PAUL ANDERSON, Ph.D.
Formerly Bristol-Myers Squibb

Dr. Paul Anderson is a medicinal chemist with more than 40 years of pharmaceutical research and managerial experience. He spent 30 years at Merck’s West Point research facility, where he rose through the ranks to become Vice President for Chemistry. After retiring from Merck in 1994, Dr. Anderson moved to DuPont-Merck Pharmaceuticals where he served as Senior Vice President for Chemical and Physical Sciences and later, in 2001, he joined Bristol-Myers Squibb as Vice President for Drug Discovery and Site Head. Dr. Anderson retired from BMS in 2002 and currently serves on the board of directors of several companies.

At Merck, Dr. Anderson was involved in research focused on the design and synthesis of molecules that act at neurotransmitter receptors and this led to the discovery of MK-80l. Dr. Anderson also led studies that resulted in TRUSOPT the first topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor for the treatment of glaucoma, as well as AGGRASTAT, an anti-platelet medication for coronary disease, and ZOCOR, a frequently prescribed drug for lowering cholesterol levels. Dr. Anderson also directed extensive research efforts at Merck and DuPont Pharmaceuticals to discover new treatments for AIDS. These efforts led to the HIV protease inhibitor, CRIXIVAN, and the HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor, SUSTIVA.

A past president of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Anderson has won many awards, including the National Academy of Sciences Award for Chemistry in Service to Society, the 2002 Perkin Medal from the Society of Chemical Industry and, in 2006, the American Chemical Society’s highest honor, the Priestly Medal. Dr. Anderson obtained his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Vermont in 1959 and his Ph.D. at the University of New Hampshire in 1963.

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K. FRANK AUSTEN, M.D.
Brigham & Women's Hospital

Frank Austen is the director of the inflammation and allergic diseases research section in the division of rheumatology, immunology and allergy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He also serves as the AstraZeneca professor of respiratory and inflammatory diseases at Harvard Medical School. His previous positions include chairman for the department of rheumatology and immunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Theodore Bevier Bayles professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Frank earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and an MD from Harvard Medical School, where he graduated cum laude. He conducted his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as chief resident from 1961-62. Frank completed research fellowships in immunochemistry, immunology and microbiology at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Medical Research, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, respectively.

Frank has published more than 500 papers on a range of subjects related to allergy and immunology. His research and teaching have led to a series of prestigious awards and honors, including the Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians, a Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize from Harvard Medical School and honorary degrees from Amherst College and the University of Paris.

JEROLD CHUN, M.D., Ph.D.
The Scripps Research Institute

Jerold Chun is a Professor at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.  He received M.D. and a Ph.D. in Neurosciences from Stanford University, through the Medical Scientist Training Program in 1988.  After postdoctoral studies at the Whitehead Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the medical school faculty of the University of California, San Diego, becoming full Professor (Pharmacology) in 2001.  He then joined Merck & Co. as a senior director and department head for Molecular Neuroscience, pursuing drug discovery programs.  In 2003, he returned to academia at The Scripps Research Institute, where a major focus of his research relates to receptor-mediated lysophospholipid signaling.

He has published over 150 manuscripts, and received multiple awards and fellowships including support through the Medical Scientist Training Program; Grass, Helen Hay Whitney, Alfred P. Sloan, March of Dimes, and Klingenstein Foundations and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has been or is currently on Editorial Boards for scientific journals and academic Advisory/Review boards for the NIH, Wellcome Trust, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (UK), The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, Genome British Columbia, Human Frontier Science Program, March of Dimes and Alzheimer’s Association.

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ANDREW TAGER, M.D.
Harvard Medical School

Dr. Andrew Tager is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, with appointments in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit and Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also the co-director of the MGH Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic and Research Program. His research concentrates on understanding the pathogenesis of fibrotic lung diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Diseases characterized by pulmonary fibrosis cause high morbidity and mortality, and are largely refractory to currentlyavailable pharmacologic therapies. Dr. Tager's laboratory is focused on improving understanding of the biologic processes involved in fibrogenesis, and on identifying the molecular mediators driving these processes. The laboratory recently published aseminal paper demonstrating that the lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor LPA1 links pulmonary fibrosis to lung injury by mediating fibroblast recruitment and vascular leak. Their results suggest that LPA is the chemoattractant predominantly responsible for recruiting fibroblasts into the lungs of IPF patients, and consequently is a critically important mediator of lung fibrosis. In addition to their work on LPA, Dr. Tager's laboratory is also investigating the role of another lysophospholipid mediator, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), in the lung’s fibrogenic responses to injury, including epithelial cell apoptosis, vascular leak, and fibroblast recruitment and persistence.

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SALLY E. WENZEL, M.D.
University of Pittsburgh

Sally Wenzel is a professor of medicine in pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine and Director of Asthma and Allergic Disease Programs at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the Department of Medicine teaching staff in Pittsburgh, Sally served as the Drs. Harold and Mary Zirin chair in pulmonary biology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences center and a professor of medicine at National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

Sally earned a Bachelor of science degree and an MD from the University of Florida in Gainesville. She completed her internship and residency at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. She is board certified in both internal medicine and pulmonary medicine.

Sally has received significant recognition for her work, including the American Thoracic Society Elizabeth A. Rich MD Award and the Colorado American Lung Association’s President’s Award. She has published extensively on the subjects of immunology and pulmonology, including significant bodies of work looking at the impact of various compounds on the leukotreine pathway, the role of inflammation in asthma, and asthmatic processes in children. Sally is currently the principal investigator for several NIH/NIAID grant projects researching various biological mechanisms of severe asthma.

Sally is a member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Board of Scientific Council and the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Scientific Counsel. She also served as chairperson for the VA Merit Grant Review Board and a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pulmonary allergy drug advisory panel.

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JOSEPH L. WITZTUM, M.D.
University of California, San Diego

Joseph L. Witztum is the director of the La Jolla Specialized Center of Research in Molecular Medicine and Atherosclerosis (SCOR) at the University of California, San Diego, based in La Jolla, CA, where he has served as a professor of medicine for nearly 20 years. Earlier in his career, Joe was a project director of the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial in the Lipid Research Clinic at UCSD. 
 
Joe received a Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an MD from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, followed by a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism in the Metabolism Department at Washington University School of Medicine.
 
Joe is a diplomat to both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Board of Endocrinology and Metabolism. He has served as Deputy Editor, Associated Editor and/or a member of the editorial board of numerous prominent peer-review publications, including the Journal of Lipid Research, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
 
His work has earned him numerous appointments and awards, including chair and keynote lecturer positions at multiple conferences, the Special Recognition Award in Vascular Biology from the ATVB Council and citation as an ISI Most Highly Cited Author.
 
Joe’s research in atherosclerosis, lipoproteins and a variety of related subjects has resulted in publication of nearly 300 manuscripts.

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