Career
workshop panelists:
MARLA
GOONAN is University of California, San Diego Extension's Executive
Career Coach and Career/ Professional Development Instructor and
Speaker. Marla has over twenty years of experience specializing
in working with professionals in bioscience, engineering, law,
and medicine who are transitioning, repositioning or developing
their careers. Her direct approach helps clients cut right to
their core values to define, focus and take action towards attaining
a new career, a new position, a promotion or starting a new company
or consulting practice. Marla provides career training and development
for several companies in San Diego. Additionally, she serves as
a member on local advisory boards and community groups.
Back
to Top
KAY
CHANDLER is a partner in Cooley Godward's Business Department
and an active member of the Firm's Life Sciences practice group.
She joined the San Francisco office in 1988 and relocated to San
Diego in 1992 as a founding member of the Firm's San Diego office.
She specializes in representing public and private life sciences
and health care companies in a wide range of commercial and corporate
finance matters that are critical to their businesses, including
strategic alliances, joint ventures and technology licenses and
acquisitions. Kay received her J.D. in 1988 from the University
of Michigan School of Law, where she was an editor of the University
of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. She received her B.A. in Economics
from the University of Michigan in 1985, graduating with distinction.
Back
to Top
BILL
DECKER is a Senior Licensing Officer in the office of Technology
Transfer and Intellectual Property Services at University of California
San Diego. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia
in Engineering Physics, with a dissertation entitled "Numerical
Studies of Bifurcations and Chaos in Natural Convection".
He then worked for five years in a small biomedical device start-up,
first based in Florida, then in Orange County, California where
he held numerous positions with responsibilities that were increasingly
cross-functional between business and R&D, including managing
a small team of Ph.D.-level engineers and scientists.
He has been trained in negotiations and technology management
by the Licensing Executive Society, the Association of University
Technology Managers, MIT Sloan Business School, and Harvard Business
School.
Back
to Top
BARBARA
COLEMAN is the owner of an independent San Diego recruiting firm
PharmaScouts. She has been an executive recruiter in the biotechnology
and pharmaceutical industries for the past five years. Barbara
made the transition to her present role as a scientific "talent
scout" after many years as a research scientist. She obtained
her B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology at the University of Maryland.
After training at NIH, she earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at
Cornell University and did postdoctoral studies at University
of California San Diego in Pharmacology. She has earned numerous
awards including Recruiter of the Year and is a member of many
professional associations, currently serving as Vice President
on the Executive Board of Directors for AWIS San Diego.
Back
to Top
KATHLEEN
ROBINSON is Vice President and Director of Professional Services
in the San Diego office of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career
management firm. She has extensive consulting and organizational
development experience with a wide range of industries including
bioscience, high technology, and manufacturing. Prior to joining
LHH, she spent twenty years in consulting and management roles
in entrepreneurial companies and non-profit organizations. Kathleen
has a B.A and M.S. in Social Work. She is a member of Professional
Coach & Mentors Association, Society for Human Resource Management
and American Society for Training & Development.
Back
to Top
AMENA
RAHMAN is a Senior Scientist at ISIS Pharmaceuticals evaluating
and implementing new cell based assays for HTS and data mining.
She received her PhD in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis on
cell and molecular biology from University of California San Diego
in 1997. Following a two year postdoctoral fellowship at Canji/Schering-Plough
she continued her work in the gene therapy arena at GenStar Therapeutics.
She is currently obtaining a certificate in Bioinformatics from
UCSD extension.
Amena received her B.A. with honors in Biological Sciences from
Mt.Holyoke College in 1990. Her research interests include signal
transduction, cellular trafficking, adenoviral delivery of genes
and developing cell-based assays for drug screening. She has published
a wide range of article, is an inventor on a US patent and an
instructor with UCSD Extension Biosciences department.
Back
to Top
PEGGY
EIS is the Director of Biochemistry for GeneOhm Sciences, a San
Diego-based company focusing on the development of DNA tests for
clinical diagnostic laboratories.
She completed her doctoral thesis in Biochemistry at the University
of Maryland in 1992 with emphasis in time-resolved fluorescence
spectroscopy. As an NIH/NCI postdoctoral fellow in the Department
of Molecular Biology at The Scripps Research Institute from1992-1996
she performed structural NMR studies. Peggy gained six years industrial
experience at Third Wave Technologies, a Wisconsin-based company
that develops DNA and RNA assays. She was a key developer of the
Invader technology including the fluorescence-based detection
chemistry and the gene expression detection technology, which
resulted in a lead author publication in Nature Biotechnology.
She also gained experience in business development and intellectual
property.
Back
to Top
MEREDITH
DOW is the Business Unit Director for the Scientific branches
of Kforce Professional Staffing in San Diego and Irvine. She holds
a B.S. in Zoology with an emphasis in Animal Behavior from the
University of California Davis. Additionally she has four years
of broad-based experience in the biotechnology industry, specifically
in immunoassay development. Meredith has five years of experience
in the staffing industry, having successfully opened Kforce Professional
Staffing's San Diego office in 1998 and developed it into the
top scientific division in the country. She is an active member
of several bioscience professional associations.
Back
to Top
Hot
Topic workshop panelists:
VICTORIA
COHAN is Site Head for Pfizer Research University at Pfizer Global
R & D in La Jolla since joining PRU in 1999. She received
her Ph.D. in Immunology and Infectious Diseases from the Johns
Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1986. Following
a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Immunology at the Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine, Victoria joined Pfizer, Inc. She has
spent 10 years in Discovery Research identifying and screening
potential therapeutic agents for allergic and respiratory diseases.
She also participated on a candidate team progressing compounds
through early clinical development.
Back
to Top
KAREN
MAY-NEWMAN is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
at San Diego State University in the fields of biomechanics, biomaterials
and mechanical design. Her education at University of California
San Diego includes B.S. Applied Mechanics and Engineering Science
in 1988, M.S. Engineering Sciences in 1990, culminating with a
Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences: Bioengineering in 1993. Karen worked
as a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Divisions of Cardiology and Biomedical
Engineering with Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions for three
years. Then she joined Alliance Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Research
Scientist in 1996. She is a member of numerous professional associations,
including AWIS and has numerous articles published in well respected
journals.
Back
to Top
ELIZABETH
R. WATERS received a BA in Biology from Grinnell College, a MS
in Botany from North Carolina State University and a PhD in Evolutionary
Biology from Washington University in St. Louis MO. She was awarded
an NSF post-doctoral fellowship to conduct research in Molecular
Evolution and Biochemistry in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Vierling
at the University of Arizona in Tucson AZ. Dr. Waters was an assistant
professor at Marquette University for two years and then left
academia to work in the Bioinformatics group at Diversa Corporation
in San Diego. Dr. Waters was at Diversa for over two years and
then in 2002 returned to academia. She is now on the faculty of
the Biology Department at San Diego State University. Her research
interests include: bioinformatics, evolution of new protein function,
chaperone evolution, and plant evolution. Dr. Waters is continuing
her industry contacts and research collaborations while conducting
her own academic research program.
Back
to Top
LAURA
CANTY-SWAPP is a senior member of the Western Region team at Catalyst,
the premier nonprofit research and advisory organization working
to advance women in business. She received her Masters in Applied
Sociology form California State University San Marcos. Her responsibilities
include developing new business, managing relationships with current
western region members, speaking to corporate and public audiences
about Catalyst research, and conducting Advisory Services with
member companies.
Back
to Top
GAIL
HEYMAN is an Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, University
of California San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology
from the University of Illinois in 1995. Following postdoctoral
research at the University of Michigan, she joined UCSD in 1998.
Her research focuses on children's social and cognitive development.
Her research interests include the development of person perception,
inductive inferences, and achievement motivation.
Back
to Top
JACQUELINE
HOPKINS is an Epidemiologist with the County of San Diego Department
of Health and Human Services Agency investigating communicable
diseases and outbreaks. She provides consultation to healthcare
professionals and the general public regarding communicable disease
control and prevention. Jackie also manages the Emergency Medical
Alert Network (EMAN) of San Diego County and has led the Rapid
Response and Food borne Disease investigation teams for the Epidemiology
Division.
She received her Masters in Public Health from San Diego State
University in 1990. She has worked with the United States Peace
Corps as a Health Care Extensionist in Rwanda, Central Africa,
and later managed an HIV/AIDS epidemiologic research study for
University of California San Francisco in Rwanda.
Back
to Top
Personal
Development workshop panelists:
DONNA
DEAN is the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Biomedical
Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) since September 2002. Prior to and concurrent
with her service for NIBIB, She was Senior Scientific Advisor
in the Office of the NIH Director for the past four years. She
previously held a number of senior management and supervisory
positions in NIH's grants peer review system.
Donna received her B.A. degree in chemistry from Berea College
(Kentucky) in 1969 and Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Duke
University in 1974. After postdoctoral work in cell and developmental
biology at Princeton University, she joined the NIH intramural
research program as a research chemist in biochemical endocrinology.
She then became an FDA consumer safety officer before returning
to NIH's extramural program in 1982 in the Division of Research
Grants, where she held numerous positions including Acting Chief
of the Referral and Review Branch managing 240 employees and an
operating budget of $17 million.
She is a current member numerous scientific organizations including
AWIS, Treasurer of national organization, and Bethesda Chapter
Executive Board Member and past-President.
Back
to Top
BRIAN
CULLEY is the Manager, Business Development & Scientific Liaison
for Immusol, Inc, a private, 80-person biotechnology firm located
in San Diego.
Brian's scientific background includes academic research at The
Scripps Research Institute and drug discovery for Neurocrine Biosciences.
He has a Masters Degree in biochemistry from University of California
Santa Barbara. He moved to the business side of biotech via the
Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office of University
of California San Diego before receiving his MBA from Cornell
University.
Back
to Top
ELAINE
WEIDENHAMMER is the Associate Director of Corporate Development
with Nanogen, a local biotechnology company that has developed
electronic microarrays ("chips") for use in clinical
diagnostics. Elaine received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University
and went on to pursue her graduate thesis in molecular biology
at Carnegie Mellon University. She accepted a postdoctoral position
at the UCSD School of Medicine. In February 1998, she made a transition
into industry by becoming a Research Scientist at Nanogen. Recently
she has transitioned into Business Development, where she provides
technical expertise for guiding Nanogen's strategic development
efforts and coordinating external research collaborations.
In addition to her scientific pursuits, Elaine has assumed active
leadership roles in the San Diego chapter of AWIS. In addition
to the BioSciences Affinity group, Elaine also participates in
Athena's Forum for Executive Women.
Back
to Top
JULIA
RONLOV is Senior Associate and Director of Research with Forward
Ventures, having joined the firm in 1997. She received her MBA
from the University of San Diego in 1999. Her responsibilities
at Forward Ventures include discovery, management, assessment,
and recommendation of investment opportunities. She is also involved
in strategic development of start-up portfolio companies. Prior
to joining Forward, Julia performed research in cellular and molecular
biology at Viagene (now part of Chiron). She also has experience
in clinical laboratories. Julia received her B.S. in biology from
California State University in 1992.
Back
to Top
KATHY
NELSON is a certified coach in private practice. She worked in
the corporate world as a San Diego County Sales Manager and VP
of Business Development in insurance industry, receiving many
nationwide awards. Her business, On Track Success Coaching, provides
teleclasses on Time and Planning and Strong Personal Foundations.
She currently hosts a Professional Women's Network and has had
numerous published articles, been a guest speaker on radio and
television. In 2003 she was selected by the San Diego Reader Magazine
as the Best Life Coach in San Diego.
Back
to Top
GWEN
ROSENBERG is Vice President, Corporate Communications at Alliance
Pharmaceutical Corp. where she has been since 1990. She studied
biology and biochemistry and received her B.A. and M.A. degrees
from Adelphi University and The State University of New York at
Stony Brook, respectively. In the past, Gwen was in biomedical
research at University of California San Diego and at Scripps
Clinic and Research Foundation, and concurrently a science writer
for the San Diego Daily Transcript. She is a member and serves
on the board of a number of scientific and educational organizations,
published several scientific papers and is an inventor on a number
of patents.
Back
to Top
GABRIELE
WIENHAUSEN is the founding Provost of Sixth College, University
of California San Diego's newest undergraduate college. In 1978
she received her Ph.D. from the Westfeaelische Wilhelms Universitaet
in Muenster, Germany and then joined the Biology Faculty as an
Assistant Professor. After coming to UCSD's Department of Chemistry
on a sabbatical leave in 1981, Gabriele resigned from her position
in Germany in 1982 and joined UCSD as a research scientist for
3 years. She was appointed Academic Coordinator in the Department
of Biology in 1985, received tenure in 1996, and became Vice Chair
for Education in 1998. Since 1998, she has been the co-PI of the
Howard Hughes Undergraduate Science Enrichment Program. She is
the co-director of the Doctoral Program in Mathematics and Science
Education jointly offered by UCSD and SDSU.
Her research focuses on the educational technology as a leverage
to enhance education.
Gabriele has won numerous teaching awards including the Academic
Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Chancellors Associates,
UCSD Outstanding Teaching Award.
Back
to Top
