Our Advisors
Ronald L. Goode, PhD
Dr. Goode, Ph.D., is President & CEO of The Goode Group. Ron possesses considerable expertise in US and multinational operations including extensive experience in business development, clinical drug development, compliance, and regulatory affairs. Dr. Goode began his career at Hoffmann-La Roche and held key management positions at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (Director of Marketing Research → Vice President of Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs) and at G. D. Searle & Co. (Senior Vice President of Commercial Development → President of Asia/Pacific World Area → President of Searle International). At both of these major pharma companies he had an extensive record of success in business development and was responsible for company or product acquisitions/development, which later became their largest selling drugs.
Dr. Goode served as President and Chief Executive Officer of two public companies (Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and eXegenics Inc, of which he was also Chairman), both of which were ultimately successfully sold to large pharma companies. Other public companies of which he has served as a Director include Genitope Corporation, Vitro Diagnostics, Inc., Hokuriku Seiyaku, and Hikma Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Goode has supervised clinical development programs that led to the filing and approval of over a dozen successful New Drug Approval applications, including Pfizer’s Procardia XL, Searle’s Ambien, and Unimed’s Androgel.
Dr. Goode formed his own consulting company (dba “The Goode Group”) to advise Boards of Directors, CEOs, investment funds, and private individuals. He recently served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Labatec Pharma SA, a private Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company, and he sits on the Advisory Boards of several other private companies. Additionally, Dr. Goode serves as “Entrepreneur-in-Residence” at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a role which allows him early access to technologies developed by UTSMC’s faculty, which includes 6 Nobel Prize winners, 22 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators.
Ken Johnson, PharmD
Ken currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Global Development and Medical Affairs of Xeris Pharmaceuticals where he is responsible for leading clinical and nonclinical development, regulatory, quality and medical affairs. Possesses more than 30 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical benefits management, and academia. Most recently served as Executive Director, US Medical Affairs for Hospital Specialty Products at Merck and has held senior management positions in Medical Affairs and Outcomes Research at Circassia Pharmaceuticals, Durata Therapeutics, Horizon Pharma, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, NeoPharm, Searle/Pharmacia, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Began his professional career on the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, with a practice and research focus in therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical pharmacokinetics. Received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. Dr. Johnson holds a number of adjunct academic appointments and is a member of several professional societies.
Richard King
Richard is a dynamic pharma leader with a strong track record of success in Blue Chip, Specialty and Biotech start up organizations. Served as CEO at AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Spruce Biosciences and ProLynx, Inc, and has held C-suite positions at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, The Scripps Research Institute, Tercica and Kos Pharmaceuticals. In these roles, has had strong private and public investor connectivity, resulting in raising external financing of over $1bn. Closed multiple corporate development deals, including leadership of a $250M partnering transaction, sale and merging of businesses, and other individual product or country licensing deals. Possesses Board experience in private and public company environments. Earned his MBA from the Alliance Manchester Business School and a BS with Honors in chemical engineering from University of Surrey.
Rosemary Mazanet, M.D., PhD.
Medical/Regulatory and Business Development Advisor. Dr. Mazanet began her career in Internal Medicine and Oncology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute before starting at Amgen in the early 1990s as head of Clinical Research. At Amgen, Rosemary held broad responsibilities as one of the first U.S. trained clinician scientists in her field, where she led multiple successful product development initiatives, including FDA panel presentations for groundbreaking stem-cell therapies such as Neupogen. She moved into public equity in 1998 when she joined Oracle Partners LLC in New York as a General Partner, and has been a presence in public and private equity biotech and specialty pharma investments. She also serves on the Columbia Care Board of Directors and is an Emeritus Trustee at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and serves as the Co-Chair of the Leonard Davis Institute Executive Advisory Board at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Mazanet graduated magna cum laude from the University of Virginia and completed her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and Harvard Medical School.
Jane Wright-Mitchell, PharmD, JD
Jane Wright-Mitchell is a healthcare and life sciences attorney with more than 20 years of experience working with pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She currently serves as Principal and General Counsel at Lecar Life Sciences, Inc. a life sciences consulting company. In this role, she serves as a fractional General Counsel to companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, medical technology and cannabis industries. Prior to that she was General Counsel, Chief Compliance Office and Corporate Secretary with Vaxcyte, Inc., a vaccine development company. Prior to joining Vaxcyte she was Chief Legal Officer with Steep Hill, Inc., a California state licensed cannabis testing laboratory. She currently is a director for the boards of New Frontier Data, a data, analytics and technology company focusing on the global cannabis industry, and Canbud Distribution Corp, a Canadian publicly listed company with a fully integrated and licensed hemp CBD operation. Ms. Wright-Mitchell earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Clemson University, a doctorate in pharmacy (PharmD) from University of Illinois, Chicago and a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office as well as a licensed pharmacist (Illinois).