Program Leadership

Advisory Board
Stan Fink, Ph.D.

Divisional Vice President
Former VP, Clinical Research
Abbott Vascular

Abbott Vascular is a division of Abbott Laboratories, one of the world's largest healthcare companies. The company, which ranks No. 96 on the FORTUNE 500, has more than 113,000 employees worldwide with customers in more than 130 countries. Dr. Fink joined Abbott in November of 2005 as the Divisional VP, Clinical Affairs. 

Prior to joining Abbott, Stan was with Guidant's Vascular Intervention Division for 8 years as Director of Clinical Research. Prior to Guidant, Stan was with Biomedical Sensors, Pfizer Hospital Products Group, where he held the positions of Director, Clinical Research and Development, Program Manager, R&D and Director, R&D. Stan also spent three years at NASA conducting research in cardiovascular physiology as applied to manned space flight.

Stan earned a bachelor's degree from the City University of New York and a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Chemical Engineering. He also holds a Ph.D. in the Mechanical Engineering, Bio-Engineering Program from the University of California, Berkeley.

Marjorie McCray
Clinical Mgr
Gilead


Mary Poppenheimer
Drug Safety & Risk Management, VP Global Sales of Quintiles, Inc.

Ms. Poppenheimer's 20 years of drug-development experience is comprehensive, including nonclinical, clinical, and commercial. She has 10 years of experience managing entire drug development programs in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Her 8 years sales experience spans all research phases, therapeutic areas, and service lines (preclinical, clinical, & post marketing) and includes personnel management, site management, and product-specific proposal development management (Ph V Global Proposals). She also has two years' experience working as a research coordinator in a private medical practice administering clinical trials.

Mary has a B.A. in Biology from SUNY Binghamton and is a member of the Board of Directors, Cardinal Newman High School.

Lecia Shaffer
Co-Founder 
Nextrials

 

Edward (Ted) Spack, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Business Development
Biosciences Division of SRI International (Menlo Park, CA)

 

Steve Crothers

Stephan CrothersDirector Biomedical Initiatives (Retired)
San Jose State University

 

Dr. Crothers was instrumental in directing the College of Science at San Jose State University towards the establishment of new degree programs to prepare students for employment in areas of emerging biomedical technologies and their commercial development. He led the effort of developing the Master of Science in Medical Product Development and the Clinical Research Management degree program. Dr. Crothers also collaborated with the City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency and the San Jose State University Foundation in the establishment of a Biotechnology Incubator and Innovation Center. He served as a "CEO mentor" at the Innovation Center.

Dr. Stephan Crothers, Ph.D., MBA holds a doctorate in Medical Science and Biochemistry from Boston University School of Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining SJSU College of Scienceof a Science in 2002, Dr. Crothers had pursued a 25-year career in the pharmaceutical, medical diagnostics, and life science research products industries. In addition to leadership roles he held at SmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Syntex's medical diagnostics company SYVA, and Molecular Devices (analytical instrumentation), he was a co-founder of two startup companies, PanAb Laboratories and TransMed Biotech. Dr. Crothers is best known in his role of private consultant in the management of product research and early stage development where his expertise is in the strategic focusing of R&D resources.

Founding Advisors/Former Board Members

Barry M. Sherman, M.D.
Executive Vice President Development
BiPar Sciences, Inc.

 

Mark A. McCamish, M.D., Ph.D.
Global Head Biopharmaceutical Development
Sandoz International

 

Kevin Dwyer
Managing Partner, VP, Business Development
Pacific BioDevelopment, LLC