Management Team

VIA Pharmaceuticals is led by individuals with seasoned experience in all aspects of biotechnology management and drug development.

Lawrence K. Cohen, PhD, has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of VIA since VIA’s formation in 2004. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Zyomyx, Inc., a proteomics technology company. Dr. Cohen joined Zyomyx in 1999 as Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for all internal activities, including research and development, business development, financing and operations. From 1997 to 1998 Dr. Cohen was Chief Operating Officer of Progenitor, Inc., a publicly traded genomics company, and from 1988 to 1997, he was Vice President of Research and Development at Somatix Therapy Corporation, a publicly traded gene therapy company. Dr. Cohen received a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Illinois and completed his postdoctoral work in Molecular Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Department of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School.

Adeoye Olukotun, MD, MPH, FACC, has served as Chief Medical Officer of VIA since VIA’s formation in 2004. Dr. Olukotun is a board certified cardiologist and has more than twenty-five years of experience in clinical research and drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Olukotun has been instrumental in the submission of more than fourteen New Drug Applications, Premarket Authorization Applications, and 510k Applications. Dr. Olukotun also played leading roles in the SAVE study involving captopril (Capoten®) and the WOSCOPS, LIPID and CARE studies of pravastatin (Pravachol®). He has published more than forty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Before joining VIA, Dr. Olukotun founded CR Strategies, LLC, a clinical research and development consulting firm in Princeton, NJ, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2003. He also was Chief Medical Officer of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a cardiovascular drug development company, until its acquisition by Pfizer in 2004. Dr. Olukotun received his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and obtained a MPH from Harvard University School of Public Health. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Thomas Quertermous, MD, FACC, has served as Chief Scientific Officer of VIA and the Chair of VIA’s Scientific Advisors since the Company’s inception in 2004. Dr. Quertermous is the William G. Irwin Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Chief of Research, Cardiovascular Medicine Division, at Stanford University School of Medicine. At Stanford, Dr. Quertermous has led an extensive program analyzing gene expression in diseased and healthy human vascular tissue, and investigating the molecular biology of vascular inflammation. Dr. Quertermous came to Stanford in 1997 from Vanderbilt University, where he was the HJ Morgan Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Cardiology. Dr. Quertermous received his BA in Biology from Grinnell College. He earned his MS in Biophysics and Theoretical Biology, and his MD from the University of Chicago, where he also completed house staff training in Internal Medicine. Subsequently, he served as a Clinical Fellow in the Cardiac Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and was a Research Fellow in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Quertermous also served at Massachusetts General Hospital as an attending physician and principal laboratory investigator. Dr. Quertermous is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He is a member of the board of Directors of Expression Diagnostics, Inc., Aviir Inc., BioCardia, Inc., and Molecular Image, Inc.

Michael S. Perry, DVM, PhD, has served as Chief Development Officer of VIA since September 2005. Prior to joining VIA, Dr. Perry co-founded Extropy Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pediatric specialty pharmaceutical company. Dr. Perry was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Extropy from June 2003 to March 2005. From February 2002 to March 2003, Dr. Perry was President and Chief Executive Officer of Pharsight Corp., a software and consulting services firm which integrated scientific and business decision criteria in computer-based models for optimizing drug development. From October 2000 to February 2002, Dr. Perry was Worldwide Head, Global R&D at Baxter BioPharmaceuticals, with responsibility for the company’s R&D organization, from basic discovery through product launch and life cycle management. Dr. Perry received his BSc degree in Physics and his DVM from the University of Guelph. He also earned his PhD in Biomedical Science, with a specialty in Cardiopulmonary Pharmacology, from the University of Guelph and later completed the Executive / International Management Program at Harvard Business School. Dr. Perry serves on the Boards of Directors of a number of privately-held companies as well as Targeted Genetics Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company.

James G. Stewart has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of VIA since November 2006. Since 1988, Mr. Stewart has held a number of senior financial and operating roles with privately held, venture backed companies in a number of industries, including telecommunications, corporate ethics and governance, semiconductor equipment and wireless sensors. From April 2005 to August 2006, Mr. Stewart served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, a public biotechnology company focused on stem cell derived products. From February 1999 to March 2001, Mr. Stewart served as Chief Financial Officer at Ventro Corporation, a public business-to-business marketplace company, where he was responsible for raising significant capital in the company’s initial public offering and subsequent debt offering. From June 1995 to February 1999 Mr. Stewart served as Chief Financial Officer of CN Biosciences, Inc., a public life sciences company, where he was responsible for the company’s initial public offering and management of finance and other operating responsibilities culminating in the successful sale of the business to Merck KgaA Darmstadt. Prior to CN Biosciences, Mr. Stewart held key finance and operating responsibilities at two other companies after leaving Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Young & Co.) where he ultimately served as an audit partner after thirteen years with the firm. Mr. Stewart holds a BA from the University of Southern California.

Rebecca A. Taub, MD has served as Senior Vice President, Research and Development of VIA since January 2008. From 2004 to 2007, she was Vice President, Research, Metabolic Diseases at Hoffmann-La Roche. While at Roche she oversaw drug discovery programs in diabetes, dyslipidemia and obesity, including target identification, lead optimization and advancement of preclinical candidates into clinical development. From 2000 through 2003, Dr. Taub worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and DuPont Pharmaceutical Company, which was acquired by Bristol-Myers in 2001, in a variety of positions, including executive director of CNS and obesity research. Before becoming a pharmaceutical executive, Dr. Taub served in a number of academic medicine and Biomedical research positions. She was tenured Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and earlier in her career, she was a Howard Hughes Investigator at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School. Her work focused on liver metabolism and the molecular signal transduction pathways leading to liver regeneration and repair. She currently holds an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Taub received her undergraduate, medical degree and residency training in internal medicine from Yale University.

Brendan Rae, JD, PhD, has served as Vice President, Business Development of VIA since May 2005. Previously, from 2003 to 2005, Dr. Rae was Senior Director, Licensing and Business Development, at Purdue Pharma. Before joining Purdue, Dr. Rae was at Hoffman-La Roche, where from 2000 to 2003 he directed the company’s in-licensing and out-licensing activities. Prior to joining Hoffman-La Roche, he was with the law firm of Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein. Dr. Rae received a BSc in Microbiology from Glasgow University, and PhD from the Institute of Virology, Glasgow. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology. He has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, since 1989. Dr. Rae earned his JD from Seton Hall Law School.

Melisa Cooper, MD, MS, has served as Vice President, Clinical Development of VIA since June 2005. Dr. Cooper’s experience includes over fourteen years with Bristol-Myers Squibb, most recently as Vice President, Project Planning & Management, Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Dr. Cooper’s responsibilities with Bristol-Myers Squibb included evaluation and approval of drug development strategies and pivotal clinical trials, direction of strategic research activities, design and implementation of worldwide collaborative cardiovascular clinical studies, and responsibility for regulatory filings. Dr. Cooper earned her BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She continued her medical training at Emory University and Temple University, and also earned a MS in Clinical Pharmacology from Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, and in Internal Medicine – Nephrology.

Karen S. Wright has served as Vice President Finance, Corporate Controller since December 2006 and as a consultant to the Company from December 2005 through November 2006. Prior to her position at VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ms. Wright was Vice President Finance, Corporate Controller at Intermune, Inc. from December 2004 through November 2006. Ms. Wright was Senior Director Finance at Cytokinetics, Inc. from November 2001 through December 2004 where she participated in taking the Company public. From 1997 through 2001 Ms. Wright served as the Senior Director of Finance at Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Athena Neurosciences) until the Company merged with Dura Pharmaceuticals and relocated to San Diego. Ms. Wright served in various positions at Genentech, Inc. from 1984 through 1997, most recently as Senior Controller for the Research and Development Group. Previous to her biotech experience, Ms. Wright was employed at Syva Pharmaceuticals (now part of Roche Biosciences) and practiced in public accounting from 1977 through 1984. Ms. Wright holds a B.S. in Business from the University of California at Berkeley Business School, with an emphasis in accounting and marketing.