Management Team    
       
 

Bryan Walser, M.D., J.D.
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Walser was appointed to the position of interim Chief Executive Officer in April 2007, and CEO in November 2007. He came to Perlegen from Chiron Corporation, in Emeryville, California, where he was a member of the Executive Committee and served, since 2001, as Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs. Before that, Dr. Walser was a principal with WRW Advisors in Los Angeles, California, and served as an emergency room physician at UCLA. He has also spent five years with The Boston Consulting Group's healthcare practice, based in Los Angeles. He holds a BS in Biology from Stanford University, an M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Dr. Walser was a Fulbright Fellow in Central Java, Indonesia, and has conducted biomedical and epidemiological research in the favelas of northeastern Brazil, in addition to nearly a decade of bench research.

David R. Cox, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder

Dr. Cox is a co-founder of Perlegen, and has been Chief Scientific Officer of the company since its formation in 2000. Dr. Cox was Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine as well as the co-director of the Stanford Genome Center. He obtained his A.B. and M.S. degrees from Brown University in Rhode Island and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, Seattle. He completed a Pediatric Residency at the Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut and was a Fellow in both genetics and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Cox is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Medical Genetics. He was an active participant in the large scale mapping and sequencing efforts of the Human Genome Project while carrying out research involving the molecular basis of human genetic disease. Dr. Cox has been a member of several commissions and boards, including the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) and the Health Sciences Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine. He has also served on a number of international committees, including the Council of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has served on numerous editorial boards. Dr. Cox’s honors include election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Brad A. Margus
Executive Vice Chairman & Co-Founder

Mr. Margus is a co-founder of Perlegen, and was appointed to the position of Executive Vice Chairman of the company in April 2007 following a seven year tenure as Chief Executive Officer. After obtaining his M.B.A. from Harvard University, Mr. Margus spent 14 years running a private international agribusiness company. In 1993, after learning that two of his children had a lethal genetic disease that combined progressive loss of muscle control with cancer and immune deficiency, Mr. Margus obtained tutoring in molecular genetics and formed a non-profit research organization. By recruiting first-rate scientists, running scientific conferences, orchestrating numerous biomedical research projects, establishing a clinical center, running clinical trials, and creating tissue banks, Mr. Margus’ non-profit foundation has made significant progress. Mr. Margus has also become an advocate for patients with other genetic disorders and has frequently testified before Congress on their behalf. In 2000, he elected to leverage his experience in accelerating genetic research by entering the biotechnology industry and starting Perlegen Sciences. Mr. Margus has been a member of various Institutional Review Boards, NIH advisory committees, and corporate boards. He recently finished serving on the Advisory Council to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and on the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society. Mr. Margus previously served on the Board of the Genetic Alliance, an umbrella organization representing hundreds of genetic disease organizations, and currently serves as Chairman and volunteer president of the A-T Children’s Project as well as on the Board of Children’s Neurobiological Solutions, an organization aimed at applying brain repair and regeneration to pediatric neurological disorders.

Robert G. Middlebrook
Chief Corporate Development Officer

Mr. Middlebrook joined Perlegen in October 2003 as Chief Corporate Development Officer. During the prior eleven years, he held a number of leadership roles with Fidelity Investments, including Chief Investment Officer of the Managed Income Group, Head Trader of the Municipal Money Market Group, and Senior Vice President in the firm’s supply management and payroll outsourcing practices. Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Middlebrook was Vice President and Principal of Regent Capital Corporation, responsible for structuring a range of investment opportunities and corporate development transactions. He also spent four years in sales management in the defense electronics industry with Alpha Industries, now Skyworks Solutions. Mr. Middlebrook earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Business Management from Bucknell University; he is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Keith Joho, Ph.D.
Chief Information Officer

Dr. Joho joined Perlegen in September 2007 as Chief Information Officer. He has extensive experience in informatics beginning in academia and including biotechnology, pharmaceutical, commercial software and consulting experience. He was most recently Senior Vice President of Research and Product Management at Ingenuity Systems. Prior to that, Dr. Joho was Vice President of Informatics & Bioanalytical Operations at SurroMed where he oversaw the Information Systems, IT, and Computational Biology groups as well as the Biomarker Discovery production facility. Dr. Joho also served as Director of Bioinformatics at Abgenix where he led the Information Systems, Computational Biology and Library Services groups. He has also managed Bioinformatics groups at Roche Bioscience and SUGEN, and was on the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans. Dr. Joho received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School studying RNA Polymerase promoter recognition. Subsequently, he performed post-doctoral training at the Carnegie Institution of Washington studying transcription regulation during early development and RNA-specific zinc finger protein interactions.

Ellen Beasley, Ph.D.
Vice President, Projects

Dr. Beasley joined Perlegen in July 2007 as Vice President of Project Management. Prior to joining Perlegen, she was Senior Director of Therapeutics Alliances, Senior Director of Bioinformatics and Director of Gene Discovery at Celera and project manager at the Stanford Human Genome Center. Dr. Beasley obtained a B.S. from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago prior to completing postdoctoral training at the Biocenter of the University of Basel (Switzerland) and Stanford University. Dr. Beasley has more than 15 years of research experience in both academic and industry settings; she is an inventor on over 180 issued patents and an author on a dozen publications, including publications on the mapping and sequencing of the Drosophila and human genomes.

Kevin Cooksy
Vice President, Business Development

Mr. Cooksy joined Perlegen in September, 2007 as Vice President, Business Development after serving in the corporate development group of Agilent Technologies, most recently completing the $245M acquisition of Stratagene Corporation.  Before that, he held the positions of Director of Corporate Licensing and Acquisitions, and Director of New Business Opportunities with Nektar Therapeutics (formerly Inhale Therapeutics). Mr. Cooksy has held several senior management positions in corporate development, strategic technology planning, and intellectual property law. He holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Northern Illinois University; an M.B.A. degree with distinction from Lake Forest, and a J.D. from the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. Mr. Cooksy has also been a pro bono counsel and board member of several charitable organizations, and volunteers as a mission pilot for AngelFlight West, a non-profit organization that facilitates access to health care by providing no-cost transportation in private aircraft.

Julie Brooks, J.D.
General Counsel

Ms. Brooks joined Perlegen in November, 2007 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Ms. Brooks has served over 20 years as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at publicly-traded and venture-financed companies, including 10 years as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at international medical device and healthcare technology companies. She has also held senior management positions in human resources, corporate communications and corporate development. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President, Legal & Administration, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Free & Clear, Inc. in Seattle, Washington. Previously, she served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Westmark International, a publicly traded medical device company spun out of Squibb Corporation, and as Senior Vice President, Legal and Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary at Access Health Inc. / McKesson (formerly Access Health, Inc.).  Ms. Brooks also served as Chief Legal Officer, Secretary and Senior Vice President, Human Resources at GiftCertificates.com and as General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at eCharge Corporation and ChannelPoint, Inc. Ms. Brooks earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from Santa Clara University, a Masters of Law in Taxation from Georgetown University, and a B.A., cum laude, in Comparative Literature and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington..

Chris Pascoe, C.P.A.
Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller

Mr. Pascoe was most recently with Gryphon Therapeutics as C.F.O., Vice President of Finance & Administration, prior to which he was C.F.O. at @Themoment, Inc. He previously held senior financial positions in GN Resound, Oracle Corp, and the Ask Group, and was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young. Chris obtained his B.S. degree in Business and Accounting from Southampton University, in England, and his C.P.A. in California. He is a Chartered Accountant in the U.K..

Dennis Ballinger, Ph.D.
Vice President, Bioinformatics

Dr. Ballinger joined Perlegen in 2002. Prior to joining Perlegen, he was an Assistant Professor at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, Director of Cardiovascular Disease Research at Myriad Genetics, and Director of Software Product Development at Ingenuity Systems. Dr. Ballinger obtained a B.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to completing his postdoctoral training at Caltech. He has more than twenty years of research experience in both academic and industrial settings, with over thirty peer-reviewed publications covering topics in model organism genetics, biology and biochemistry, human genetics and functional genomics.

Jeff Otto, Ph.D.
Vice President, Production Operations

Dr. Otto joined Perlegen in November 2007 as Vice President of Production Operations. Dr. Otto brings a breadth of experience in biotechnology from his leadership roles in R&D and operational management. He was most recently Senior Director at Sequenom, Inc., where in 2005, he started up and was responsible for their contract services business. Previously, he served as Director at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, where he ran their high-throughput genotyping services business. In addition, Dr. Otto was on the faculty of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago with joint appointments in the departments of Biochemistry and Orthopedic Surgery. There, his research focused on genetic and molecular analysis of mouse models rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Dr. Otto received his Ph.D. in Biology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, where his research focused on molecular analysis of the dec-1 eggshell gene in diverse species of Drosophila. His M.B.A. is from Ellis College at the New York Institute of Technology and his B.A. in Biology is from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Brenda Rogers, P.H.R.
Vice President, Human Resources

Ms. Rogers joined Perlegen as Vice President, Human Resources in November 2007. Ms. Rogers has served as a consultant to other Bay Area biotech companies, and most recently held a position as the Vice President, Human Resources at the Institute for OneWorld Health, the first non-profit pharmaceutical development organization in the United States. Prior to that, Ms. Rogers was the Senior H.R. Executive for San Jose State University's Research Foundation and held senior leadership roles at Portal Software and Seagate Technology. Ms. Rogers earned Professional Human Resources (P.H.R.) certification through the Society for Human Resources Management, has completed the University of Michigan's HR Executive Program, and is a member of the class of 2008 of Leadership San Francisco, an organization dedicated to community trusteeship. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Management Team Bios
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Management Team Bios