Board of Directors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Members of Aridis’ board of directors have extensive experience in the life science industry. This expertise coupled with the deep knowledge of infectious and respiratory disease further augments the Aridis leadership team.

John-Hamilton

Mr. Hamilton was elected to Aridis’ Board in 2015. Previously, he served as a director and audit chair of three companies: Vermillion, Inc. from 2008 to 2013; Anesiva, Inc. in 2009; and Encompass Funds from 2012 to 2015. From 1997 until his retirement in 2007, Mr. Hamilton served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Depomed, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Mr. Hamilton began his career in international banking with The Philadelphia National Bank and Crocker National Bank and went on to hold senior financial positions at several biopharmaceutical companies, including Glyko, Inc., which is now BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, and Chiron Corporation (acquired by Novartis). He sits on the regional Board of Directors of the Association of Bioscience Financial Officers. Mr. Hamilton received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Craig-Gibbs

Dr. Gibbs worked for Gilead Sciences for nearly three decades in a variety of leadership positions spanning research, corporate development, and most recently, Vice President of Commercial Strategy/Commercial Planning and Operations. His broad expertise contributed to the development and commercial launch of 12 FDA-approved drugs. He currently serves on the Board of Tobira Therapeutics and is an advisor to several biotechnology companies and venture capital firms. Prior to Gilead, Dr. Gibbs served as a Scientist in the Department of Protein Engineering at Genentech. Dr. Gibbs earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and his M.B.A from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

RobertRRuffolo

Dr. Ruffolo was appointed to the board of directors in April 2016. He has provided management, director, and consulting services since 2008 through Ruffolo Consulting, LLC. He served as the President of Research and Development and as the Corporate Senior Vice President of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer) from 2002 through 2008. In these roles, he managed an R&D organization of 9,000 scientists with an annual budget in excess of $3 billion.  Prior to joining Wyeth, Dr. Ruffolo spent 17 years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) where he was Senior Vice President and Director of Biological Sciences, Worldwide. Before joining SmithKline Beecham, Dr. Ruffolo spent six years at Lilly Research Laboratories where he was Chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Committee. Dr. Ruffolo served on the board of directors of Trevena, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRVN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, from 2010 to 2013 and has served on its scientific advisory since 2008. Throughout his career, Dr. Ruffolo has played a significant role in the discovery and/or development of a number of marketed products, including Carvedilol (Coreg®/Kredex®/Dilatrend®), Ropinirole (Requip®), Dobutamine (Dobutrex®), Eprosartan (Teveten®), and has authored nearly 500 full-length publications, more than 200 abstracts, and has edited 17 books. He received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy summa cum laude in 1973 and his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology in 1976 from Ohio State University.

Susan-R.-Windham-Bannister

Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in biopharma innovation, market access, and market optimization strategies. She has been recognized by the Boston Globe as one of the “10 Most Influential Women in Biotech,” by Boston Magazine as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Boston” and is the Chair of the National Governing Board of the Association for Women in STEM (AWIS).  From 2008-2015 Dr. Windham-Bannister served as President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which administered a $1-billion (USD) Life Sciences investment fund to catalyze innovation in all sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community. Since completing her tenure with the MLSC, Dr. Windham-Bannister serves as President and CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies, LLC, advising innovation initiatives in the U.S. and internationally.  Dr. Windham-Bannister received a B.A. from Wellesley College, a Doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Florence Heller School at Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (honoris causa). She completed her doctoral work under a fellowship from the Ford Foundation and was also a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. Dr. Windham-Bannister also served as a Fellow in the Center for Science and Policy (CSAP) at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.

Vu L. Truong, Ph.D.

Founder, CEO and Director

Dr. Truong is a founder of Aridis and was elected CEO in 2014 after having served as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer since 2005. He has more than 20 years of experience in biopharmaceutical drug development, having held positions of increasing responsibilities in companies which were eventually acquired by larger entities, including Gene Medicine (sold to Megabios), Aviron (sold to MedImmune) and MedImmune (sold to Astra Zeneca). Having maintained a life-long interest in infectious diseases, he has focused on researching and developing innovative human monoclonal antibodies and vaccines designed to address life-threatening infections. His product development experience includes FluMist™, Synagis™ mAb and a number of other monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics. Dr. Truong is the principal architect of Aridis’ technologies, which includes a range of anti-infective products and pharmaceutical processing technologies. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Eric J. Patzer, Ph.D.

Founder and Chairman of the Board

Dr. Patzer has served as a member of Aridis’ Board of Directors since 2005. He has more than 25 years of experience in biotechnology and was involved in the development of many pioneering biotechnology products at Genentech (Activase®, Protropin®, Herceptin®, and Xolair®) and managed a large part of the development effort as Vice President of Product Development. In 1996, he joined Aviron (now MedImmune Vaccines) as Vice President of Development to build the expertise needed to advance new vaccines from research through product development. He was project leader of the intranasal influenza vaccine (FluMist™) during preclinical and clinical development. Dr. Patzer received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Virginia and was a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow at Stanford University.