MANAGEMENT TEAM
Mr. Wheeler was previously President of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals, the biotechnology division of Chiron Corporation, which manufactured and distributed products treating cancer, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis. During his tenure, global sales in the division doubled to over $600 million, five new programs were put into clinical development, and a new product was launched. Prior to joining Chiron, Mr. Wheeler served as a partner at The Boston Consulting Group in the firm’s healthcare practice.
Mr. Brugger was previously Vice President at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for building strategic marketing, project and portfolio management capabilities, leading the inflammation and metabolic franchises, and managing multiple pharmaceutical collaborations. Prior to joining Millennium, Mr. Brugger spent 19 years in the pharmaceutical industry, holding positions in product development and marketing at Hoechst, Ayerst and Novartis. His most recent position before joining Millennium was as head of marketing for Novartis’ Transplantation, Tissue Engineering and Immunology business unit in the U.S.
Research and Co-Founder
Dr. Venkataraman is one of Momenta’s scientific founders. Prior to founding Momenta, Dr. Venkataraman was a member of the MIT faculty where he pioneered research in the area of analytical techniques for complex carbohydrates. He also served as the Director of Bioinformatics for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics, a multi-million-dollar NIH initiative to study the role of complex sugars in biology.
Mr. Shea was previously Chief Operating Officer, CFO and Treasurer at Variagenics, Inc., a pharmacogenomics company, where he assisted in raising over $120 million, including a successful IPO. While at Variagenics, Mr. Shea was responsible for Finance, Legal, Investor Relations, Human Resources and Operations. Prior to this, Mr. Shea was Vice President of Finance at Genetics Institute, Inc. (now Wyeth), and a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Jim Roach, M.D. brings extensive product development and commercialization experience to Momenta as Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining Momenta, Dr. Roach was the Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sepracor. He has also held senior clinical research and/or medical affairs positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, LeukoSite, Medical and Technical Research Associates, and Astra USA. Dr. Roach is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Critical Care Medicine. He has been affiliated with the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital since 1993 and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Roach is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians. He received his BA majoring in Biology and Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross, and his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Human Resources
Ms. Beltramello was previously the Chief Human Resources Officer at Multiplan, a provider of health care cost management solutions with over 2,000 employees conducting business in all fifty states. In this role she was responsible for all human resource operations, including strategy, policies and program development. Prior to joining Multiplan, she held senior human resources roles at Private Healthcare Systems, Inc., Oxford Global Resources, Inc., and Randstad North America. Ms. Beltramello received a Bachelor of Science degree from Bentley College.
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Bishop was previously at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where he was most recently responsible for chemical and biologic process development, managing Millennium’s process development group and leading manufacturing efforts for many of Millennium’s small-molecule and biologic clinical candidates. Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Bishop was involved in leading process development efforts on several projects at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals.
Development Operations
Mr. Fier was previously Vice President of Clinical Affairs at BioTransplant Incorporated, where he was responsible for building the clinical development organization, formulating product strategy and directing product development activities for both antibody-based therapeutics and medical devices. Prior to joining BioTransplant, he held positions in product development and program management at The Medicines Company and Astra USA where his responsibilities included the clinical development of several currently marketed products in the cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and internal medicine fields.
Corporate Development
Dr. Johnson joined Momenta in 2005. Previously, Dr. Johnson served as a Principal at Atlas Venture in the life sciences sector. In this role she was responsible for identifying and negotiating investments in new life sciences companies, and also served as an advisor to existing biotech portfolio companies. Dr. Johnson was also head of business development at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for new business initiatives, strategic partnering, and alliance management. Dr. Johnson received her Doctorate from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's department of Biological Chemistry.
Disease Biology
Dr. Kishimoto was previously Senior Director of Inflammation Research at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he provided the scientific leadership for four programs in clinical development. Prior to joining Millennium, he was an Associate Director of Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Kishimoto has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Kishimoto received his doctoral degree in Immunology from Harvard University.
Legal
Mr. Leicher was previously Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc., and also served as General Counsel and in senior legal positions at Antigenics Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Curis, Inc., Genetics Institute, Inc. and Wyeth. Mr. Leicher brings significant legal expertise in research and product development, product commercialization and launch, corporate finance and partnering transactions, intellectual property law and licensing, corporate governance and litigation. In private practice, he served as the Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Practice Group at Hill and Barlow, and was an attorney at Hale and Dorr and Butler and Binion after receiving his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from the University of Rochester.
Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Riedel was previously Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Project Management at PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In addition to his departmental responsibilities, Dr. Riedel also chaired PRAECIS' Management Review Committee, which supervised all R&D activities within the company. Prior to joining PRAECIS, he held senior positions in R&D Project Management at Wyeth Research and Genetics Institute, Inc.
Strategic Product Development
Ms. Rosengren was previously Vice President and Development Project Leader at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where she led the project management activities for the Inflammation franchise, including co-development activities with key Millennium partners. Ms. Rosengren also serves as a guest faculty instructor in the Project Management courses at Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and the Harvard Extension School. Prior to joining Millennium, Ms. Rosengren held a variety of commercial and project management positions at Sandoz and subsequently Novartis Pharmaceuticals for both the global and U.S. business units.