Board of Directors

Dr Melanie Lee, Chief Executive Officer

Dr Lee was formerly President of New Medicines and Executive Vice President R&D with UCB, having served as R&D Director at Celltech before its merger with UCB. Dr Lee brings a wealth of drug research and development experience to Syntaxin, through her early academic career at Cancer Research UK (as ICRF), a decade in research with GlaxoSmithKline and her later leadership of biopharmaceutical R&D at Celltech and UCB. Dr Lee also sits as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of BTG plc.

Professor Pierre Denys, Non Executive Director

Prof Pierre Denys, MD is Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Medicine University, Paris West –France, and a Senior Hospital Physician in the Neuro-Urology Unit, Raymond Poincaré Hospital, Garches-France, both noted centres of expertise and adult rehabilitation referral centres for patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.  Prof Denys has been a significant contributor to scientific research and has authored more than 100 publications. His main research activity has been on the urological sequelae of neurological damage and he has undertaken significant clinical investigations in all aspects of rehabilitation. More specifically he participates to establish the major efficacy of botulinum toxin in various urological conditions including neurogenic detrusor overactivity.  Within the pharmaceutical industry, Prof Denys has been on the advisory boards for companies including Ipsen, Allergan, Medtronic, Astra and Hollister and has been a clinical investigator for multiple large international companies including Glaxo, Yamanouchi, Pfizer, Lilly etc. Institutional Partnerships include INSERM (Centre for Innovative Technology, Raymond Poincaré Hospital and EA5401 (Neuropharmacology of urinary and sexual function: animal models for innovative therapeutic modalities). Vice dean of his medical school, he is also an active board member of several national and international medical associations.

Dr Deborah Harland, SR One

Deborah joined SR One in 2005 and leads SR One's investment activities in Europe.  In addition to Syntaxin, she is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Protaffin AG and Bicycle Therapeutics Limited and is an observer on the board of 7TM Pharma.  Deborah was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Addex Pharmaceuticals (IPO on SIX Swiss Exchange, 2007) and Pharmakodex Limited (sold to Orexo) and an observer on the Board of Ablynx (IPO, Euronext Brussels 2007).  Deborah has extensive drug development experience, gained during her 13 year tenure in the clinical development teams of Marion Merrell Dow and SmithKline Beecham where she was responsible for design, management and reporting of phase I, II, III and IV multinational clinical trials across several therapeutic areas and for providing medical marketing support for marketed products in the cardiovascular and CNS areas.  Immediately prior to SR One, Deborah spent over four years with GSK's Worldwide Business Development team where she evaluated in-licensing opportunities in the CNS and GI therapeutic areas.  Deborah holds a BSc. (Hons.) in Pharmacology from the University of Bath, a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of London, and an MBA from Henley Management College.

Dr. Eduard Enrico Holdener, Non-Executive Director

Dr Holdener has over 20 years of international pharmaceutical senior executive experience and was most recently Chief Medical Officer of F. Hoffman-La Roche's Pharma Division. He was also Global Head of Pharmaceutical Drug Development at Roche where he was instrumental in establishing and expanding Roche's therapeutic areas and in achieving several key international approvals for oncology, rheumatology, and virology drugs such as MabThera. He also led Roche's development operations in Japan for three years and was a member of the Chugai Co. acquisition and integration team during the Roche/Chugai merger in 2001. Dr Holdener holds a medical degree from the University of Zurich and completed a two year clinical and experimental fellowship in oncology at the University of Kansas Medical School, USA.

Genghis Lloyd-Harris, Abingworth Management

Joined Abingworth in 2004 from Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) where he was a managing director in the European equity research group based in London.  Genghis was responsible for coverage of the European biotechnology industry and was ranked first for Pan-European Biotechnology in the Institutional Investor surveys each year from 2001 to 2003.  Before joining equity research at CSFB, he worked for CSFB’s health care group in the investment banking division in New York.  Genghis was previously a paediatrician in Melbourne, Australia.  His current and past directorships have included HBI, Novexel, Solexa, 8 Synosia and Syntaxin.  Genghis holds a medical degree from the University of Liverpool in the UK, a PhD in clinical pharmacology from the University of Melbourne, Australian and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He focuses on exits of Abingworth’s venture investments via mergers and acquisitions and IPOs as well as venture investment in the UK and continental Europe.

Dr René Kuijten, LSP

Dr René Kuijten, MD PhD MBA, joined LSP in early 2001 as a general partner. He serves or has served on the supervisory boards of KuDOS (UK, acquired by AstraZeneca in 2005), DNage (NL, acquired by Pharming in 2006), OctoPlus (NL, IPO Euronext 2006), Kreatech (NL), Hybrigenics (F), BMEYE (NL) and Trinity (US) and has led LSP's investments in Morphochem (G, acquired by Biovertis in 2005) and Zealand Pharma (DK). René is also jury member of New Venture, a business plan competition; board member of the McKinsey Alumni Association and the Max Geldens Society for societal renewal; and board member of the NVP, the Dutch Venture Capital Association, chairing the committee for institutional investors. He recently was a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences committee, advising the Dutch government on gene patenting. From 1992-2000, René was a senior manager at McKinsey & Company in Amsterdam, Brussels and Zurich, and co-leader of the European Pharmaceuticals and Health Care Practice. In this capacity, he advised the management boards of several multinational companies on strategy, M&A, performance improvement and restructuring. René was trained as a Medical Doctor at the University of Utrecht, Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinics. He completed his PhD studies at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center and published in medical journals as the New England Journal of Medicine and Cancer Research. He has received research awards from the World Health Organization and the International Union Against Cancer, and the Talma Eijkman Prize and the U-Gene Research Award for his scientific endeavours. He obtained his MBA degree from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Dr Johan Kördel, Lundbeckfond Ventures

Johan Kördel joined Lundbeckfond Ventures as a senior investment director in 2010. In addition to Syntaxin, he serves on the boards of Karo Bio AB and EQL Pharma AB. Johan was previously a director of the boards of Index Pharmaceuticals AB, Respiratorius AB, iNovacia AB and Sound Biotech A/S. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry for 20 years and has co-founded a number of companies including Biovitrum AB (IPO OMX Stockholm Exchange 2006) where he was SVP of research as well as SVP of business development. He worked at Pharmacia for 10 years where he held a number of positions in R&D including that of deputy head of metabolic diseases and endocrinology discovery research. Johan holds a Ph. D. in physical chemistry from Lund University, Sweden, has worked at Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA and is an associate professor of physical chemistry at Lund University, Sweden.

Iain Wilcock, Seventure

Since 2008, Iain has represented Seventure's healthcare interests in UK and Ireland, and his directorships of Seventure portfolio companies include BiancaMed and Phosphonics.  Between 1994-2007, he was Deputy Managing Director of Quester, a leading UK venture capital business, where he founded their healthcare investment business. He is an experienced non executive director, having served on the boards of many biotechnology, medtech and white biotech companies, including Vivacta, Avidex, Oxxon Therapeutics and Xention.  Iain advised the UK Government on intellectual property rights between 2008-2010. He also has a role at NESTA Investments, a highly active publicly-funded organisation supporting innovation and early stage investing.  Iain holds a Biochemistry degree from the University of Oxford and has professional taxation and finance qualifications.

Zeev Zehavi, JJDC

Zeev Zehavi started with the Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation as a Vice President in October 1999. Zeev is headquartered in Tel Aviv, and is responsible for the venture capital investments in Europe and Israel. Zeev's background covers an extensive array of health care and health care related businesses. He spent over ten years with Teva Pharmaceuticals, including a five-year assignment as President of the bulk chemical business in North America. Following that experience with Teva in the United States, Zeev returned to Israel as President of Clal Pharmaceutical industries for four years before starting his own consulting business as Pharma Zee Ltd. During this consulting business for medical devices and pharmaceutical start-up companies, he actually initiated contacts with various Johnson & Johnson companies. Zeev is fluent in Hebrew, English and Arabic. He holds a BS degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as a MBA in Marketing and Finance from Tel Aviv University.