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Management Bios
Millennium management is dedicating their expertise, insight and passion to building a leading biopharmaceutical company.
Management Bios              



MANAGEMENT BIOS              

Deborah Dunsire, M.D., President and CEO

Christophe Bianchi, M.D., Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations

Joseph B. Bolen, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer

Marsha Fanucci, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Stephen M. Gansler, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Laurie Bartlett Keating, Senior Vice President, General Counsel

Anna Protopapas, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Clinical, Medical and Regulatory Affairs

Peter F. Smith, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Non-Clinical Development Sciences
Deborah Dunsire, M.D., President and CEO

Deborah Dunsire Dr. Dunsire joined Millennium in July, 2005 with nearly 20 years of experience in commercial, operational, clinical and scientific aspects of a world-leading pharmaceutical business. Her vision for Millennium is to establish a vibrant, growing biotechnology company, which discovers and develops new medicines that change standards of care in cancer and inflammation.

Previously, Dr. Dunsire led the Novartis U.S. Oncology business and played a critical role in the broad development and launch of successful products such as Zometa®, Femara® and Gleevec®. Notably, Dr. Dunsire managed 12 product launches and built the business from approximately $50 million to $2.1 billion in revenues over 10 years. Dr. Dunsire also was responsible in the U.S. for managing the merger and significant growth of the combined Sandoz Pharmaceuticals and Ciba-Geigy oncology businesses. Earlier in her career, she was a clinical researcher responsible for the implementation of global Phase II and Phase III studies across multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology, endocrinology, neurology, dermatology, oncology and transplantation.
Dr. Dunsire graduated from medical school at the University of Witwatersand in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2006, she was also awarded a Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Currently, Dr. Dunsire is a board member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Allergan, Inc., Museum of Science (Boston), CancerCare (New York) and the G&P Foundation for Cancer Research. In 2001, she was the recipient of the American Cancer Society Excalibur award, the 2000 recipient of the Health Care Business Women's Association Rising Star award and also the Creative Spirit award from the Creative Center for Women with Cancer.
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Christophe Bianchi, M.D., Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations

Christophe Bianchi Dr. Bianchi joined Millennium in February, 2006 with 17 years of experience in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. In this position, he not only oversees all operations through Commercial, but also prepares the market for new launches.

Previously, Dr. Bianchi built commercial and sales organizations, launched major brands, delivered sustained growth, and managed collaborations with partner companies. Dr. Bianchi spent the last five years at sanofi-aventis, where he led a $2 billion U.S. oncology business unit with the well-known brands Eloxatin®, Taxotere® and Elitek®. Dr. Bianchi headed the internal medicine and central nervous system business unit at sanofi-synthelabo with sales of $1.2 billion, including a 20 percent annual sales growth for Ambien®. Additionally, Dr. Bianchi served as President of Europe and Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Business Development for SangStat Medical Corporation, a global biotechnology firm focused on organ transplant that was later acquired by Genzyme. Earlier in his career, Dr. Bianchi served as Vice President of Global Marketing for Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, where he led many of the commercial efforts for the market-leading antithrombotic, Lovenox®.
A native of France, Dr. Bianchi also is a naturalized American citizen. He earned a medical degree from the University of Reims-Champagne in France and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, Dr. Bianchi is a board member of Penwest Pharmaceuticals.
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Joseph B. Bolen, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer

Joseph B. Bolen Dr. Bolen joined Millennium in 1999 as Vice President of Oncology and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Discovery Research in 2002. In this role, he headed all biological research in the areas of oncology, inflammation, metabolic disease and cardiovascular disease as well as all genomics, informatics and platform technologies.

In 2003 Dr. Bolen was appointed Senior Vice President of Research and Drug Discovery, a role in which he heads all biological research and related functions as well as all drug discovery functions. Dr. Bolen was appointed Chief Scientific Officer in 2006.
Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Bolen was Vice President of Oncologic Diseases at Hoechst Marion Roussel. Previously, Dr. Bolen served as the Director of the Cellular Signaling Department at the DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (a functional genomics and research division of Schering-Plough) in Palo Alto, California. At DNAX, Dr. Bolen was involved in immunology and oncology research and development efforts. Earlier in his career, Dr. Bolen was Executive Director of Oncology Drug Discovery at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Professor and Member of the Graduate Faculty at Princeton University in the Department of Molecular Biology. During this period, Dr. Bolen also served as a Graduate Advisor in the Physiology and Neurobiology Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Bolen graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.S. degree in Microbiology and Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Immunology. He pursued post-doctoral training in Molecular Virology at the Kansas State University Cancer Center, where his research was directed towards analysis of the DNA Tumor Virus, Polyoma. Dr. Bolen then joined the National Institutes of Health as a member of the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, where his research focus turned to the protein tyrosine kinase class of oncogenes. A founding member of the Laboratory of Tumor Virus Biology, Dr. Bolen also joined the National Cancer Institute and was appointed Chief of the Biochemical Oncology Section.
Dr. Bolen received the National Institutes of Health Award for Meritorious Research in 1990 for his key contributions to the discovery of the normal physiologic functions of the src group of protein tyrosine kinase oncogenes as key regulators of the immune system. Dr. Bolen has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters and has served on several journal editorial boards, including the Journal of Virology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Current Topics in Virology. Dr. Bolen has served on numerous study sections, panels and committees for the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Bolen also served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of Rutgers University and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Hollings Cancer Center.
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Marsha Fanucci, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Marsha Fanucci Ms. Fanucci joined Millennium in 2000 as Vice President, Corporate Development, where her responsibilities included corporate strategy leadership, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing. Promoted to Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Strategy, she was responsible for leading strategic efforts and overseeing the Finance team.

In July, 2004, Ms. Fanucci was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, where she is responsible for developing the overall strategy and business plan.
Prior to joining Millennium, Ms. Fanucci was Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy at Genzyme. Earlier in her career, Ms. Fanucci was a Vice President and Managing Director at Arthur D. Little, Inc., where she consulted with pharmaceutical firms on corporate and business unit strategy.
Ms. Fanucci earned a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from West Virginia University and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.
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Stephen M. Gansler, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Stephen Gansler Mr. Gansler joined Millennium in February, 2006 with more than 25 years of senior management experience in human resources and labor relations. He is responsible for overseeing all human resource functions, including the growth and development of talented staff.

Most recently, Mr. Gansler was Vice President of Human Resources at Synta Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on oncology and inflammation. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the Covanta Energy Corporation.
He also has held many senior human resources positions and was a member of the management board for several companies within the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, including DePuy, Inc., J&J Healthcare Systems, J&J Vision Products and J&J Orthopedics. At J&J, Mr. Gansler developed and implemented human resource strategies that supported businesses with annual revenue from $100 million to more than $1 billion; shaped worldwide leadership development and succession planning; and established recognition and incentive programs to enhance a high involvement, team-oriented corporate culture. He began his career in labor relations at General Motors Corporation.
Mr. Gansler earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Administration from Kettering University as well as M.B.A. and law degrees from Seton Hall University.
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Laurie Bartlett Keating, Senior Vice President, General Counsel

Laurie Keating Ms. Keating joined Millennium in October, 2004 with 25 years of legal, financial and operational experience. In this role, she establishes legal strategy and shapes the overall strategic direction.

Previously, Ms. Keating served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Finance and as a board member at Hydra Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs targeting novel ion channels. One of the co-founders in 2001, Ms. Keating was President and CEO. Prior to this position, Ms. Keating served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Iomega Corporation. She also served on the executive team at Sybase Inc., holding the positions of Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Earlier in her career, Ms. Keating practiced law at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen.
Ms. Keating earned a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
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Anna Protopapas, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Anna Protopapas Ms. Protopapas joined Millennium in 1997 and is responsible for leading strategic alliances, in-licensing, out-licensing, mergers and acquisition, and new ventures. During her ten year tenure at Millennium, Ms. Protopapas has been a driving force behind multiple strategic transactions that have helped transform Millennium from an early stage genomics company to a fully integrated, focused and growing biotechnology company. These transactions include the Velcade Co-Promotion and Development agreements with Johnson and Johnson, the sanofi-aventis collaboration, the Integrilin collaborations with Schering Plough and Glaxo Smith Kline and multiple genomics and genomic technology collaboration that brought well over a billion dollars in funding to Millennium. In addition, Ms. Protopapas has overseen the formation of development stage in-licensing, out-licensing transactions and the creation of several spin outs.

Prior to Millennium, Ms. Protopapas held various positions in engineering, marketing and business development. She holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Princeton University, a master's degree in Engineering from MIT, and an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School.
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Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Clinical, Medical and Regulatory Affairs

Nancy Simonian Dr. Simonian joined Millennium in 2001 as Vice President of Clinical Development and in 2006 was appointed Chief Medical Officer. She is responsible for clinical development, Regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance and development project management.

Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Simonian was Vice President of Clinical Research at Biogen, where she was responsible for the clinical development of AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a), Tysabri (natalizumab) and their oncology programs.
Dr. Simonian earned a bachelor's degree in Biology from Princeton University and received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine. She completed her medical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Neurology, was an Assistant Clinical Professor at MGH and Harvard Medical School, and is board-certified in Neurology.
Dr. Simonian chairs the Portfolio Review Committee at Millennium. She also is a board member of Arqule Pharmaceuticals. In 1995, Dr. Simonian was awarded the Physician Scientist award from the National Institutes of Health and in 1994 named an Ellison Scholar. In 1988, she was awarded the Academic Medicine, Clinical Medicine and Neurology prizes from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine.
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Peter F. Smith, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Non-Clinical Development Sciences

Peter Smith Dr. Smith joined Millennium in 2001 as Senior Vice President, Drug Safety & Disposition and Comparative Medicine with more than 20 years of experience in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Today, he is responsible for the preclinical development, comparative medicine and pharmaceutical sciences areas for all discovery and development programs.

Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Smith was a Vice President at Pharmacia, where he led a global metabolism and investigative sciences department of more than 300 scientists. Previously at Searle/Monsanto, Dr. Smith led the Metabolism and Safety Evaluation department. In this role he was responsible for the preclinical development of the Cox-2 inhibitors Celebrex® and Bextra®; the antimineralocorticoid Inspra® and the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonists, xemilofiban and orbofiban. Earlier in his career, Dr. Smith served as a Senior Research Toxicologist and Research Fellow in the Safety Assessment Department at Merck Research Laboratories, where he developed extensive project team experience working with leading pharmaceutical agents, including Mevacor®, Zocor®, Hyzaar®, Fosamax® and Proscar®.
Dr. Smith earned a bachelor's degree in Biology from Fairfield University, received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Arizona, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Biochemical Toxicology at Smith Kline and French Laboratories.
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