Scientific Advisory Board

Magen Biosciences has assembled a world-class Scientific Advisory Board consisting of leaders from healthcare and biotechnology.

David E. Fisher, Ph.D., Chair
Chief of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Fisher is an expert the biology of melanocytes and their involvement in malignant melanoma and the development of therapeutic approaches. Dr. Fisher has received numerous awards, earned his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University and his MD from Cornell University. Dr. Fisher completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, clinical fellowships in both adult and pediatric oncology at DFCI, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

R. Rox Anderson, M.D.
Professor of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School and Director, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Anderson’s research interests focus on photothermal and photochemical skin treatments and in vivo optical diagnostics. Many of the laser treatments in dermatology were conceived and developed by Dr. Anderson. Dr. Anderson received his B.S. in Life Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Jon Clardy, Ph.D.
Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jon Clardy is a Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. Formerly, he was the Horace White Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell. He specializes in understanding how small molecules control biological processes. In particular, his recent work has focused on the identification of biologically active natural products and screening efforts to discover potential drug candidates to treat malaria and to control angiogenesis. He received his B.S. from Yale University and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University.

John A. D'Orazio, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky
Dr. D’Orazio’s clinical interests focus on genetic cancer predisposition, melanoma biology and pediatric hematology/oncology. He received his M.D. from the University of the Miami School of Medicine. Dr. D’Orazio completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and clinical fellowship at Children’s Hospital, Boston/Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston.

Peter Hutt, LL.M.
Senior Counsel, Covington & Burlington
Peter Hutt is a Senior Counsel in the Washington, DC law firm of Covington & Burlington, where he specializes in Food and Drug Law. Former Chief Counsel of the Food and Drug Administration, Peter participated in the drafting of most of the major legislation amending the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. He was recently named as one of Washington’s 50 best lawyers by The Washingtonian magazine and by Global Counsel as the best FDA regulatory specialist in Washington, DC. He holds a B.A. from Yale University, an LL.B. from Harvard University and his LL.M. in food and drug law from New York University. In addition to serving on Magen Biosciences Scientific Advisory Board, he will chair the company’s Regulatory Advisory Board.

Alexa B. Kimball, M.D., MPH
Vice Chair of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Clinical Unit for Research Trials in Skin (CURTIS)
Dr. Kimball is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and director of CURTIS, the joint Clinical Unit for Research Trials in Skin at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. She holds a number of major national appointments, including Chair of the Society for Investigative Dermatology Committee on External Relations and Chair of the Membership Committee for the American Academy of Dermatology. She received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, after obtaining a bachelor degree in molecular biology and public and international affairs from Princeton University.

James G. Krueger, M.D., Ph.D.
D. Martin Carter Professor in Clinical Investigation, Head of Laboratory of Investigative Dermatology, Rockefeller University
Dr. Krueger is the D. Martin Carter Professor in Clinical Investigation and Head of the Laboratory of Investigative Dermatology at Rockefeller University.  Dr. Krueger's work focuses on the study of cutaneous inflammation and autoimmune mechanisms in human skin and psoriasis in particular.  His research is fundamentally rooted in "bench-to-bedside" science, combining the clinical study of new medical therapeutics with laboratory study of relevant immunopathogenic mechanisms in human cells and tissues.  Dr. Krueger is co-director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, established by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health.  He has received multiple awards for his work including the Ahrens Award for Clinical Research from the Association for Patient-oriented Research, and the Distinguished Achievement Award and the Psoriasis Research Achievement Award from the American Skin Association.  Dr. Krueger is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

Robert S. Langer, Ph.D.
Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(advising Magen on the delivery of Magen proprietary molecules to the skin)
Dr. Langer is one of 14 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Langer has written over 860 articles. He also has over 500 issued or pending patents worldwide, one of which was cited as the outstanding patent in Massachusetts in 1988 and one of 20 outstanding patents in the United States. Dr. Langer’s patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 100 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies; a number of these companies were launched on the basis of these patent licenses. He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board, the FDA’s highest advisory board, from 1995 - 2002 and as its Chairman from 1999 - 2002. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ethan Lerner, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Ethan Lerner is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is interested in how things on the outside of the skin mediate effects on the inside. He is the author of over 75 articles and holds one dozen patents. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Elliott Ross, Ph.D.
Professor, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Elliott Ross is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His research focuses on how cells receive, amplify, integrate and sort information with particular interest in cell signaling pathways that involve GTP binding proteins. He received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University.

Phillip Sharp, Ph.D.
Institute Professor in the Center for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Sharp is one of 14 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Sharp served as Director of the Center for Cancer Research, Head of the Department of Biology and Founding Director of the McGovern Institute. Dr. Sharp discovered RNA splicing in 1977. For this work he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 300 scientific papers and is co-founder of Biogen Idec, Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY).

Christopher Walsh, Ph.D.
Hamilton Kuhn Professor, Harvard Medical School
Former President of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He is an expert in enzyme stereochemistry, reaction mechanisms and the mechanisms of action of anti-infective and immunosuppressive agents. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.