub-specialised in Mycology and in particular in Aspergillus infections. Since 1990, he has worked at the University of Manchester, building a group with expertise in susceptibility testing of fungi, diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of fungal infections, preclinical models to assess new antifungal agents, the pathogenesis of invasive aspergillosis, molecular typing of fungi and latterly the genomics of Aspergillus.

He led the international consortium sequencing the Aspergillus fumigatus genome, subsequently published in Nature. He has a continuing interest in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and other life- threatening fungal infections and has been closely involved in the conduct and analysis of clinical trials of itraconazole, voriconazole, Amphotec (Amphocil), caspofungin and micafungin.

Currently he works as a clinician at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, and runs the Aspergillus website, in addition to his research activities. He has published >300 research publications, and book chapters, runs a 15 strong research group with grants from the UK, USA and Europe, as well as multiple pharmaceutical companies. He has consulted with all the companies involved in antifungal development and/or been closely involved in their development, since 1987.

He is a former Board Director of the antifungal discovery company F2G Ltd, which he co-founded 1998, and continues to be Chairman of their Scientific Advisory Board.

Richard C. E. Morgan; Non-executive Director

Prior to his involvement with the company, Mr Morgan was a founder and CEO of Amphion Capital Partners LLC (the predecessor company) and VennWorks LLC. Mr. Morgan was also the Managing General Partner of Amphion Partners LLC (formerly known as Wolfensohn Partners, LP), a position which he retains, although the partnership is no longer active.

Before joining Wolfensohn, he spent 15 years with Schroders plc, a British merchant bank, where he was a member of the board of the merchant bank and head of the Schroder Strategy Group, which he founded.

Mr Morgan, a British citizen, was raised in Kenya and educated in England. He graduated with a B. Engineering First Class Honors from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In 1982 he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He has been a member of the board of directors of Celgene Corporation since it was founded in 1986; Celgene is now one of the top five biotechnology companies in the world.

John Thornback PhD, FRSC; Chief Operating Officer

Dr John Thornback began his career with AERE Harwell in 1979. In 1988 he joined Medgenix as Director of R&D and subsequently held a number of senior positions within the Company including being responsible for the global In vivo products business and UK Division where he turned the company into profit through a sales expansion of over 300% in 2 years. In 1994 he became Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Resolution Pharmaceuticals in Canada for 6 years. During this period, he raised C$10 Million by Private Placement to refinance the company.

In February 2000, he was appointed as Managing Director of Hammersmith Imanet Ltd, which is a 75%/25% Joint Venture between Amersham plc and the UK Medical Research Council. The company is a multi-faceted business with 85 employees and an annual turnover of approximately $11 Million. In September 2003 he was given the additional role as Chief Technology Officer for the Global Imanet business which involves developing the strategy for future expansion beyond PET. In 2005 John was appointed CEO of Enigma Diagnostics, a start up formed to exploit technology for the in field detection of harmful pathogens developed by the UK Ministry of Defence at Porton Down. He oversaw the transformation of the company's lead product from concept to launch in March 2006.

John has a B.Sc and Ph.D from Imperial College, London where he worked with Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, Nobel Laureate, He has held academic positions at a number of Universities, including Lecturer in Chemistry at Chelsea College, University of London(1981-3) and Loughborough University(1983-8), Visiting Professor, Faculty of Medicine Imperial College, London 2004, Visiting Fellow, Harvard University 1987-88 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1986 and Adjunct Professor, Dept of Chemistry, McMaster University, 1997-2000.

Dr Edwin Snape

Ed has over 40 years of experience in founding, investing in, and guiding the development of many public and private healthcare and specialty materials companies. He is a Co-Founder and General Partner of both Nexus Medical Partners and New England Partners in the private equity and venture capital arena. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of three public companies: Memry Corporation, a specialty materials healthcare company where he also serves as Chairman; Deltex Medical Holdings Limited, a cardiac monitoring company where he is also Vice Chairman; and Diomed, Inc., a leading supplier of endovenous laser treatment of varicose veins. Prior to these involvements, Ed was Managing General Partner of The Vista Group, a leading east coast venture capital firm; Chairman of Orien Ventures, a private equity firm with Pacific Rim affiliations; and a Director of the Cygnus Funds, two U.K.-based private equity firms specializing in investments throughout Europe. For these and other funds, Ed served on the Board of Directors and was a guiding force in the development of several successful public companies. Many of these, including Calgene, Ecogen, and Cyberonics, became highly successful public entities. Earlier in his career, he founded and developed the Liposome Company, which became public and was later sold to Elan Corporation for over $700 million. He also founded and developed Ergenics, a pioneer in applying metal hydrides for batteries, energy conversion, and transportation. He was also a principal of International Nickel’s venture capital arm which made initial stage investments in both Genentech and Biogen. He was also involved in the initial venture capital financing for Emulex Corporation. Ed holds several patents in the advanced materials field where he has pioneered various technological innovations and authored numerous technical papers. He has been a recipient of several awards in the material sciences industry, including the AB Campbell Award and the Hunt Silver Medal. His interests include skiing, scuba diving, boating, and the guitar, and he is active in several charities.

Dr David Holbrook

Dr David Holbrook leads MTI’s healthcare practice. He joined the firm in 2003. David qualified as a physician in 1983 and after a short spell in hospital medicine joined management consultants LEK. He spent seven years in Global Business Development and Licensing with Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome and Roche, and subsequently headed up Imperial College’s spin-out operations for four years as well as raising and managing the College’s seed fund.

Immediately prior to joining MTI, David was on the board of Onyvax Limited, a VC-backed cancer vaccines company. David also has an MA from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard University.

 

John Jeans

John Jeans has a broad background in the International Healthcare industry working for a number of companies including Smith & Nephew, Bristol Myers, Johnson & Johnson and Amersham plc (now GE Healthcare), spanning more than 36 years. His experience ranges from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to in-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics encompassing research, product development, manufacturing and commercialisation.

He is currently President of GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ commercial operations in Europe and Asia, Chairman of GE Healthcare Ltd, and President of the Life Sciences Global Service business. An active participant in industry associations, John has held executive posts in both BIVDA (British In Vitro Diagnostic Association), EDMA (European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association) and is a past President of AIPES (Association of Imaging Producers and Equipment Suppliers). He has also been an editorial contributor to the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine on industry matters and sits on various Government and Clinical bodies, including the Co-Chairmanship of a Ministerial Committee on Medical Technologies.

John has degrees in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Science, and is a Chartered Engineer.